Johnny Yuma

This is a very memorable spaghetti western. It has a great storyline, interesting characters, and some very good acting, especially from Rosalba Neri. Her role as the evil villainess in this film is truly classic. She steals every scene she is in, and expresses so much with her face and eyes, even when she's not speaking. Her performance is very believable. She manages to be quite mesmerizing without being over the top (not that there's anything wrong with being over the top). Mark Damon is surprisingly good in this movie too.

The music score is excellent, and the theme song is the kind that will be playing in your head constantly for days after seeing the movie, whether you want it to or not. There are a couple of parts that are very amusing. I especially like the part where Rosalba Neri undresses in front of the parrot. There's also lots of slick gun-play that's very well done.

I would probably have given this movie 8 or 9 stars if it wasn't for two things. The first being a silly bar room brawl that occurs about 25 minutes into the film. This is one of the most ridiculous looking fights I have ever seen in a movie. It is very poorly choreographed, and looks more like a dance number from a bad musical than any kind of a real fight. One might be able to overlook this if it were a Terence Hill/Bud Spencer comedy, but this is a more serious western, and the brawl really needed to be more realistic. The other thing that annoyed me about this movie was Yuma's cowardly Mexican sidekick. I guess he was supposed to be comic relief or something, but the character was just plain stupid and unnecessary in a movie like this, and he wasn't at all funny. All I can say is where is Tuco when you need him?

All that having been said, let me assure everyone reading this that Johnny Yuma is a classic spaghetti western despite the faults I have mentioned, and all fans of the genre need to see this movie.

Johnny Yuma sure is smug. I think that's what might put people off this film a bit (cos it sure ain't Rosalba Neri). Johnny's just inherited a ranch from his uncle, who's just died from sudden bullet to the back of the head, courtesy of Neri and her brother. They know Yuma's on his way, so they arrange for an ageing gunslinger to come and do the business on Yuma too.

Yuma's lightning fast with a pistol, however, and blasts his way through enough bad guys to populate a small African country. His got a Mexican sidekick too, and I was fairly surprised at the sudden change in tone halfway through the film, as both Yuma and his sidekick play the film for laughs, so when the bad guys start doing stuff like executing Mexican folk for no reason and at one point beating a child to death (!), I was thinking that perhaps they were making up this film as they went along. They also give Yuma a good beating at one point too, but it only temporarily takes that stupid smug grin off his face.

Rosalba Neri, as usual, is lush and great. She manipulates every man in the film, including Yuma (who thinks he's got her sussed out, but he's wrong). She's the best thing about the film and greatly helps where actor Mark Damon (Yuma) just yucks it up at every given opportunity. This is an overly violent western that's well worth a watch, especially the epic gun fight at the end and the way over the top killing of one of the bad guys – a bit of a jaw dropper, that bit.

A decent Spaghetti Western with a sympathetic starring, Mark Damon, versus an extremely villainess Femme Fatale, Rosalba Neri. It deals with a mean, greedy woman callled Samantha Felton : Rosalba Neri, who kills his wealthy hubby to take his inheritance. But the husband left his ownerships to a nephew, the resourceful Johnny Yuma : Mark Damon. Then the widow and her brother hire a hit man : Lawrence Dobkin, to kill him.

Above average Spaghetti Western with noisy action, thrills, fights , violence, crosses and double-crosses. It is an exciting Maccaroni Western with brawls at a saloon and breathtaking duels at a village, brief dosis of humor and surprising bursts of violence. Mark Damon performs a young gunslinger who unexpectedly inherites from his uncle and ultimately forms a steadily alliance with another gunfighter well interpreted by Lawrence Dobkin. At the beginning his long career Damon starred as an extra for US movies , and subsequently acting secondary characters and as main starring in Roger Corman films . Mark , then emigrated to Italy where played ordinary genres as Peplum and Westerns , as he interpreted : A train for Durango , Cry for revenge, Requiescant , Johnny Oro and this Johnny Yuma . Soon after , he moved into other film genres and playing good guys or bad guys in adventure movies as Lions of St Petesburg , Normand Sword , 100 knights , and Long Live Robin Hood , these parts often exploited his athletic physique and strong skills . Many years later , Mark Damon abandoned the interpretation and became a successful cinema producer by financing big hits . Here Rosalba Neri steals the show, she chews the scenary by playing a really baddie woman who will stop at nothing to get his purports. If the starring trío: Mark Damon, Rosalba Neri, Lawrence Dobkin are pretty good , the remaining support cast is acceptable , though unknown , I miss the agreable familiar secondary faces regular to Spaghetti Western sub-genre .

Special mention for the brilliant musical score, adding enjoyable leitmotif, in Ennio Morricone style by Nora Orlandi, including catching songs. As well as sunny and colorful cinematography by Mario Capriotti, shot in Elios Studios, Rome, Lacio and exteriors in similar lanscapes to Sergio Leone's Fistful of dollars, including Finca El Romeral, Cortijo El Sotillo, Almeria, Andalucia, Spain. The motion picture was well and originally directed by Romolo Guerrieri. This filmmaker was a good craftsman, directing various films about Italian sub-genres and exploitation films, such as : Post-nuke Sci-Fi : The Last Warrior, Poliziottesco or Italian Crime : Young, violent, dangerous, City under siege, Ring of death and Ravioli Western : 10000 Dollari per un massacre, Seven guns for Timothy, and Johnny Yuma. Rating 7/10, better than average. Well worth watching. The picture will appeal to Spaghetti Western fans.

This film essentially begins with a married woman by the name of "Samantha Felton" (Rosalba Neri) arraigning to have her wealthy husband killed in order to inherit his sizeable ranch and fortune. The problem, however, is that her husband had recently written to his nephew "Johnny Yuma" (Mark Damon) who has agreed to give up his life as a gunslinger in order to work on the ranch and eventually inherit a part of it on some future day. Not at all content with that idea, Samantha reaches out to another gunslinger by the name of "Linus Jerome Carradine" (Lawrence Dobkin) to help her out in that regard. But what she doesn't realize is that both Johnny and Linus have previously met under somewhat amicable circumstances, and both share a healthy respect for one another--and this complicates things to a certain degree. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an interesting film due in large part to the involvement of several different characters with their own individual agendas. That being said, while it may not be the best Spaghetti Western ever produced, it's certainly worth a watch and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The likeable mark Damon stars in this ok western that is mildly entertaining, especially in the latter half, however, I found it quite plodding at times with too much emphasis on comedy with the side kick, which distracts from an interesting storyline. Still, it has some good shootouts, and the voluptuous and deadly Rosalba Neri steals every scene she is in. The title song is good, reminds of that John Leyton song ( Johnny remember me).