zardoz-13
Sword and sandal director Giorgio Ferroni's frontier saga "Blood on a Silver Dollar" marked the first of the four Spaghetti westerns that he helmed,including "For A Few Extra Dollars," "Fort Yuma Gold," "Wanted," "Gunmen Sent by God." Interestingly, Giuliano Gemma starred in the first three, and Anthony Steffen appeared in the fourth. Composer Gianni Ferrio provided the music for all Ferroni's westerns except for that final one, while the gifted Carlo Rustichelli handled the soundtrack assignment for "Gunmen Sent by God." Since Ferroni's first sagebrusher was released in 1965, it resembled an American oater with some evolution of what would come in the European genre. Giuliano Gemma makes a traditional, stalwart hero, and he looks good in his buckskin outfit. He has one interesting scene early on where he has a showdown with a gun-toting dastard, brushes dust into the dastard's eyes, and disarms him with relative ease. The production values look a notch about a standard-issue Euro-western. Ferrio's soundtrack enhances the action, while Ferroni stages some vigorous gunfights that rarely boil down to the chicanery that he indulges in with the final showdown. "A Bullet for the General" lenser Antonio Secchi's widescreen, color cinematography captures the abrasive look of the old Southwest. If you're a Spaghettimwestern aficionado, you'll recognize at least three of the villains who made prolific appearances in the genre: Benito Stefanelli, Nello Pazzafini, and Franco Fantasia.Like the traditional western hero, our hero isn't a bounty hunter as many Spaghetti western protagonist would later become. Indeed, the protagonist Gary O'Hara (no doubt some allusion to the fictional character Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone with the Wind") has a name that echoes the South. Gary and his brother Phil O'Hara (Nazzareno Zamperla of "Dangerous Beauty") are Confederate soldiers. The end of the war finds these two together briefly as the Union returns their firearms, with a proviso. You see, the Yankees have sawn off the barrels of their revolvers so they resemble the .38-calibered snub nose revolver. Gary complains about this to a Union commander and proves his point that these cut-down revolvers are virtually useless for protection. He fires at a can in the dirt and repeatedly misses it. When the Union officer suggests he should improve his marksmanship skills, Gary persuades him to allow him the use of his revolver. Our hero proves that he is a crack shot with a revolver, and his brother joins in, too. The Yankees send them on their way with the rest of the freed Confederate soldiers. At least, the filmmakers got a little history right because they state that Johnston surrendered instead of the usual reference to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Before they part company to pursue their dreams now that the South lies smoldering in ashes, Phil informs Gary that he plans to seek his fortune out west. Meantime, Gary is a married man, and he must exercise greater discretion. Phil gives Gary is entire fortune: one silver dollar. Some prints of this Spaghetti western have abbreviated the title to "One Silver Dollar." Naturally, I prefer the title "Blood on a Silver Dollar" because it explains an important part of the plot. Our hero is killed alongside his brother Phil, but Phil had no idea that he was drawing against his brother. The chief villain McCoy (Pierre Cressoy of "Navajo Joe") is struggling to buy up all the land around Yellowstone, but he faces trouble when Phil sets out to exile him from town. Now desperate beyond despair with neither a horse nor a dime to his name, Gary is willing to accept any job, and he accepts McCoy's offer to arrest a troublemaker who has been harassing McCoy. Shrewdly, McCoy has decided that Gary stands no chance against Blackie so when they clash in the saloon, McCoy has his own gunmen wipe at Blackie in a hail of gunfire. Conveniently enough, McCoy's men kill Gary, too. What neither they nor Gary realize at the time is that Phil gave Gary a single silver dollar coin and the coin saved Gary's life. Furthermore, Gary grows to realize that he has killed his brother. Oddly, neither Ferroni nor "Adios, Gringo" scenarist Giorgio Stegani make a big deal out of Gary's brother getting killed by the villains. Indeed, eventually, Gary's wife Judy (Ida Galli of "The Unholy Four") blunders into the plot as a convenient weapon for the villains to use against him. Meantime, Gary uses his apparent death to create chaos for the villains. I cannot go into greater detail without sacrificing one of the chief surprises. Incidentally, the filmmakers get a lot of mileage out of those cut-down revolvers. I don't believe the Union Army pulled a stunt like than Southerners, but the gimmick works splendidly in the overall context of the action.
