Lola Colt

Sexy showgirl Lola Colt fights off the advances of the evil El Diablo, while plotting with handsome medical student Peter Martell to free the town and a group of hostages from his clutches.

An Italian western with a black female protagonist (!), this vehicle for pop-star Lola Falana is a bit more entertaining than it seems like it would be. It's a little contrived, though fairly earnest and surprisingly straight-faced, playing more like a nineteen-forties B-picture than a nineteen-sixties spaghetti western, at least until Lola straps on some six-shooters for a violent climax. A compact running time helps too.

An interracial romance between Lola and Martell, as well as a kiss between Lola and El Diablo appear to have been scrubbed from the English language version.

Really bad story, filled with limp dialog, delivered in wooden performances, even by Spaghetti Western standards. At the risk of being non-PC, Lola's costumes in two absurdly anachronistic song-and-dance numbers (two performances; one song) are the film's best assets. Fast-forward whenever nothing is moving but characters' lips.

"Lola Colt" (that's the title I saw it under) should have been at least half-way decent. You have famous Las Vegas singer, talk show/variety show regular Lola Falana starring in her own spaghetti western. On paper this movie couldn't miss but it does. Falana is dreamy and she does wear a few nice costumes but she's no leading lady. She would have probably been fine in a supporting role but she can't carry a movie on her shoulders. Also, the script is weak and the supporting cast not much better. The action is pretty bad with a bunch of sped up fights that look ridiculous. "Lola Cola" is the pits.

It's a thrilling western with breathtaking facing off between the protagonists , Lola Falana and Peter Martell against German Cobos and his hoodlums . Passable though mediocre Spaghetti Western full of fury , action, and portentous duels . Sexy show-girl Lola (Lola Falana) arrives in the town of Sant'Anna with some other dancing colleagues to perform at the saloon . Along the way , the town is however terrorized by El Diablo (German Cobos) a powerful land baron who wants to sell the surrounding land to the railway company. Then , bombshell Lola helps the rebel colonists together with a youth medical student called Rod Strater (Peter Martell) who has fallen in love for her with the subsequent jealousy of his girlfriend Rose (Erna Schurer) . But when a kid is murdered by El Diablo and his henchmen , then Lola , citizens , and Rod set out to seek for vengeance. As the peaceful Rod Strater becomes into a terrible avenger .

This moving Western contains thrills , action , go riding , violence , shoot'em up , musical numbers , songs and results to be entertaining enough . Leone-style Western with so-so performances and regular direction by Siro Marcellini who creates some good action scenes and exciting set pieces . The movie contains typical particularities Spaghetti , it is full of fury , sadism , bloodbaths , and close-ups of grime-encrusted faces . The film is well starred by the Afro-American Lola Falana as a saloon dancer who sings and dances some spectacular songs , too . In fact , she studied African dance, and her big break came when she appeared opposite Sammy Davis Jr. In "Golden Boy" on Broadway in 1964 . She then toured Italy and won fame there in two Italian movies : Quando dico che ti amo (1967) and Lola Falana (1967) . She toured with the Tavares Brothers in the 1970s and married Feliciano "Butch" Tavares . In 1979 she became the highest-paid entertainer in Las Vegas, thus earning her the title "First Lady of Las Vegas". Co-stars Pietro Martellanza or Peter Martell . This notorious Spaghetti actor , Peter Martell is acceptable in his usual tough role . His character is comfortably performed , he plays as a coward doctor , but due to a violent death and a hard punishment to his father , he then seeks a bloody vendetta while strapping a six-shooters , an usual plot in Spaghetti Western . Pietro Martellanza or Peter Martell was born on September 30, 1938 in Bolzano, Italy and he died in Bolzano , 2010 . He was a mediocre actor known for playing some Pasta Westerns as Ringo the lone rider (1968), Gunman of Ave Maria (1969) , The fury of Johnny Kid (1967) , Two Crosses in Danger Pass (1967) , The Long Day of the Massacre , God Made Them... I Kill Them , Arizona Colt , My Name is Pecos (1966) and other subgenres as in Fuego en el desierto (1971) and Barbagia (La società del malessere) (1969) . While another starring , the Spanish German Cobos played a lot of Paella/Chorizo or Tortilla Western filmed in Spain such as : ¨Hombre De La Diligencia¨ by Jose Maria Elorrieta¨, ¨Fuerte Perdido¨, ¨Valor De Cobarde¨ by Leon Klimowsky , ¨Wanted¨ by Giorgo Ferroni , ¨Blood calls to Blood¨ by Luigi Capuano and ¨The Secret of Captain O'Hara¨by Arturo Ruiz del Castillo. They're well supported by a familar secondary cast , formed by customary secondaries, such as : Tom Felleghy , Erna Schurer , Andrea Scotti , Giovanni Petrucci , Ivan Scratuglia , among others .

It displays atmospheric and evocative musical score in Spaghetti style by Ubaldo Continiello , including a catching leitmotif that results to be a variation of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez . This picture was regular but professionally directed by Siro Marcellini , though with no originality , and it has a number of flaws and gaps. Marcellini was a nice craftsman who directed another Western titled ¨The Man from Cursed Valley¨ but his speciality was the adventure genre such as "The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules" , I Cavalieri del Diablo¨, "The Two Rivals" and "The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan" . Rating : 5.5/10 . Average but acceptable and passable spaghetti western.

"Lola Colt" was made during the height of the spaghetti western craze in Italy, though it only got theatrically released in the United States nine years later, where it was marketed as a blaxploitation flick. I am sure that African Americans who went to see this movie were disappointed. To be sure, actress Lola Falana looks both pretty and comfortable in her surroundings. Also, there is refreshingly no reference to her race at any point in the movie (though this fact may make much of this movie hard to swallow to some in the audience.) However, Falana isn't given much to do for the most part. In fact, she more or less becomes a supporting character instead of a true lead character. She eventually straps on some guns for the climax, a climax that gives the movie some much needed action after being so talky and uneventful before then. And after the climax, the movie comes to a near halt again, and we have to wait a considerable amount of time before the movie finally comes to an end. Die hard fans of spaghetti westerns might find a little interest in this movie both for its unusual set-up and how it pretty much completely botches this set-up. For others, well, there are a lot better spaghetti westerns out there.