Miss Dynamite

A map to a fortune in gold has been split into five pieces. Five different individuals have a piece of the map and some would do just about anything to get the other pieces. Our two heroes, a shiftless drifter who happens to be good with a gun and a beautiful saloon singer, each have a piece of the puzzle. They form an uneasy alliance and decide to work together to get the treasure.

Miss Dynamite (or All the Brothers of the West Support Their Father - what a stupid name) has two things going for it that should have made it a winner with me - it's a Spaghetti Western starring Marisa Mell. In this case, however, that wasn't enough. My biggest gripe is with the script. I've never been a big fan of mixing comedy into a Western and this movie doesn't change that. I admit, there were a couple of scenes that I found funny (Lionel Stander crossing the river on the shoulders of his henchmen being one that almost brought me to actual laughter), but most were more groan-inducing than anything else. Also, I didn't care at all for the ending. Our heroes end up with all the map pieces and . . . well, that's about it. We never see them using the map or finding the gold. Kind of anticlimactic. Finally, while I enjoyed seeing Marisa Mell and liked her character, I can't say the same for her co-star, Antonio Sabato. His Jeepo character got on my nerves right from the start. Overall, Miss Dynamite was a real disappointment.

I've cut Miss Dynamite a break when it comes to the rating. I watched the 72 minute version available on Amazon. IMDb lists the runtime at over 90 minutes. I'm not sure the extra 20+ minutes would have made a difference (in fact, it might have made things worse), but I'm willing to cut the movie a bit of slack and give it a 4/10 instead of the 3/10 I initially decided on.

This is the sort of Spaghetti Western silliness that Terence Hill did much better, and others have done worse. 1.5 of my 5 rating comes from my first exposure to Melisa Mell, with a mild, yet alluring, degree of HER exposure. Until now, Femi Benussi was my own choice for beauty queen of the genre. Here, Ms. Mell raises a challenge for the title. She makes this one far more watchable through a bunch of slapstick fights that grow tiresome from excess familiarity.

This 1972 film directed by Sergio Grieco is - as the German title suggests - about five nuggets of gold that together form a treasure map to a profitable gold mine. Five shady guys are after this treasure and are in a crazy competition for the gold nuggets and ultimately the mine.

First and foremost is the young Gipo (played by Antonio Sabato), who is blessed with hard fists and enormous accuracy. He is supported by the bar singer Lulu Belle (beautiful as always: the Austrian ItaloCinema star Marisa Mell), who initially has a few fights with Gipo (not just with words!), but then cannot resist his prominent chest fur and charming smile. Other opponents for the big gold are played by the German actor Peter Carsten (known from the "08/15" films), Lionel Stander (as Lucky Capone from Chicago) and Fernando Sancho as a general. The enchanting German actress Brigitte Skay can be seen in a small but open-hearted role.

There are violent fights and wild shootings, which can be quite convincing. With the great Giovanni Cianfriglia (since he worked as a stunt double for Steve Reeves, he has appeared as a stuntman in countless ItaloCinema films) as one of the beating opponents, equal combat opponents are guaranteed. Individual gags also really work. Particularly noteworthy here are the original exchange of blows between the main actors Marisa Mell and Antonio Sabato and Gipo's metallophone playing on the general's chest, which is studded with medals.

Unfortunately, the German dubbing is really weak, which is particularly noticeable in the fight scenes, which are actually quite successful. Much more would have been possible here. This western comedy is particularly worth seeing because of the two main actors, who can be seen here in roles that are rather unusual for them. The often somewhat underestimated Marisa Mell (1939-1992) had already impressed a few years earlier in the Mario Bava classic "Danger: Diabolik" alongside John Phillip Law. A year later, Antonio Sabato was seen alongside Brad Harris in the funny brawler "ZWEI SCHLITZOHREN IN DER GELBEN HÖLLE / THIS TIME I WILL MAKE YOU RICH / QUESTA VOLTA TI FACCIO RICCO" (1974). In it he played a similarly powerful daredevil (with a slight tendency to nasty sadism) as in "FÜNF KLUMPEN GOLD / WHERE THE BULLETS FLY / TUTTI FRATELLI NEL WEST...PER PARTE DI PADRE" (1972).

Worth seeing with some reservations! But with great main actors!