Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

ironhorse_iv What is the price of power? Not much, since I got this movie at a dollar bin at Wal-Mart. The movie isn't the worst Spaghetti western movie I ever saw, but it's no way, has the power to become well-known. You have to suffer from a head blow to think this match up with Sergio Leone's films. In my opinion, it's alright. Directed by Tonino Valerii, this 113 minutes is pretty hard to find, that's if, you can figure out what the title of the film is called. The movie comes with different titles depending on where you lived. The movie been known as the Price of Power, Texas, a Bullet for The President or Dallas. This is often confusing when trying to seek this movie out. Tonino Valerri's western movie is very much serve as an allegory to the assassination of President Kennedy and racial politics in 1960s America. It's seems like the director and writers wanted to put fistful of JFK conspiracy theories in Western settings for some odd reason that end up being good, bad and ugly results. The good thing about the film is how well-made it is. The acting is so-so, but the English dubbing is a little off kilter. Surprising, Giuliano Gemma is pretty good lead in this film. Benito Stefanelli is great as the villainous and corrupt Sheriff Jefferson. Some pretty good excellently staged action. The whole train bridge shootout was pretty intense. I love the whole gun fight in the dark idea in another scene from the movie. I have to say, this movie has one of the oddest trial scenes in the history of film. The music score by Luis Bacalov was pretty daring. The movie has a good music score, though it relies on repeating the title theme a little too much to the point, it got annoying. 'Catch a star in the sky' was a pretty catchy number by singer Norma Jordan AKA Annie in the film. The English audio is perfectly audible but has some pops and hiss in the background. The movie moves in a steady pace, and I didn't find myself bored at times. The film plot reads like this, in 1881 Texas is still divided from the ashes of the Civil War. A American President, President James Garfield (Van Johnson) despite warnings of assassination, comes to Dallas to help establish a new police of equality. Bill Willer (Giuliano Gemma) and two of his friends, a black man named Jack Donovan (Ray Shaunders), and a crippled guy named Nick (Manuel Zarzo) are determined to prevent the President's murder, at any cost. While, the movie doesn't claim to be historical accuracy, I have to say the movie takes great liberty to the historical event leading to Garfield's murder. James Garfield was not assassinated by racists, who wanted to reinstall the confederacy in Texas, but in Washington DC train station by mentally unstable Charles Guiteau who was reject by Garfield's staff after trying to seek a job. The way, the movie version of President Garfield ends up dying isn't even close to what happen to him in real life. It wasn't only the bullet that killed him, according to most experts, what actually killed Garfield over two months later were incompetent doctors who probed and probed to retrieve a bullet to no avail. They never bothered cleaning their hands or implements in the process. Garfield most likely died due to malpractice. I like how Van Johnson also doesn't even look like Garfield in the film. He's missing the beard, has the wrong hair color and style and is just not even close in any way! He is as close as looking like Garfield as Garfield the cat is of looking like the president. I also feel bad for President Chester Arthur. In the film, Garfield's Vice President Chester A. Arthur was being blackmail by Neo-Confederate conspirator banker Allen Pinkerton (Fernando Rey). While, Chester A. Arthur did had a corrupt past, he was no way one of the people conspiring to kill Garfield in real history. Also, in real history, Allan Pinkerton worked with Union intelligence in the Civil War and established the U.S. Intelligence Service, the forerunner of the Secret Service. In the movie they got nothing of history right whatsoever. Still, the film doesn't mention the name Garfield on the film, as the President character is mostly nameless in the film. It's the producers that says that he is supposed to be President Garfield. If he was, or wasn't playing Garfield. The story is fictitious. The whole 1960's feel to the film seems to shine through the dirty 19th century settling, anyways. Even Warren Vanders's character, Arthur McDonald looks sometime out of a Dirty Harry movie and Annie AKA Norma Jordan out of a James Bond film. The film automatically raises the question of whether it reflects Valerii or screenwriter Massimo Patrizi's actual beliefs about the Kennedy assassination. The film makes it look like JFK's assassin, Lee Oswald was innocent who was set up by rightists to take the blame, due to the character of Jack Donavan. If this was the filmmaker's attempt to show, I have to disagree with them. Lee Oswald clearly kill JFK. If anybody help him, is up to question. Oddly, The Price of Power ends up endorsing the idea of a cover-up for the good of the nation. Take it at as it is. It's a good Spaghetti movie that stand out due to its JFK juxtaposition. This is a Spaghetti Western that deserves a much wider reputation that the one it currently holds.

JohnWelles "The Price of Power" (1969), directed by Tonino Valerii, is a Spaghetti Western starring Guiliano Gemma, Van Johnson, Fernando Rey and Benito Stefanelli. Made six years after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, it seeks to comment sharply on the situation, perhaps more bitingly than Hollywood wanted or was able to do at that time.The plot is thus, with their 1963 equivalents blatantly obvious: in Dallas, Texas, 1883 an unpopular liberal President (Johnson) visits the city and is assassinated in a crossfire of lead. A black patsy is quickly found by the corrupt sheriff (Stefanelli) and is killed while in transit between prisons. The framed man's friend (Gemma) seeks to find out the truth, variously aided and set back by a mysterious government agent (Warren Vanders).Reading the synopsis, it's pretty clear where Valerii is heading, and he does so with style and tension. Well-acted, photographed and edited, with some excellent gunfights, this is a Spaghetti Western that deserves a much wider reputation that the one it currently holds.

unbrokenmetal After the civil war, Willer (Giuliano Gemma) who was 4 years in prison for treason, lives in Texas when president Garfield (Van Johnson) comes to visit the unruly state. Although the president was his judge in the trial years ago, Willer rescues his life from assassins. But there is quite a big conspiracy going on involving sheriff Jefferson (Benito Stefanelli) and the owner of the bank of Texas (Fernando Rey) who blackmails the vice president, so plans for a new attempt to murder the president are made immediately.Good quality western by Tonino Valerii who shot "Day of Anger" (also with Gemma) the year before and went on to make "My Name Is Nobody" with Henry Fonda and Terence Hill. "The Price of Power" may not be historically accurate (and by the way, the sweet little nothing the saloon dancer is almost wearing comes straight from a 1969 nightclub), and it plays too obviously with the similarities to the JFK assassination case, yet unlike many Italian westerns it rarely drifts away into a bizarre anti-hero fantasy world, the exception being the duel rituals between Willer and Jefferson.

ster2001 Out of the 600 or so Spaghetti Westerns made this has got to be in the top twenty somewhere. Can not believe this hasn't received any reviews! Gemma is excellent in this. Van Johnson is good too though his dubbed voice is a little off killter but that's the charm of the Italian style. Beautiful photography and some excellently staged action. All the supporting characters are well played. The severity of the racist streak in the bad guys is pretty tough even by todays standards which creates an emotional depth to Gemmas character in some of the situations that take place. Absolutely FANTASTIC score by Luis Bacalov. See this is in the wonderful Wide screen DVD from Japan. A spaghetti must have.