MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: L'ARMATA BRANCALEONE / FOR LOVE AND GOLD (1966)

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RECOMMENDED - Meaning Strongly Recommended. A film that's good enough or historically important enough to demand viewing. WARNING: A few real stinkers are important enough to rate this label. And, on the other hand, lots of pretty good or pretty valuable films, don't quite measure up to our RECOMMENDED level. (See also UNIQUE, below.)

FAMILY FRIENDLY - CAREFUL!! Not necessarily a KIDDIE pic, but a film that school kids may get into if the subject interests. You'll find foreign & silent pics in here as the need to read the sub-titles & inter-titles to follow the narrative and get all the jokes does wonders for ADD types.

LINK - To quickly find any Write-Up that includes an InterNet Link of interest for that specific film.

UNIQUE - Films that may not fit into the usual critical categories of Good, Bad or Indifferent, (certainly not indifferent!), but are worth watching because there just ain't nothing like 'em. Sui generis pics. (Phooey generis if they don't work for you.)

READ ALL ABOUT IT - While there's a book or two (or ten dozen) closely related to just about any film you might think of, here's a specific book you might not have known about (or thought of) that opens a window on the chosen title.

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POSTER - Hmm, I bet you can figure this one out.

(Hint: most of the posters will enlarge if you click on them.)

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT - sort of like those EAT THIS, NOT THAT diet books only with film instead of food as the topic. Sometimes, the substitute pick isn't the obvious 'better' choice, but one of those 'flawed-but-interesting' films that often get left behind.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID - some easy to miss element worth noting.

SILENT FILM - hey, figure it out (LOL)

. . . and DOUBLE-BILL - a suggested second feature.

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Like just about everyone with an interest in the movies, I'm watching more films on DVD and going out to movie houses a lot less. Convenience trumps the better experience.
Of course, you lose audience interaction and the poor film now has to compete with all the comforts of home.
It's a bit like seeing Rembrandts & Titians in a book reproduction, or from posters with iffy color values, no texture or weight to the surface and the wrong dimensions . . . all while snacking on chips & soda. (Oops! You get that at your local cinema,too.)
The ease of instant movie gratification risks turning an art form (well, sometimes) into little more than low-grade eye-candy & mindfodder. So, maybe it's worthwhile to write a bit down on what we're all viewing, just to keep fully engaged.

DVDs: the latest opiate of the people meets the internet, where everyone's a critic.
God help us.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2026

L'ARMATA BRANCALEONE / FOR LOVE AND GOLD (1966)

Mario Monicelli’s warts and all (but mostly warts) spoof on noble knights and all things mediæval could have been titled VITTORIO GASSMAN AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Twenty years before Monty Python got there, this large-scale farce on muck & loyalty still comes across with its big battles (bloody & bonkers) and a ridiculous, yet oddly believable, view of the pre-renaissance Middle Ages as human comedy. Gassman, principled master to a motley crew of wandering swordsman (and one Jewish peddler) are heading to his home-base castle at Aurocastro; if they can only get there between warfare (Saracen Pirates; rival Christian Brotherhoods) and the tempting Waiting Ladies (engaged virgins to demur; devouring dominatrix to try on) they come across. Epic Euro-comedies usually aim low and miss, but Monicelli aims down & dirty while taking the high road. (Past pics include BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET/’58 and THE ORGANIZER/’63*, so dumb comedy not his style.) No doubt, a lot of laughs get lost in (subtitle) translation, dialect riffs only native Italians will spot*, but more than enough comes thru for the non-cognoscenti.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Monicelli’s masterpiece, THE ORGANIZER, criminally under-seen. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/06/i-compagni-organizer-1963.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Popular enough in Italy for a sequel : BRANCALEONE ALLE CROCIATE/’70 (not seen here). The original (recently restored) barely got a token Stateside release in 1981.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2026

L'ARMATA BRANCALEONE / FOR LOVE AND GOLD (1966)

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