Arizona Colt

Gordon (Fernando Sancho) and his bandits attack a prison to free all the inmates, because they need more men to rob a bank. One of the ex-prisoners declines the job offer, though. Arizona Colt (Giuliano Gemma) chases a murderer (Nello Pazzafini) for a reward of 500 dollars - and a night with the daughter of the saloon keeper!

"Arizona Colt" proves once again that the spaghetti western heroes were not bound by morality. The protagonist is only into money and women, but somehow he remains sympathetic. Classic moment of cynicism: Gordon tells how his father many years ago said: "Son, when I'm dead, my golden watch will belong to you", and 5 seconds later, the watch did belong to Gordon! Fernando Sancho is perfect as always to play the leader of the bandits. Gemma is a different type of actor than the stone-faced Clint Eastwood imitators of the genre, thus his movies are usually more enjoyable and original. The music is quite close to the rather epic style of the Ringo films, but written by Francesco de Masi this time.

The Man From Nowhere aka Arizona Colt is a spaghetti western with solid performances from a great cast. The main players are Giuliano Gemma and Fernando Sancho, both of whom are great in this film, as always. Sancho, always the villain, is even more ruthless than usual in this outing. The lovely Rosalba Neri, another familiar spaghetti western face, also makes an appearance in the movie.

Gemma, as Arizona Colt, can be likened to Bugs Bunny having some fun being the foil to Fernando Sancho and his gang of Elmer Fudds, but that doesn't make this a comedy western by any means. While there are many amusing parts, the body count is high, and there is a strong element of revenge.

The music score is very good, with lots of spaghetti style, and the movie is filmed and directed well. The story takes some time to pull you in, but it does, and it is a good one.

I am giving this one 7 stars mainly because I don't think it is as good as Gemma's Ringo movies, but that having been said, I still highly recommend this film. It has a lot going for it.

I really enjoy spaghetti westerns, so obviously I have seen a lot of examples of the genre. Though I haven't seen every spaghetti western made, I have seen enough so that I can say with confidence that "Arizona Colt" (a.k.a. "Man From Nowhere") is below average. I wouldn't say it's a TERRIBLE movie - it has some positive attributes. The scenery is nice, the production values and action sequences are acceptable, and Fernando Sancho makes a pretty good villain. However, the movie stumbles in two key areas. The first mistake is that the movie is very slow-going - they should have really increased the pace. The second mistake is that the movie lasts almost two hours, which is far past the breaking point. Had they edited down the script before filming began, these problems may not have happened, and we might have had a pretty good movie. But as it is, I can only recommend this particular spaghetti western to die-hard fans of Euro westerns.

Released on DVD here in the states as "The Man From Nowhere", this entry into the Western All'Italiana oeuvre features pretty boy Guiliano Gemma as the good, veteran character actor Fernando Sancho as the bad, and a disappointing script as the ugly.

Arizona Colt can never quite figure out what it's trying to be. As a Hollywood western there would have been a few too many deaths and too strong a focus on destruction. As an Italian Western it takes itself too seriously and leans too heavily on wide tracking shots of the ol' west.

There is some good humor, and the reveal how Arizona is going to take on a town full of baddies is very slick, but this movie is a series of good moments and an overall weak effort when considered as a whole.

Rating: 16/40

This is an entertaining , engaging Western crammed of shoot'em up , noisy action , fist-fights, punches , kicks, and overwhelming stunt-work . It concerns a heinous outlaw called Torrez Gordo : Fernando Sancho, frees a band of inmates , forcíng them to join his bunch , among them is Arizona Colt : Giuliano Gemma , who declines to do it . Meanwhile , bandit Gordo is scheming a bank heist with his henchmen : Nello Pazzafini , José Luis Martín . Along the way Arizona Colt meets an old drunk , Double Whiskey : Roberto Camardiel , and both of whom head for Blackstone Hill town . When one of Gordo' s hoodlums kills a saloon girl : Rosalba Neri , then Arizona seeks justice and offers to hunt down the murderer for a reward of five hundred dollars and to get the Dolores' sister , Jane : Corínne Marchand . As Arizona and Double Whiskey set out in pursuit the true guilty and later on , they have to confront the villain Gordo . At the ending takes place the thrilling showdown in moving style and under enjoyable musical score backdrop .There was no law, there was no order , there was just The Man From Nowhere . Arizona was his name , Colt was his game. For a dollar earned a Bullet was fired.

This Ravioli Western packs ruthless roles , thrills , shootouts , quick-fire , violence , high body count and some hilarious moments thanks to Fernando Sancho character . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , but frenetic fight-sequences make up for it .This is a decent and passable movie with usual ingredients , there is a nice implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the movie approaches its climax , as an amusing gimmick at the ending when our sympathetic protagonist : Gemma faces off the nasty Fernando Sancho. Gemma is pretty well as a good-looking gunslinger . Giuliano is top-notch as one army man taking on a group of bandits and as always he makes his own stunts with sympathetic touches , as usual . Gemma along with Anthony Steffen, George Hilton ,Gianni Garco, turns out to be one of the greatest stars of the Spaghetti Western . In his first Westerns he often used the peculiar name Montgomery Wood, posing as an American actor . His biggest hit was A Pistol For Ringo , following a sequel titled The Return Of Ringo , and others as Adios Gringo , Arizona Colt , The Price of Power, Day of Anger and later, the twilight western : California and his last one : Tex . But he also played other genres as Peplum: The Titans , Thrillers : Master Touch , Wartime : Young Lions . And he perfomed roles in prestigious films as Il Gatopard , Desert of Tartars , and Il Prefecto Di Ferro . Here appears some familiar secondary faces from Spaghetti or Paella Western , as Spanish actors : Roberto Camardiel as likeable co-starring , Jose Luis Martin, Alvaro De Luna , Jose Orjas , as Italian players as Andrea Bosic , Rosalba Neri , Nello Pazzafin i, Mirko Ellis, Tom Felleghy , Riccardo Pizzuti, , John Bartha , Jeff Cameron , among others . It is followed by a sequel : ¨Arizona returns¨ or ¨Arizona lets fly and kill everybody¨ 1970 by Sergio Martino , replacing Gemma by Anthony Steffen along with Roberto Camardiel , Rosalba Neri again . And special mention for the always great Fernando Sancho in his ordinary role as a swanky , boastful Mexican bandit and stealing the show , as always . Good production design and art design by Petrarca , creating adequate scenarios with luminous outdoors , rocky mountains and deserts from Almería , Spain , well photographed by Guglielmo Mancori and also filmed in Cinecitta studios , Rome Lacio , Italy . Agreeable and long-standing musical score , containing an attractive and charming leitmotif from Francesco De Massi.

This Spaghetti was compellingly directed by Michele Lupo who made all kinds of genres. Lupo made various Bud Spencer vehícles as Bulldozer, The supersheriff , ET and the supersheriff , and Buddy go west . Lupo directed Giuliano Gemma , his fetish actor , in several films as Master Touch with Kirk Douglas , this Arizona Colt , and California with William Berger . Rating 6,5/10. Essential and fundamental seeing for Giuliano Gemma fans . Better than average western .