Hoping to restart the South's recently lost Civil War with a coffin’s-worth of expired U.S. cash, Joseph Cotten and his three mismatched sons are on a killing spree, along with a heavily veiled tart posing as the coffin’s ‘widow.’ After massacring a squad of soldiers in an ambush to grab the loot, they ride thru Indian territory and small towns, even stopping at a military fort on their way home. This bargain-basement war set-up a bit of a stretch in another B-list Spaghetti Western from director Sergio Corbucci, as usual running hot and cold on ideas & execution. Here, impressive large-scale action sequences and better than expected acting. Especially once the first ‘widow’ is offed, replaced by card-sharp Norma Bengell. Even a satisfying finish on this danger-at-every-turn journey. Too bad it comes at the end of the second act. After that clever twist, the third act all forced nihilism in spite of a couple of decent surprises. Corbucci not helping his case with lax staging and misjudged camera angles on smaller-scaled fights, close gun play & in-your-face punches that miss by a mile in spite of the usual comically loud dubbed sound effects.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Corbucci on a corpse-less coffin kick at the time, with DJANGO/’66 using one loaded not with corrupt cash, but a gatling gun. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/01/django-1966.html
No comments:
Post a Comment