Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965) User Reviews

Italian Made Old Style Western - Worth a Fair Few Dollars

[marc-366 · 7/10 · 20 September 2005]

Confederate soldier Gary O'Hara (Guiliano Gemma) and his brother Phil are released from a prisoner of war camp following the end of the civil war, the barrels of their guns removed by their captors. Gary returns home to his wife Judy (Evelyn Stewart) whilst Phil is not ready to live such a quiet life and heads off west.

Gary soon decides to follow his brother to the town of Yellowstone, and to find work to support his family. On arrival, his combat prowess is soon put to practice, which brings him to the attention of local banker McCory (Pierre Cressoy). McCory offers him a ranch and money if he can kill local outlaw Blacky, which he agrees to do. Gary is taken to the local saloon and advised that Blacky is the man at the bar with his back to him. On confrontation, Blacky turns around, firing his gun - and revealing himself to be Phil O'Hara. McCory and his men open fire, leaving both brothers dead.

By a stroke of good fortune, Gary survives the ambush, his life saved by the single silver dollar in his pocket. He sets out to discover why McCory wanted Blacky dead, and to aid the local villagers that are suffering at the hands of a group of marauding bandits. Meanwhile, Judy O'Hara travels to Yellowstone in search of her husband, and soon finds herself in the unwelcome company of McCory.

As with Gemma's role in his two Ringo films, the character of Gary O'Hara would sit quite comfortably in an American made western. This is no bad thing, and he does always make for a likable hero. The same point could be levelled at the film in general - it is a likable flick, with a true old American western feel. That said, Ferrio's enjoyable whistled score clearly sits within the euro-western genre, and it does share a level of violence with its fellow Italian movies.

The story itself has a few clichés (for one thing, a fair few screen characters have been saved over the years by an inanimate object conveniently placed on their person) but does that really matter? Clearly not. And there are some great scenes, particularly both the opening (great gun-play as the brothers are released) and final sequence. From a personal perspective, I was also intrigued to note a great visual likeness between Evelyn Stewart and my own girlfriend!!! Not that that should be of any real relevance to this write up.

In summary, this is one of those nice easy to watch movies (legs up on the sofa, with a wine or beer for company), and certainly worth a few silver dollars of anyones money.

Try to catch up with this one

[BruceCorneil · 7/10 · 24 February 2003]

Quite a good spaghetti western. Interesting performances by all concerned together with some fine photography and direction. The theme song is worth a mention as well - very haunting. Fans of the genre should try to catch up with this one.

Thrilling and decent Spaghetti Western about an ex Confederate captain who seeks vengeance against heinous killers

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 4 October 2016]

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" .

Entertaining Gemma Western

[FilmFlaneur · 2 March 2004]

Although not as good as Gemma's best Italian Western Day of Anger (Giorni dell'ira, I (1967)), One Silver Dollar is still enjoyable. It's a relatively early euro oater, mimicing more closely than do later productions the conventions of the American originals, and displaying few or none of the gothic cynicism and elements of parody which invaded the genre as it became more established. Gemma plays O'Hara, a ex-confederate soldier whose return to peace time life is marred when he encounters a band of crooks intending to take over a town and buy up homesteaders. After accidentally shooting his own brother, O'Hara struggles to put an end to the criminal's schemes, as well as extracting his wife who has now fallen into clutches of the ruthless gang. Directed as ‘Calvin Jackson Padget', Ferroni's film is very effective, even if the plot is hardly original. Now and again the film suggests things to come, especially in the second half when the put upon O'Hara is by turn fooled, left for dead, beaten up, and even has his mouth filled with salt in order to make him talk – all casual cruelties startling in the context of an otherwise fairly genial ‘bad-guys-stealing-homesteaders-land' plot. Gemma is a lithe, physical hero, but a scene or two opening out his character, especially in the light of his brother's murder, would have been welcome. Hidden underneath the narrative is some discreet play with masculinity and honour: O'Hara has to make do with an emasculated six shooter, whose barrel has been sawn off by his yankee captors while the bonding between old Confederate comrades, and their ongoing humiliation, is another recurring theme. The main titles theme is one of those instantly memorable whistle mottos which are a hallmark of the genre, although on disc the sound is a bit thin and appears to be sourced from a mono master. The Australian produced DVD features the American dub in a slightly faded widescreen print. Its only through the trailer, also included, that one gets a sense of how effective the original language version would have been. Many recent Spaghetti releases include a subtitled version and this is certainly the most desirable package.

