The Spaghetti Western was one of the great genres imported into American cinemas. In the mid-60s, Italian producer were dealing with the demise of the sword and scandal epics box offices. Kids were no longer flocking to see muscle bound guys in togas being Hercules and Samson. Their knock-off James Bond flicks weren’t making a serious impact. Instead of cashing in on a craze, Sergio Leone went for a genre that wasn’t quite so hot: The Western. It’s not that America wasn’t making Westerns, but so much of the gunslinger action had gone to TV with Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Virginian and most importantly Rawhide. The westerns that did end up on the big screen had to as tame as what people could see on tiny screen. The Motion Picture Production Code were a set of rules agreed upon by the major studios that kept their movies really tame. Movies made in Italy didn’t have to follow the Code. They could make a Western that didn’t have to hold back the action. Leone did exactly that when Clint Eastwood arrived in Europe to make A Fistful of Dollars. The movie used Almeria, Spain as a the Wild West. The western with a leading character that displayed anti-hero values was something Hollywood couldn’t produce. You weren’t going to see this on TV in America. Western fans flocked to theaters to see this new sensation. The film was called a Spaghetti Western as a slur, but fans embraced the colorful nickname.
Italian producers grabbed their directors, actors and crews and heading to Spain or local wastelands of Italy to get in on the cinematic gold rush. They gave the world new cowboy heroes with Django, Ringo, Sabata, Sartana, Trinity and variations of their names. From the mid-60s to the early ’70s, nearly 500 Spaghetti Westerns made it to various cinema marquees around the world. The success of the genre was part of the reason why Hollywood had to give up the Code and give us R-rated action. Vengeance Trailers: Four Classic Westerns is a boxset festival of movies about men who are screwed over and are now back to get revenge. These men don’t have to hold back their anger to appease a prudent review board.
Massacre Time (1966 – 92 minutes) was Franco Nero’s first big film after the sensation of Django. This time, he’s not lugging a coffin across a muddy landscape. He’s a prospector who had gone off to seek his fortune when he had a falling out with his mother. He returns home after her death to discover things have drastically changed. Mr. Scott (Colorado Charlie‘s Giuseppe Addobbati) has taken over everything and put his special “S” on the business. He’s placed his sociopath son Junior (The English Patient‘s Nino Castelnuovo) in charge of keeping the peace. Things are going to get rough so he needs to reconcile with his brother Jeff (Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin‘s George Hilton) for an extra gun against Scott’s outlaw enforcers. Things get rather brutal on the screen. This movie is key in the key of Lucio Fulci’s career. Before he was hit the trail, Fulci was known for making goofy comedies with the Italian version of Martin and Lewis. After Massacre Time, Fulci would get more bloody and violent on the screen including New York Ripper and The House By the Cemetery. Fulci opens the movie up with a guy being chased down and ripped off by a rich guy’s pack of German Shepherds. He wasn’t going back to a couple rubber face comics. This also signaled this wasn’t a John Wayne approved Western. We’d see how savage things could get in the lawless West. The script for Massacre Time was by Fernando Di Leo. He had previously written Fistful of Dollars and a For Few Dollars More. Later he’d direct several Poliziottesco films.
My Name Is Pecos (1966 – 85 minutes ) features Robert Woods as Pecos, a Mexican . Woods is one of those great success stories of the Spaghetti Western era. In the early ’60s he bounced around Hollywood in extremely small parts including The Battle of the Bulge. He went off to Europe and found himself the star of dozens of films. He’s Pecos, a man without a horse who carries his saddle around. But he also carries a burning anger to track down the outlaws occupying his hometown that murdered his family. The film is rather rare in Spaghetti Westerns since it had the main character be a Mexican instead of just a supporting character or the evil invader wanting to take away the ranch in Texas. Woods’ performance as a character that nobody would expect to be such a great gunslinger made My Name Is Pecos a hit at the time. The cinematographer on the film is Joe D’Amato, who’d director dozens of films including Emanuelle In Bangkok. The film did have a sequel Pecos Cleans Up with Woods and director Maurizio Lucidi back.
