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Una Pistola per Ringo
A Pistol for Ringo
Una Pistola para Ringo / Eine Pistole für Ringo / Ballad of Death Valley / A Gun For Ringo / Ringo: The Killer
Italy/Spain 1965
produced by Luciano Ercoli, Alberto Pugliese for Produzioni Cinematografiche Mediterranee (PCM), Balcázar Producciones Cinematográficas
directed by Duccio Tessari
starring Giuliano Gemma (as Montgomery Wood), Fernando Sancho, Lorella De Luca (as Hally Hammond), Nieves Navarro, Antonio Casas, George Martin, José Manuel Martín, Manuel Muniz (as Pajarito), Juan Cazalilla, Pablito Alonso, Nazzareno Zamperla, Francisco Sanz, Jose Halufi, Miguel Pedregosa
written by Duccio Tessari, Alfonso Balcázar, music by Ennio Morricone
Ringo
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Sancho (Fernando Sancho) and his gang of outlaws rob the local bank in
a meticulously planned raid, and when they find themselves pursued by a
posse, they hole up in the next best hacienda that's easy to defend and
where they also have plenty of hostages - and they threaten to shoot one
every morning and evening until they're granted safe passage. In a word,
the outlaws and their pursuers find themselves in a stalemate, and since
the outlaws are trigger-happy ... Problem here is that the hacienda is
owned by Major Clyde (Antonio Casas), father of Ruby (Lorella De Luca),
who in turn is the local Sheriff's (George Martin) sweetheart - thus
storming the place and risking to lose the hostages is out of the
question, but with every day that passes, Ruby is in more danger. So the
Sheriff makes a deal with the devil: For 30% of the loot, he releases
Ringo (Giuliano Gemma), a gunman who's sometimes too quick for his own
good, from prison to infiltrate Sancho's gang. At the hacienda, Ringo is
welcomed less than friendly, but Sancho soon realizes that Ringo and his
(virtual) bag of tricks might be his and his men's only way out. He
doesn't trust Ringo one bit though, and plans to kill him once they're out. Ringo knows that though and has tons of safety nets
- but some are traps so risky they may even spring on Ringo himself ... Though
it does have its violent bits, A Pistol for Ringo is hardly one of
the darker examples of the spaghetti Western genre, thanks to a script
that puts an almost comical spin on things, Giuliano Gemma's likeable
personality, and a directorial effort that avoids pathos for the most
part. But that said, it's still a very cool film, the narrative is
expertly thought through and built up, and even if many of the characters
are caricatures, they work in the context without making the movie an
outright comedy like spaghetti Westerns of later years, and the direction
and camerawork are always on the spot for sure. True, it's no genre
classic like the cream of the crop by Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci or Enzo G. Castellari (to
name but a few), yet still a very likeable and enjoyable genre movie all
the same.
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