One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo (1965) Poster

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5/10
Decent Spaghetti/Paella Western shot in Spain with two ordinary genre stars : Richard Harrison and Fernando Sancho
ma-cortes21 June 2016
This Italian & Spanish co-production qualifies as an enough-budget, mid-brow western , a so-so level before the great Spaghetti westerns . "$100,000 for Ringo" has a thrilling start when a woman is relentlessly pursued by Indians ; a bit later on , she is murdered by a mysterious killer . The murderer will blame the innocent Indians about the crime . Then , a ¨white men posse¨ attack an Indian tribe , carrying out a brutal slaughter . Meanwhile , a wandering drifter called Ringo (Richard Harrison) arrives in a ranch where he's mistaken for a former resident named Ward Cluster who was believed dead in the Civil War . Cluster's spouse is now dead but his young son , Sean (Loris Loddi) raised by Indian chief , Gray Bear (Rafael Albaicín) , also believes Ringo to be his daddy and the kid plans a future with him . Soon after , Ringo or Lee Barton rides into the western town of Rainbow Valley in which he meets himself in opposition to local mobster , Cherry (Gerard Tichy) and his brother (Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Gina Lollobrigida's brother) . Ringo joins forces with a bounty hunter (Fernando Sancho) and a sheriff (Luis Induni) attempt to restore peace and order . Cherry seeks to find $200,000 stashed away by a Mexican general (Tomas Torres) and during the course of his chase captures and flogs Ringo .

This stirring tortilla/Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , and riding pursuits . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Catalunya , full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , crossfire , lots of shots and fights . Starring Richard Harrison as a stranger rider , he is pretty nice , he ravages the screen , he jumps, leaps and bounds , hits and runs ; besides , receiving violent punches , whipping and wounds . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Richard Harrison and Gerard Tichy with some looks that say it all , including an exciting ending . Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos¨, ¨South Pacific¨ and ¨Master of world . Then , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe . He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades . To avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the Red¨, ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . Support cast is frankly good , thanks to the boastful Fernando Sancho , playing a likable bounty hunter . He played a Mexican outlaw lots of times , as he starred multitude ¨Chorizo¨ or ¨Pipperone¨ Westerns , as the quarrelsome , swanky Mexican bandit , such as : ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨Return of Ringo¨, "Requiem for a Gringo" , "Dakota Joe" , ¨Winchester Bill¨ , "The Man Who Came to Kill" and several others . Other important secondaries are the followings : Gerard Tichy as Tom Cherry who used local Indians to drive off settlers , subsequently turned against the Indians , Eleonora Bianchi as Deborah , a blonde townswoman who loves a drunken man played by Massimo Serato or John Barracuda , Mónica Randall as a beautiful Indian , Francisco Sanz as José , Tomás Torres as Mexican General , Luis Induni as Sheriff , Frank Oliveiras , Cesar Ojinaga .

Being decently photographed by Federico G. Larraya in Eastmancolor , Techniscope , though is necessary a fine remastering because of the film-copy is washed-out . Mostly filmed in atmospheric scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by producers/directors brothers : Alfonso Balcázar , Francisco Balcázar , Juan Jose Balcazar though this Balcazar family went to bankrupt and had to sell the terrains . It resulted to be the locations where were shot lots of Westerns produced and directed by Catalan people , because Almeria was too far and the ¨Fraga¨ landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . There are many fine technicians , film editing by Teresa Alcocer , nice assistant direction and adequate production design by the usual Juan Albert Soler , the latter creates an acceptable scenario . Climatic and enjoyable musical score , including catching leitmotif , by Bruno Nicolai , usual collaborator to Ennio Morricone , adding a wonderful song : ¨Ringo¨ .

