Selle d'argent

A light and strightforward Lucio Fulci western with neither much violence , nor sex but a plain story of a bounty hunter who protects a little boy , though there are shootouts enough . At the beginning a young boy sees how his dad is shot . Years later , once grown-up Roy Blood : Giuliano Gemma becomes a bounty hunter . When a kid is kidnapped , Roy along with the robber Snake : Geoffrey Lewis free the little boy and early Blood befriends him , developing an intimate relationship . When Roy is accused for killing and kidnap , he is wanted dead or alive , reward for 1000 dollars .Along the way Blood discovers dark secrets of the boy's family .

Thrilling Western with noisy action , fights , go riding , pursuits, shot'em up , and an enjoyable relationship beween a kid and a gunfighter . It is an acceptable Spaghetti unusual to Fulci career domineed by violent Westerns , bloody thrillers and especially gory horror movies . Here he makes an agreeable Pasta Western with brief intrigue , a kidnapping and a twist final . Stars regular stalwart Spaghetti Western : Giuliano Gemma who starred a lot of Italian oaters often under pseudonym Montgomery Wood , such as : A pistol for Ringo, The return of Ringo, Adiós Gringo , Arizona Colt , The price of power , Day of anger , California .Although also made other genres as Peplum , Thriller, Dramas , Wartime , and Terror in films as : The Titans, Il Gatopardo , Angélica, Tenebre , The master touch, Young Lions , Tenebre , among others . In the movie appears some familiar faces from Westerns and dramas as the American Geoffrey Lewis, Lucio Fulci made 4 Westerns all of them stattred by the Spaghett's greatest stars as "Massacre time" with George Hilton, Franco Nero , "Four of the Apocalypse" with Thomas Milian , Fabio Testi and "A bullet for Sandoval" co-directed by Julio Buchs with George Hilton , Ernest Borgnine , and all extremely violent and really bloody . However, this "Silver Saddle" or "Sella d'argento" is more a frienship story with a child than the ordinary crude and tough Western . Furthermore, being considered to be one of the last important Spaghetti Western in a long period that started with the films shot in Almería by Joaquín Romero Marchent , and bursting with Sergio Leone's Trilogy of the Dollars , following hundreds and hundred Pasta or Paella Westens from 1963 to 1978 approx.

The motion picture was well directed by Lucio Fulci who was a prolific writer and filmmaker . Directing all kinds of genres with penchant for terror as The Black Cat , Zombie 3 , Un gatto nel cervello, , Demonia , Manhattan Baby , New York Ripper , The house by the cemetery , City of the living dead , Aenigma, Murderock , The Wax Mask , and several others . This Western has a rating 6.5/10 , being acceptable and passable to see . Well worth watching . The flick will like to Lucio Fulci aficionados and Spaghetti Westerns fans .

This 1978 release is generally considered as the last spaghetti western in the cycle commenced in 1964. The occasional entries from the eighties were simply a one off attempts to revive a genre which formally ended in 1978 but which had been in its death throes since the early seventies. This is a western for children directed by of all people Lucio Fulci with his trademark gore nowhere to be seen. Gemma who was always a heroic presence rather than an anti hero was perfectly cast for the film intended by the producers. The story has a young boy seeing his father murdered and murdering the Killer and taking his silver saddle.Growing up as a feared bounty hunter he saves the life and befriends the young nephew of the man he intends to kill for having commissioned his father's murder and from this point on the action and mild violence take a back sear to th relationship between Gemma , the kid his beautiful aunt and his partner a sympathetic crook excellently played by Geoffrey Lewis. A good but not exceptional score is aided by a catchy title theme in the De Angelis mold. Not a great film, maybe not even a great spaghetti western but very enjoyable from start to finish.

Lucio Fulci will probably always be best known for his gory zombie movies; but he also directed some of the best films in the Giallo genre as well as a few other gems elsewhere. Fulci only directed three films in the popular Spaghetti Western genre; and I for one am thankful for that as it was clearly not his strong point. His first attempt at the genre, Massacre Time, was an above average western, if not especially brilliant. Four of the Apocalypse was well made but frankly dull, which brings us on to this film; which is more exciting (slightly) than Fulci's last effort, but too sappy for a western and too lacking in important areas. The plot is very typical for a Spaghetti Western and focuses on a man who, as a child, witnessed his father being killed. He grows up to become a bounty hunter going by the name of Silver Saddle and naturally he wants revenge and starts plotting once he finds the people behind his father's death. However, he ends up coming across the young son instead and after thwarting an assassination on the boy, sets off for his revenge.

The music is generally a very important element of the Spaghetti Western; and again it's a place where this one is seriously lacking. The score is, simply, horrible. What we get is a singer droning on about the plot of the movie and it will do nothing but make you cringe! Ennio Morricone, this isn't. The film seems all too keen to shy away from the stuff that usually makes this genre so great - namely, violence and action, and instead decides to put its focus on the relationship between the central bounty hunter character and his enemy's nephew; a young and irritating blonde haired kid. This relationship may be interesting for some; but personally I found it very boring and it wasn't what I went into this film looking for. There are a few action scenes but nothing particularly startling and the way the film moves is rather boring far too often. Prolific Spaghetti Western star Giuliano Gemma takes the lead role and is one of the film's few saving graces as he puts in a believable performance. The ending is rather decent too and wraps things up nicely; but this is not a great western unfortunately.

An interesting film that shows Gemma at his best. Neat photography and some pleasant incidental music but an annoying main theme that repeats throughout! The kid is good and typical storyline, but gunfights are effective with realistic blood squid effects. One for Gemma fans for sure!

Like the same director's "Four of the Apocalypse," whether or not this film ultimately succeeds for you probably depends on your willingness to tolerate its flaws for its strengths.

Its flaws include bad acting on the parts of Giulliano Gemma and Sven Valsecchi, who are the two leads, a frustrating tendency to establish promising themes, only to allow them to dissipate after the first thirty minutes, and another frustrating tendency to put all the best action scenes in the first act.

Its strengths include the presence of Geoffrey Lewis, Aldo Sambrell, and Donald O'Brien, some excellent classic western action that's filmed with a modern sense of realism (read: BLOOD SQUIBS), and great photography, locations, costumes and sets that give an overall feeling similar to that of Fulci's other 70's western, mentioned above. The musical score, overall, is great and befits the feel and tone, although the hippy-dippy theme song may mar it for some.

For fans of Fulci and/or Italian westerns from the 70's, this is more than worth checking out...between this and "Four..." it's obvious the guy was up to something interesting and cool with his westerns during this time period, it's just too bad he didn't have a better sense of pacing and focus and evidently wasn't aware that you save your best tricks for the end of the movie, not the beginning.