Fine entertainment for any Spaghetti Western fan.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 20 August 2017]

Handsome, charming former stuntman Giuliano Gemma is once again in good form as he plays Gary O'Hara, a former Confederate soldier in the post-Civil War era. Looking for employment, he comes to the isolated town of Yellowstone, and gets hired for a job by local fat cat McCoy (Pierre Cressoy). He survives the ensuing ordeal to learn that McCoy lied to him, and that the supposed bad man he was hired to roust was in fact his brother Phil (Nazzareno Zamperla). Saved from certain death by a strategically placed silver dollar, he goes about seeking justice.

"Blood for a Silver Dollar" is just good, straightforward entertainment, complete with gunfights, stunts, twists and turns, a lovely leading lady (Ida Galli as Garry's wife Judy), and appealing widescreen photography. It doesn't reinvent the genre, but it tells a diverting story in capable fashion for a fairly well paced 91 minutes. Certainly a lot of the pleasure derives from Gemmas' casting, and he's an engaging hero as always. Cressoy is one of those classic characters who you can just sense is going to be sneaky and corrupt, and other supporting actors like Franco Fantasia (as the sheriff) also do fine work.

Gary takes plenty of lumps before the tale is done. While we're not in much doubt that he'll rise up righteous and kick some ass, it's good that he doesn't always necessarily have the upper hand, keeping things at least fairly interesting.

Seven out of 10.

Revenge story with an unusual twist

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 18 January 2004]

The revenge story of this movie has got an unusual twist, because the hero (Giuliano Gemma) shot his brother himself! However, that was an accident as he was hired to shoot a gunman named "Blackeye" (in the German dubbed version, good for some laughs elsewhere) and little did he know... He was supposed to die in that shootout himself as well, but a dollar coin in his pocket stopped the bullet. Later he becomes a member of the gang that now rules the town, trying to find out who is the boss responsible for all this.

Shot in 1965 when spaghetti western was still fresh, this is a simple yet very entertaining movie although not a typical example for the genre, as it lacks the cynicism and ritualism of the later Django movies. But I hope no-one considers these to be necessary ingredients for a good western? Voted 7/10.

Good genre material

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 22 September 2016]

A solid spaghetti western outing, with James Woods look alike Giuliano Gemma in one of his many leading roles for the genre. ONE SILVER DOLLAR shows influences from Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, not least in the title, but also in the opening animated drawings accompanied by a tuneful whistling on the soundtrack. However, the plot is different enough and complex enough to be totally interesting. There are good production values and well-staged scenes of action, with never a dull moment. Plenty of fist-fights, beatings, shoot-outs, and show-downs highlight the movie and its near classic stuff here.

Gemma - not one of my favourite actors, I have to admit - is solid enough to be a hero, and charismatic with it. He's well supported by the ever-lovely Ida Galli as his loving wife Judy, and French actor Pierre Cressoy as the slimy villain McCory. The film even manages a couple of moving scenes along with all of the excitement, including the moment when innocent farmer Donaldson is shot dead by the traitorous sheriff, or the bar room scene where the two brothers unknowingly kill each other (or so it seems), a set-up by McCory. The ending has a huge body count as O'Hara just goes around wiping out every single villain in the town, and Giorgio Ferroni is careful to have lots of imaginative twists and minor turns in the plot, as well as plenty of surprises like guns turning out to be empty, coins saving people's lives, and friends suddenly becoming enemies and vice versa. Good genre material.

