Director: Sergio Corbucci
Written by: Sergio Corbucci, Massimo De Rita, Fritz Ebert, José Frade, Dino Maiuri
Cast: Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance, Fernando Rey
Year / Country: 1970, Italy / West Germany / Spain
Running Time: 120 mins.
In a country torn apart by revolution, an unlikely duo teams up. The not too bright Mexican bandit Vasco (Tomas Milian) and the very polite arms dealer ‘The Swede’ (Franco Nero) go on a mission for the money hungry General Mongo. Their goal is to free Mongo’s pacifistic opponent Professor Xantos from a Texan jail because he knows the combination of a loaded safe. The two hate each other, so there is plenty of double-crossing along the way.
This spaghetti western, directed by the other Sergio, is an early buddy movie featuring two of the most established spaghetti western actors. The music is – of course – composed by Ennio Morricone and Jack Palance plays a very interesting supporting role as marijuana addicted gunslinger.
The movie misses the sharp humour and emotional depth that made genre films such as Django and the Dollar-trilogy so enjoyable, but it is certainly not the worst spaghetti western. The two strong leads fight, joke and shoot their way through a series of engaging adventures. The many last minute rescue scenes become kind of repetitive, so Corbucci could have been doing some heavier cutting. But, like the Mexican revolution, the movie ends in a massive shoot-out which is certainly worth the wait. Viva la Revolution!
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Biography: Sergio Corbucci (1926, Rome – 1990, Rome) is, alongside Sergio Leone, one of the most renowned directors of Spaghetti Westerns. He played a pivotal role in popularizing the genre, particularly through landmark films such as Django (1966) and Il grande silenzio (1968). Corbucci often collaborated with actor Franco Nero, creating some of the most iconic works of the genre. His films, often categorized as B-movies, are distinguished by their unflinching brutality, surreal and apocalyptic production design, dark humor, and politically left-leaning themes. A committed Marxist, Corbucci infused many of his works with a sense of revolutionary despair, reflecting the futility of social upheaval. Despite his significant contributions to cinema, Corbucci remained rooted in Italy throughout his career, with most of his films receiving limited international distribution. He passed away in Rome in 1990.
Filmography (a selection): Foreign Earth (1954), Water’s Love (1954), Supreme Confession (1957), Angel’s Sky (1957), Duel of the Titans (1961), Toto, Peppino and La Dolce Vita (1961), The Son of Spartacus (1963), Grand Canyon Massacre (1963), Django (1966), Navajo Joe (1966), The Mercenary (1968), The Great Silence (1968), Compañeros (1970), Bandera Bandits (1972), The White, the Yellow, and the Black (1975), The Payoff (1978), Super Fuzz (1980), My Darling, My Dearest (1982), Days of Inspector Ambrosio (1988)
FRAGMENTEN UIT HET SCHEMERLAND 