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Monday, February 13, 2023

ACE HIGH / I QUATTRO DELL'AVE MARIA (1968)

Likable, laugh-leaning Spaghetti Western from writer/director Giuseppe Colizzi*, a popular reteaming for Terrence Hill & Bud Spencer internationally, less so Stateside where it got lost next to Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST out at the same time.  (Look fast to spot the young red-headed siblings so memorably murdered in WEST.)  Eli Wallach, with comic technique able to sail past all genre limitations, stars as a framed robber who escapes hanging only to circle back for revenge against former partner Kevin McCarthy, now owner of a crooked casino.  Newly joined by on-again/off-again pals Hill & Spencer, along with traveling entertainers Brock Peters & his wife, Wallach makes this motley crew a sort of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE outfit to delightful effect thanks to Colizzi’s clever relationship twists and nifty plot turns with Wallach pulling all the strings (even past the expected shootout finale) as these five take on McCarthy’s cold-blooded crew of cutthroats.  With better than expected production values and image (lenser Marcello Masciocchi getting the most out of difficult to handle 2-perf TechniScope), the film is only held back by Colizzi’s lack of action chops as director.  The staging’s okay, but he’s done in by ‘bad’ camera angles.  (Or is the fight coordinator to blame?)  It was only Colizzi’s second film; perhaps he improved.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *Unusually for commercial Italian fare, screenwriting not a group activity here.

DOUBLE-BILL: Dying young at 53, Colizzi only made six films, four with Hill & Spencer, a pairing he got started with GOD FORGIVES . . . I DON’T/’67.  (Not seen here.)

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