Okay, Formulaic Pulp-Western

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 14 March 2011]

Heading west, ex-Confederate Giuliano Gemma agrees to help capture a bandit, only to find out that the "outlaw is his brother and himself a patsy in an even bigger plot involving a crooked banker and a group of put-upon homesteaders.

Like most of Giuliano Gemma's westerns, this isn't near the top of the heap. However, it's sturdy enough, with a lot of action, some pretty dastardly villains, and a few good plot twists. It could have used a little bit more grit and suspense in the first hour though.

Also, Gemma is always fun to root for, no matter how good or bad the film is. In the beginning (sporting a beard), he looks kind of like Charleton Heston in Planet Of The Apes!

An Above-Average Spaghetti Western with Guiliano Gemma

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 20 February 2017]

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," and "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 protagonists 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 sawed off the barrels of their revolvers so they resemble a chunky .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.

Spaghetti "light"

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 31 March 2021]

Definitely not a full fledged "Spaghetti Western". "Blood for a Silver Dollar" does have some anti hero elements, but not enough to distance itself from a more "Americanized oater." When Giuliano Gemma sneaks up behind a bad guy, and before shooting lights his cigar for him, I was suddenly take back to "For a Few dollars More." The dubbing is especially terrible in this film, the action is mostly concentrated towards the finish, and character development sorely lacking. Another weak point would be the main villain being not menacing enough. There are moments of enjoyment dealing with Confederate weapons, and a couple weak attempts at humor. "Blood for a Silver Dollar" will never be confused with a Leone Western, but is totally watchable, mostly because Gemma is so easy to like and root for. MERK.

Decent spaghetti western with some unusual touches

[tankjonah · 5/10 · 28 January 2006]

A wandering soldier (Guiliano Gemma (here billed Montgomery Wood)) is tricked into helping his brother be killed by a bandit disguised as a wealthy landowner who has a hold on the cowardly town. Another film made in the wake of the success of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), this has neither the style nor moodiness of the best spaghetti westerns. However, there are some unusual and effective camera angles and occasional hints at the supernatural (a precursor to Eastwood's marvelous High Plains Drifter (1973). Wood is 'killed' before it is discovered a silver dollar saved his life. The story is somehow both routine and convoluted making for a rather boring film.

Back when the Dollar was still "strong"

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 16 January 2012]

I had the "pleasure" of watching this at a local cinema 45 years after it got made/released. I have to add that it was the German dubbed version I watched. Which added to the "party"/fun factor, because of the ridiculous dialog (not that I actually imagine that the real dialog is any better mind you).

While there are clichés abound and quite a few things could be seen as sexual innuendo (between men mind you), this seems to have been the (german) lingo back then. But again this was all adding to the fun factor. But not to the factor that would make this a really good movie of course. If you have a boys night in (no pun intended) and just want to lay back and watch some crazy Western movie, you could do worse!

Great movie

[jacquespcoelho · 16 December 2007]

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.

Memorable - for some reason!

[Wayne-33 · 30 October 1998]

I only saw this film once in 1975 and for some reason it has stuck in my mind! The opening scene in particular. I am hoping that by writing here someone may be aware of its availability on PAL video and in English! There has to be a copy somewhere! I rememeber it being a particularly good example of this genre - ie: the "Italian Western."

Generic spaghetti western

[Wizard-8 · 1 October 2015]

While "Blood For A Silver Dollar" is far from the worst spaghetti western made, I have to admit that all the same it failed to rouse me - and I usually LOVE spaghetti westerns! It felt interchangeable from the countless spaghetti westerns I had seen before watching it. I think the main reason for that is the script. The story doesn't contain any surprises - you'll always be one step ahead of the hero and the other characters from seeing the same situations in other spaghetti westerns before. Apparently because of this, Giuliano Gemma and the rest of the cast don't seem able to bring any life to their clichéd characters. Behind the camera, director Giorgio Ferroni does manage to give the enterprise an acceptable look, but can't generate that much excitement, in part due to the fact there's little action. Recommended only for those who have never seen a spaghetti western before in their life.