ma-cortes
1865 , American Civil War is finished , Giuliano Gemma plays a confederate soldier named Gary O'Hara (as Montgomery Wood or Giuliano Gemma) who returns from the war to fight one at home and to meet his wife Judy (as Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli) again . Gary returns home but a bit later on he sets out to seek fame and fortune . O'Hara arrives in a little town called Yellowstone to work , being hired by the mean landowner McCoy (Pierre Cressoy or Peter Cross) . However , McCoy prepares him a dark set-up . Gary agrees to ambush and kill Black Jack (Nazzareno Zamperla) but things go wrong and he finds out a big surprise . With vengeance in his heart he turns on his employers , who then shoot him , but he is saved by a coin : "One Silver Dollar" . Soon after , he attempts to prove their guilt and to chase the despot McCoy , but Gary is forced to flee . This is a good S.W. plenty of action , shootouts , thrills and abounds fist-play . Action-filled Spaghetti , littered with killings , street shootouts , revenge , romance , cross and doublé-crosses . Maccaroni Western starred by habitual actors , such as Giuliano Gemma , Pierre Cressoy as an ominous tyrant and his hoodlums played by regulars Benito Stefanelli , Massimo Righi , Nello Pazzafini , Andrea Scotti , Franco Fantasia , Sal Borghese , among others . It stars Giuliano Gemma as Gary who is relentlessly pursued by henchmen but he gets rid of his contenders one by one and tries to execute his vendetta . Moving Spaghetti Western is filled with unstopped action , thrills , horse riding , brawls and crossfire . This is a nice Spaghetti titled ¨Un Dollaro Bucato" or "One Silver Dollar" or "Blood for a Silver Dollar" or "Un Dolar Marcado , well starred by Giuliano Gemma , a hero wrongly shot who escapes to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him . This Western is a superior outing because displaying emotion , shoot'em up , brawls , intrigue , riding pursuits , grisly killings and many other things . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shots or stunts every few minutes . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge with an interesting plot , as a drifter/Gemma is contracted by a nasty , powerful owner and unbeknownst to him , his brother has become the infamous gunslinger "Black Jack" to defeat the local bullies and only to discover too late who the outlaw really is . Later on , he carries out a hard mission and to find out a twisted intrigue to overthrow the hateful tyrant . Along the way he is detained , beaten , tortured and later on , he flees and seeks vendetta . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . Giuliano steals the show as a merciless revenger , executing thespian skills , bounds and leaps , twists and shooting and throughly enjoys himself . Recently deceased Giuliano Gemma is very fine in his ordinary role as a gunfighter who seeks vengeance against his eternal enemy and their hoodlums . Giuliano Gemma , - along with Anthony Steffen and Gianni Garco - , resulted to be one of the greatest stars of the Spaghetti genre , but also played several Peplum and thrillers . Gemma in his beginning worked as a stunt-man , practiced many sports in his life, boxing , gymnastics, such as is well proved at the movie . Then the director, Duccio Tessari, gave him the first role as protagonist in the film " The Titani" and the first spaghetti western films where he often worked under the name of Montgomery Wood , playing Western as ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨The return of Ringo¨ and others as ¨Adios Gringo¨, ¨Arizona Colt¨, ¨The price of power¨ , ¨Day of anger¨ and later ¨California¨. However, his first big opportunity came with the important Italian director, Luchino Visconti in ¨El Gatopardo¨ this was followed by important roles in "Angelica" , ¨Tenebre¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨The master touch¨. Then he played his most significant roles in ¨Il Deserto Dei Tartari¨ and ¨Il Prefetto Di Ferro¨ . Furthermore , in this movie "One Silver Dollar" appears usual Western support actors , the Italian players : the veteran Giuseppe Addobbati or John McDouglas , Nello Pazzafini , Benito Stefanelli , Franco Fantasia , Massimo Righi , Andrea Scotti , Nazzareno Zamperla , Fortunato Arena , Ignazio Spalla or Pedro Sánchez and the sympathetic secondary Salvatore Borghese who is regular in Terence Hill-Spencer films . The musician Gianni Ferrio composes an attractive Spaghetti soundtrack , well conducted and including a splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score , including catching songs . Atmospheric as well as evocative cinematography by Antonio ¨Tony¨ Secchi who also photographed other Westerns , such as : ¨Bullet for the General¨, ¨Wanted¨ and "The Hills Run Red" ; being shot on exterior location in Lazio Rome , Italy . In addition , filmed in studios : Elios studios , Cinecittà Studios , Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy . The flick was professionally directed by Giorgo Ferroni , an expert on Peplum . As he directed ¨The war of Troy¨ with Steve Reeves ,¨Hercules against Molock¨ and ¨Il Colosso Di Roma¨ with Gordon Scott . He also directed Western as "Fort Yuma Gold" , ¨Wanted¨ , "Blood for a Silver Dollar" , Wartime as ¨Battle of El Alamein¨ and Terror in acceptable results as ¨ Mill of the stone woman¨ and "Night of the Devils" .
jacquespcoelho
This is one of the greatest movies I remember from my teenager years. It was the talk of town. It used to run on the local theater for months on a roll and many people went to see it more than once, including me. For some reasons it became a classic of "western" right here in Brazil. Maybe even more than full-fledged American westerns. Giuliano Gemma, even though, Italian, become the poster-boy for an authentic American cowboy down here. The plot was very well written, good fist fights, great shoot-outs right on the beginning. The soundtrack is just amazing and stands up by itself as a classic. Pay attention to the opening credits, you can have a lot of fun just by doing that. It could have been even better if had been shot in American old western soil, such as "Monument Valley". It's kind of intriguing, how italians, the creators of pasta, could make such awesome western movies and New York is the best place in the world to eat Italian food. How can these two countries can be so far and so close at the same time? It wracks my brain.
