Texas

"The Price of Power" (1969), directed by Tonino Valerii, is a Spaghetti Western starring Guiliano Gemma, Van Johnson, Fernando Rey and Benito Stefanelli. Made six years after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, it seeks to comment sharply on the situation, perhaps more bitingly than Hollywood wanted or was able to do at that time.

The plot is thus, with their 1963 equivalents blatantly obvious: in Dallas, Texas, 1883 an unpopular liberal President (Johnson) visits the city and is assassinated in a crossfire of lead. A black patsy is quickly found by the corrupt sheriff (Stefanelli) and is killed while in transit between prisons. The framed man's friend (Gemma) seeks to find out the truth, variously aided and set back by a mysterious government agent (Warren Vanders).

Reading the synopsis, it's pretty clear where Valerii is heading, and he does so with style and tension. Well-acted, photographed and edited, with some excellent gunfights, this is a Spaghetti Western that deserves a much wider reputation that the one it currently holds.

Out of the 600 or so Spaghetti Westerns made this has got to be in the top twenty somewhere. Can not believe this hasn't received any reviews! Gemma is excellent in this. Van Johnson is good too though his dubbed voice is a little off killter but that's the charm of the Italian style. Beautiful photography and some excellently staged action. All the supporting characters are well played. The severity of the racist streak in the bad guys is pretty tough even by todays standards which creates an emotional depth to Gemmas character in some of the situations that take place. Absolutely FANTASTIC score by Luis Bacalov. See this is in the wonderful Wide screen DVD from Japan. A spaghetti must have.

This movie uses the assassination of President Garfield as a plot device. The makers never intended to tell a historical story. It's an allegory to explore the JFK assassination and the Viet Nam war. Garfield's assassin was an erstwhile ally turned insane. He died because of incredible medical incompetence, 12 weeks later, and it happened in D.C. So, it's a plot device, not an historical movie.

And it works as a Spaghetti Western. It's among the best of the genre. I'm the kind of anorak that sits there and thinks about every detail, every shot, and I put this in the top 10 most important of the genre. The Italian version is much better than the English one, imho. I've never seen an Italian version of it with English subtitles, so good luck with that one. Bottom line, if you like to sit there and be a know-it-all and pick historical holes in what isn't a historical movie, or like something mindless, you probably won't like it. If you understand the complex cultural statements coming out of 1960's Italy about politics and violence, you will love it.

The Italians loved it. It's total revenue puts it at the 28th biggest grossing Spaghetti Western in history, 1.273 billion lire (no clue what year's lire that might be). That's about 1/3 of each of the Man With No Name trilogies receipts, which is pretty darn good for one that is virtually unknown here.

The reviewer that said it was a brain dead version of Stone's JFK has missed the point so many ways...well, the person must be a contortionist to get one's head so far up their own backside. I'm imaging some gen Y twerp that yells "Nu-uh!" to everything. And the length...those type usually love the sound of their own voice.

In post civil war America the President, (Van Johnson), travels to Dallas and is assassinated by corrupt officials and businessman interested in installing the vice President whom they can blackmail due to incriminating documents. A gunman (Guiliano Gemma) convinced that his black friend is wrongly accused of the assassination aims to uncover the truth. Tonino Valeri directed this fascinating, if flawed film which obviously is an allegory for the Kennedy assassination. The film may wrongly present blacks as slaves working on plantations in Texas but the film is nonetheless enjoyable and presents an interesting interpretation - that Kennedy's death was the result of a coup de tat- which many Americans could not accept at the time. Oswald's murder is replayed here as the black accused of the assassination is murdered by the men responsible, on route to Fort Worth prison. This moment in the film is more melodramatic than Oswald's death with his various escorts shot down before his over the top death scene. Nonetheless this is definitely one of the more interesting and worthwhile spaghetti westerns. Worth a look!

Cool Spaghetti full of fury , action, portentous shootem'up and interesting screenplay by the usual Ernesto Gastaldi. This clever and successful Spaghetti Western that owes a considerable debt to Leone (it's realized by his disciple Tonino Valeri) deals with an ex-Union soldier named William Willer(Giuliano Gemma) who finds his father (Antonio Casas) has been killed. Then arrives in Dallas an occasional visit by President John Garfield (Van Johnson and wife Maria Cuadra) . The ex-soldier discovers a scheme to assassinate President in 1881 Dallas, Texas, plotted by a powerful group (all-star Spanish cast formed by Fernando Rey , Julio Peña, Angel Del Pozo, and Jose Suarez as the Vice-President). The film, a "political" Spaghetti, is a very overt mirroring of the JFK Assassination in 1963. Meanwhile, Willer befriends two journalists (Manuel Zarzo, Francisco Sanz)and acts as protector of a humiliated African-American (Ray Saunders). The gunfighter teams up with McDonald (Warren Vanders) against the powerful band and then Willer carries out a personal vendetta versus the father's killers .

The film displays psychological characters-in deep, shootouts, action Western, political suspense and being enough entertaining. The movie contains typical particularities Spaghetti, as is full of fury, sadism, bloodbaths, and portentous close-ups of encrusted faces. The film blends violence, blood, tension, high body-count along with politic deeds and it's fast moving and quite entertaining .Gulianno Gemma is good as unfortunate Union soldier, he is very fine, he ravages the screen, he steals the show as gunslinger seeking revenge , in addition investigating the events about the assassination and ultimately takes the law on his own hands. Benito Stefanelli (customary master of arms) as a cruelly baddie role as nasty sheriff is terrific , subsequently the would play similar roles in other oaters . As secondaries appear usual Spanish actors Jose Calvo(Silvanito in ' A fistful of dollars'), Angel Alvarez (Django), Antonio Casas (Once upon a time in the West) , Fernando Rey (Return of Magnificent Seven) Jose Canalejas , Frank Braña , Lorenzo Robledo and Italian players as Ricardo Pizzuti ( ordinary in Terence Hill and Spencer movies ), among others .There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and excellent production design by Carlo Leva with a magnificent scenario plenty of barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and a fine set filmed in Calahorra (Granada) and Tabernas (Almeria), furthermore interiors shot in Elios studios(Rome) , as usual and correctly photographed by Stelvio Massi .The picture is full of nice sound by Luis Bacalov , he composes a vibrant soundtrack in Morricone style and well conducted , he subsequently won Oscar for ¨The postman and Pablo Neruda¨ .The motion picture is well directed by Tonino Valeri who was Sergio Leone's assistant. Valeri managed to make a fluid, witty and agreeable SW. Tonino Valeri's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . He proved his experience in Western such as ¨The hired gun ¨ , ¨My name is nobody ¨ with Henry Fonda and Terence Hill , ¨The day of anger ¨with Lee van Cleef and ¨ Taste of Killing¨ with Craig Hill and George Martin .