"One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo" was well produced by Alfonso Balcazar productions that financed lots of Westerns . Most of them starred by Richard Harrison , Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alberto De Martino . He managed to make a fluid and filled with thrills , duels , attacks , and shots , though average . He was an Italian craftsman , working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies . As he directed Peplum (Secret seven , Spartan gladiators , Invincible gladiator , Valley of stone men) , Spaghetti Western (Django shoots first , Providence , Charge of seven cavalry) , Warlike (Dirty heroes) , European spy genre (OK Connery , Operation Lady Chaplin) , and Terror (Miami Golem , Tempter , Horror , Holocaust 2000) , among others . Rating : 5.5/10 acceptable and passable , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Butifarra or Spaghetti westerns , this one remains lightly watchable .
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5/10
The Only Italian Director that I Totally Dislike
davidleedonnell16 January 2017
Well, I never thought I'd slag off ANY spaghetti western director's entire body of work, but I think in A De Martino's case I'll make an exception. There are VERY few of the genre that I don't enjoy watching, even when not very good. I've watched all of this director's SW's now (including the rare Gli Eroi di Fort Worth) and I have to say that if all SW's were like this, I would not own even one and I've over 200.

It's hard to put your finger on what's so...boring and irritating...about his movies (yeah, Banditi a Roma is just as bad). I mean, there are LOTS of plot inconsistencies and anachronisms and poorly constructed sets on MOST SW's, and that never irritates me. It does with this guy, though. His errors err on the side of Hollywood. The screen writing is something I'd expect from a primary school production. You never care about his characters- even that they get what they've got coming. HORRID special effects, and like I said, that usually doesn't bother me much. ALWAYS messes actual history up in a way that makes no artistic statement. Fixated on Apaches- they were only in West Texas. Really poorly done Apaches. There's a girl with really, really thin, dyed black hair...but her braids are as thick as my first.

His stuff must be hell for method actors. There's never a rhyme or a reason for the characters' behavior. The kid in this one has two faces he can pull- cheering someone on and being upset. So, he randomly chooses between the two. Constantly. Every 3 seconds. No reason. No reason he'd change so quickly, then back, then change. That's acting, right? We never have a clue in this why the protagonist is interested in Cherry or how he knows what he does. Was this supposed to be like the Return of Martin Guerre??? I kept expecting we'd hear that he knew the character they all keep mistaking him for, but no. That would be a coherent plot, and this bloke's screen plays NEVER have that.

I guess the only use for his work is to see if a SW fan is of the knee-jerk, ego identity variety, or if they still retain some discrimination. If they like this one, they're definitely in the first basket.

Bottom line, this one is the visual equivalent of the soundtrack to Keoma. Yeah.
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4/10
Richard Harrison gets whipped -- by the script.
dinky-423 December 2002
There's certainly a lot of action in this production -- a seemingly endless series of shootouts and fistfights involving good white guys, bad white guys, Indians, and various members of the Mexican army. One bad guy gets a fork stabbed through his hand and Richard Harrison gets tied up and whipped. (Curiously, though Harrison was one of those muscular physique-models who went to Europe in the wake of Steve Reeves' success as "Hercules," he plays this whipping scene with his shirt on, and that shirt must be made of a super fabric before it never shows so much as a rip!)

The action soon becomes wearying, however, because the muddled plot never generates much interest and the characters' motives and allegiances are confusingly presented. Even fans of "spaghetti westerns" may want to skip this one.

(Note: though the song heard at the beginning and end of the movie refers to "Ringo," that name is never used in dialog in connection with the Richard Harrison character who instead goes by the names "Lee Barton" and "Ward Cluster." Also, the "$100,000" referred to in the movie's American title seems inaccurate since the trove of lost money proves to be $200,000.)

As for Harrison's flogging scene, it would probably have been included in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies," had Harrison played it with his shirt off. This attempt to flog information from Harrison does provide the movie with its best dialog. "If I were you," says the villain, giving his victim a momentary reprieve from the whip, "I'd choose a much quicker death. I promise you that I'll leave you here to rot unless that tongue of yours loosens up a bit."
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