Quentin Tarantino crowned Sergio Corbucci as the second-best director of Italian westerns, but our vote goes to Sergio Sollima — this is the most satisfying Spaghetti oater outside of the Leone corral. In his first starring role, Lee Van Cleef is lawman Jonathan Corbett, who pursues Tomas Milian’s killer into Mexico for an American millionaire. Political screenwriter Franco Solinas helped cook up the story, which pitches frontier ethics against ‘establishment’ corruption. The two-disc special edition presents the show in 4 versions, if we count a clever English-Italian language hybrid.
The Big Gundown
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110, 90, 95 min. / La resa dei conti / Street Date February 13, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £22.99
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes, Nieves Navarro, Gérard Herter, Manolita Barroso, Robert Camardiel, Ángel del Pozo, Luisa Rivelli, Luis Barboo, Benito Stefanelli.
Cinematography: Carlo Carlini
Set decorators: Carlo Leva, Carlo Simi, Nicola Tamburo
Costumes: Carlo...
The Big Gundown
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110, 90, 95 min. / La resa dei conti / Street Date February 13, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £22.99
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes, Nieves Navarro, Gérard Herter, Manolita Barroso, Robert Camardiel, Ángel del Pozo, Luisa Rivelli, Luis Barboo, Benito Stefanelli.
Cinematography: Carlo Carlini
Set decorators: Carlo Leva, Carlo Simi, Nicola Tamburo
Costumes: Carlo...
- 2/7/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It’s still one of the most popular movies ever, and fans are proving that by shelling out for an umpteenth home video release, this time on the 4K Ultra HD format. Everybody knows exactly what to expect from Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach, but what about the transfer quality and encoding — Sergio Leone’s film was originally shot in the half-frame Techniscope format, which is on the low-res side to scan in 4K. Kino adds a Blu-ray disc and a mountain of accumulated extras from earlier editions.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 162 min. / Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo / Street Date April 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Benito Stefanelli, Aldo Sambrell, Al Mulock, Antonio Molino Rojo, Mario Brega, Chelo Alonso,...
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 162 min. / Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo / Street Date April 27, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Benito Stefanelli, Aldo Sambrell, Al Mulock, Antonio Molino Rojo, Mario Brega, Chelo Alonso,...
- 6/12/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
No, it’s not the story of the 18th President of the United States. Kirk Douglas must have been a big hit in Rome, starring in one of the first and best of the Italo epic ‘classics,’ before the musclemen cornered the market. Homer’s tale of the husband who took ten years to come back from Troy is given real star power, a splendid production and best of all, an intelligent script. This disc looks a lot better than the ragged earlier DVD, plus it offers a superior Italian language soundtrack. And don’t forget Gary Teetzel’s recommendation: as an adaptation of The Odyssey, it’s right up there with O Brother Where Art Thou!
Ulysses
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 94 104 117 min. / Street Date November 17, 2020 / Ulisse / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Silvana Mangano, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podestà, Jacques Dumesnil, Daniel Ivernel, Sylvie, Franco Interlenghi,...
Ulysses
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1954 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 94 104 117 min. / Street Date November 17, 2020 / Ulisse / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Silvana Mangano, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podestà, Jacques Dumesnil, Daniel Ivernel, Sylvie, Franco Interlenghi,...
- 11/21/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Guest reviewer Lee Broughton tackles Tonino Valerii’s Spaghetti Western-cum-political conspiracy thriller. By brazenly transposing key aspects of John F. Kennedy’s assassination onto the assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881, Valerii gives both western and conspiracy film fans much food for thought. A career best performance by Giuliano Gemma, repurposed sets from Once Upon a Time in the West and great turns by a plethora of Sergio Leone’s regular supporting actors bring a sense of gravitas to this intriguing show.
A Bullet for the President
Region Free Blu-ray
Wild East
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Il prezzo del potere, The Price of Power / Street Date November 25, 2019 / 18.45
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Warren Vanders, Van Johnson, Maria Cuadra, Ray Saunders, Fernando Rey, Antonio Casas, Benito Stefanelli, Jose Suarez, Jose Calvo, Manuel Zarzo, Michael Harvey, Norma Jordan, Angel Alvarez.
Cinematography: Stelvio Massi
Film Editor: Franco Fraticelli
Original Music: Luis Bacalov
Production Designer: Carlo Leva...
A Bullet for the President
Region Free Blu-ray
Wild East
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 112 min. / Il prezzo del potere, The Price of Power / Street Date November 25, 2019 / 18.45
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Warren Vanders, Van Johnson, Maria Cuadra, Ray Saunders, Fernando Rey, Antonio Casas, Benito Stefanelli, Jose Suarez, Jose Calvo, Manuel Zarzo, Michael Harvey, Norma Jordan, Angel Alvarez.
Cinematography: Stelvio Massi
Film Editor: Franco Fraticelli
Original Music: Luis Bacalov
Production Designer: Carlo Leva...
- 7/18/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with another Italo Western double bill DVD review. Wild East’s ongoing Spaghetti Western Collection continues to grow and this double bill release is particularly welcome since it features two obscure and wholly idiosyncratic genre entries from 1969. Italian Western directors had found it relatively easy to appropriate key plot points and ideas from Sergio Leone’s Dollars films during the genre’s early years but when Leone’s sprawling, mega-budgeted, meta-Western Once Upon a Time in the West was released in 1968 it was clear that this was one genre entry that local filmmakers would not be able to easily emulate.
With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.
With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.
- 10/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
I believe there's a hint as to what we're supposed to take out of Werner Herzog introduces Cobra Verde in the speed with which he introduces the film's central character, Francisco Manoel da Silva (Klaus Kinski), a ruined Brazilian rancher-turned-bandit who eventually finds himself at the center of the slave trade between Africa and South America. We never get to know Francisco the rancher, instead we first see him rumbling down a muddy hill, where he works for a gold mining company, and has just learned his wages have gone straight to the bank. That night he kills his boss, the scene cuts to black, next we meet the man Francisco has become, the feared bandit known as Cobra Verde (Green Snake). Cold, fearless and without sympathy, da Silva's travels eventually find him in the favor of Don Octavio Coutinho (Jose Lewgoy), who hires da Silva to oversea his sugar...
- 6/4/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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