Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato... Parola di Spirito Santo (1971)

Director:

Giuliano Carnimeo

Writers:

Tito Carpi (screenplay)
Tito Carpi (story)

Release Date:

29 August 1972 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Cast

Gianni Garko	...	Spirito Santo
Víctor Israel	...	Priest
Poldo Bendandi	...	Gen. Ubarte
Cris Huerta	...	Carezza
George Rigaud	...	Don Firmino (as Jorge Rigaud)
Pilar Velázquez	...	Juana
Paolo Gozlino	...	Samuel Crow (as Paul Stevens)
Nello Pazzafini	...	Colonel
Fortunato Arena	...	Matadodos
Aldo Barberito	...	Brother John
Carlo Gaddi	...	Fiesta
Franco Pesce	...	Doctor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Monica Altomonte
Salvatore Baccaro	...	Spirito Santo's Men
Federico Boido	...	Vern Crohn (as Rick Boyd)
Pietro Ceccarelli
Pasquale Coletta
Gildo Di Marco	...	Spirito Santo's Men
Maria D'Incoronato
Evi Farinelli
Lina Ferri
Dada Gallotti
Italo Guitto
Gianclaudio Jabes	...	Spirito Santo's Men
Carla Mancini	...	(unconfirmed)
Furio Meniconi
César Ojinaga
Riccardo Petrazzi
Mimmo Poli	...	Barman
Gianni Pulone
Moisés Augusto Rocha	...	Boxing coach
Thomas Rudy	...	Lieutenant
Claudio Ruffini	...	Poker Player
Amerigo Santarelli	...	Spirito Santo's Men
Maurizio Tocchi
Goffredo Unger	...	Cpt. Ortega (as Fredy Unger)

Also Known As:

Blazing Guns
Forewarned, Half-Killed... the Word of the Holy Ghost
Halcón de Sierra Madre, El (Spain)
His Name Was Holy Ghost (USA)
They Call Him Holy Ghost
Y le llamaban El Halcón (Spain)

Runtime:

Germany:81 min | Italy:94 min

Country:

Spain | Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

C.C. Astro

"Fire at will!" "Who's Will?"

This movie is not exactly what I expected, but it is extremely enjoyable nonetheless.

As a spaghetti western, this film certainly delivers the goods. It has lots of action, a very good spaghetti style music score, fun dialogue, a great villain, gold, the Mexican revolution, and the great Gianni Garko as The Holy Ghost.

Generally, I prefer the darker, more serious spaghetti westerns over the comedic ones that became popular in the early seventies, and I wasn't expecting this one to be a comedy, but it is. What's even more surprising is that it's an excellent one that succeeds as both a comedy and a very cool spaghetti western. The funny parts are genuinely funny and, in a way, remind me of the classic comedy of the Three Stooges. This movie is ten times funnier and more interesting than any of the Terence Hill/ Bud Spencer movies that I have seen.

Another surprise about this movie is that the Holy Ghost character is not really "supernatural" as he is described in every single description of this movie I have ever seen. There is one short scene close to the beginning of the film in which he seems to be able to appear out of nowhere, but that's it! For the next 85 minutes of this 90 minute movie, the Holy Ghost is a mere mortal named Harold who is very resourceful and quick with a gun, but definitely no ghost.

I was curious about this movie mainly because I can't resist a supernatural western, especially if it's an Italian one! It isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, but I'm pleasantly surprised that it's an excellent spaghetti western anyway, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre.