Foreign-made Westerns show up on Blu-ray

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Movies Editor

Though rarely made these days (the “True Grit” remake, “Appaloosa,” the “3:10 to Yuma” remake), Westerns used to be a staple of Hollywood studios through the early 1970s. As they started to fade from studio schedules in the 1960s, Westerns continued on theatre screens through imports from Italy, Spain, and even England, usually with at least one American star. A few films from the heyday of “spaghetti” westerns are now getting revived on Blu-ray, with three recent releases fans of the genre may find of interest. Viewers who don’t particularly care for westerns may lower my “Movie” ratings by a full letter grade.

“The Last Gun” (“Jim il primo”) (1964) stars Cameron Mitchell in the title role of a reasonably entertaining variation on typical western plot elements. A notorious gunfighter tries to retire as a mild-mannered, small-town shopkeeper, but a gang of outlaws terrorizing the citizens inspires him to use his talents as a Zorro-like protector of the weak. Meanwhile the banker has been conspiring with the outlaw leader to rob his own gold shipment, the sheriff is ineffectual and nobody will help him, and a mysterious guitar-playing stranger joins the band of outlaws but seems more inclined towards loving than fighting.

The decent script was competently directed by Sergio Bergonzelli. While quite tasteful by today’s standards, the film includes a bit more sex and violence than American films would have for another four or five years. Other major characters in the Italian-Spanish production with an international cast are played by Carl Möhner, Célina Cély, Kitty Carver, Livio Lorenzon, and Mariangela Giordano.

The transfer is excellent, with no apparent digital tinkering, but the original print quality is only fair. While its physical condition isn’t bad, there’s plenty of dirt and some scratches on the negative. Indoor scenes generally look good (some look outstanding) but outdoor scenes are usually too light. Dubbing on this film is fairly good and the soundtrack is okay, if not particularly memorable.
THE LAST GUN on Blu-ray— Movie: B   /  Video:  B+  /  Audio:  B+  /  Extras:  F+

Jaime Jesús Balcázar directed “4 Dollars of Revenge” (“Cuatro dólares de venganza”) (1965), a Spanish-Italian western set at the end of the U.S. Civil War with a plot largely inspired by “The Count of Monte Cristo.” A young Union officer (Robert Woods) and his friend are rivals for the hand of a rich man’s daughter (Dana Ghia) who has a hard time choosing between them but finally chooses our protagonist. Meanwhile a local businessman is looking to control the town’s next election, and the officer has political ambitions. The officer is sent to protect a gold shipment but his platoon is ambushed by bandits. When he alone survives, he’s accused of planning the attack so he could steal the gold for himself, and is sentenced to hard labor. Of course he escapes from prison and gradually tracks down those who framed him to exact his revenge.

The general direction of the plot is very predictable and the acting (especially the dubbed voices) is more routine and lackluster than that in “The Last Gun.” However, there is some impressive cinematography that is unfortunately undercut by the mediocre lab work and dirty negative (although again the transfer itself is very sharp and the grain is very apparent). Mill Creek’s double-feature faithfully reproduces the kind of sharp but washed-out looking prints rushed through cheap film labs for grindhouses and drive-ins.

The only extras are four HD trailers, one for each film plus two other spaghetti westerns from Mill Creek. Strangely neither the boxcover nor the main menu give a clue that the trailers are there, but they can be found through the popup menu. Still, with the disc priced at around $8 - $10, amounting to only $4 - $5 per film in full HD, spaghetti western buffs should be satisfied and grindhouse fans will want to snap it up.
4 DOLLARS OF REVENGE on Blu-ray— Movie:  C+  /  Video:  B-  /  Audio:  B   /  Extras:  F+

While the stereotypical low-budget B-Westerns after the 1950s were Italian productions, “Hannie Caulder” (1971), a diverting variation on the archetypal revenge melodrama, is a British film with an all-star cast. Directed by Burt Kennedy (who did several American westerns in the 1960s-70s), it stars Raquel Welch as a woman out to get the men who killed her husband and raped her, and Robert Culp as the sympathetic bounty hunter who teaches her how to use a gun. Stealing the show, however, and raising it from just another routine formula shoot-em-up are the three sleazy and stupid villains, played to the comic hilt by Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, and Jack Elam. We also get Christopher Lee, of all people, as a gunsmith in Mexico, a brief cameo by Diana Dors as the madame of a saloon, and Stephen Boyd in an even briefer cameo as a mysterious “preacher.” While rated R for violence, language, and hints of near-nudity, what we see and hear would probably get a PG-13 today.

The film print appears to be in excellent shape, but the video transfer on this release by small distributor Olive Films unfortunately is a bit soft, likely due to overzealous digital noise reduction that reduces grain, blurring fine details and textures. Audio has good frequency range and nice loud bass in all the gunshots, but for some reason the dialogue often seems a bit too low in volume compared with the music and effects. Sadly, there are no extras beyond a main menu and a chapter menu.  Its average $20+ price is high for such a bare-bones release with a less than optimum picture transfer unless you’re a big western fan. If you can find it for rent, or on sale for $10 or $15, it’s worth a look.
HANNIE CAULDER on Blu-ray— Movie:  B+  /  Video:  B   /  Audio:  A-  /  Extras:  F