Banditos (1967 – 95 minutes ) is notable as the first film directed by Massimo Dallamano. He was the director of photography for A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. Could he step up and direct a film after framing the action in the two films that established the Spaghetti Western. Richard Martin (Train for Durangoo‘s Enrico Maria Salerno) gets on the wrong train. The master shooter discovers that one of his old student Billy Kane (Hate Is My God‘s Venantino Venantini) has gone evil and his gang aren’t merely robbing, but killing the passengers. Kane spares his old teacher, but messes up his hands. Martin is forced to run a Wild West show and trains an escaped prisoner how to be an expert marksman. Their show gets real when he gets his second shot at Kane. Dallamano delivers the goods as becomes the person who says “action!” instead of “rolling.” He’d go onto to direct the Giallo era masterpieces What Have You Done to Solange? and What Have You Done to Your Daughters? Salerno was familiar to the ears of Italian western fans since he dubbed Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars and other films.
And God Said to Cain (1970 – 100 minutes ) is as intense as Klaus Kinski’s stare. Gary Hamilton (Kinski) get unexpectedly pardoned from hard labor in the desert. He had been sentenced for being part of the robbery of a gold shipment over 10 years before. He grabs a stagecoach to get home where he discovers Acombar (Zeppelin‘s Peter Carsten) has not merely taken over the town with his thugs, but married Gary’s old fiancé. He also knows that Acombar is the one who made him the patsy for robbery. Acombar senses his kingdom is in trouble between Gary promising to pay a visit and reports of a tornado that’s causing hard winds in the town. Gary is a killing machine as he uses a cave system under the town to take his revenge on the goons until he has a face off with Acombar in a mirrored room. And God Said to Cain is as badass as you can get – especially with the mirrored room fight that was done a few years before Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon.
Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns is a fine set of tales from the Wild West as made in Italy. It’s great that we get the theme of gunslingers getting revenge for being screwed over. Arrow Video has found a great next step for people who enjoyed their previous Blu-ray sets that included Django, Ringo and Sartana. The four films come from the prime of the Spaghetti Western era and all will keep you glued to the screen.
The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic for all four films. All the films look magnificent with 2K restoration from the 35mm negatives. The audio is DTS-HD MA mono in both the Italian and English dub. Even though the films were made in Italy, the casts were international so either track works. The movies are subtitled in English.
Illustrated Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Howard Hughes
DISC 1 – MASSACRE TIME
Alternate US dub has Nero sounding more gritty tough in tone than like Festus in the original dub.
Audio Commentary by authors and critics C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke. They are big fans of Euro Westerns. They point out that American International Pictures didn’t release the film until 1969. They also show off the elements of the film that Quentin Tarantino swiped for Django Unchained. There is mention how the Spanish backers pulled out so they made the film in Italy.
Two Men Alone (49:44) has a new video interview with Franco Nero and an archival interview with George Hilton talking about their days riding the range. Hilton was from Uruguay so he knew how to ride. He talks about how rough the stunts as he would get bruised up. Nero also recounts his time as a Spaghetti Western icon.
The Era of Violence (18:32) has historian Fabio Melelli give the history of the film and Fulci’s transformation from comedy to bloodletting.
Italian trailer (3:02) opens with Nero dealing with Junior’s bullwhip.
German Promotional Gallery are posters, press photos, advertising kit and lobby cards from when it was released in Germany as a sequel to Django. There’s also a Japanese promo book..
DISC 2 – MY NAME IS PECOS
Audio commentary by actor Robert Woods and C. Courtney Joyner. Woods said the movie was shot outside Rome. He was not a fan of his Pecos’ pants. Woods says he was rather tan so they didn’t put makeup on him. They did tape his eyes. Woods explains how he ended up in Italy and becoming a star.
A Giant In the West (21:05) chats with actor George Eastman about his time in the wild west. This was his first film and his first time on horseback. He broke a bone during the production.
Indecent Proposal (18:36) sits down with actress Lucia Modugno. She talks about taking part in whatever film they like without carrying about the character being good or bad. She also speaks about being in Navaho Joe with Burt Reynolds. She fought to play a character that died on screen. She said the director on My Name Is Pecos gave her an Indecent Proposal. She got more upset when he realized the other main actress had more close ups.
Pecos Kills (19:52) has historian Fabio Melelli and cinematographer Franco Villa talk about the Mexican hero. The film was made in four weeks.
Italian Trailer (2:44) opens with Pecos letting us know what his name is.
German Promotional Gallery has the film called Jonny Madoc in posters, lobby cards and press photos.
DISC 3 – BANDIDOS
Audio Commentary by author and critic Kat Ellinger deals with Dallamano’s career including his Giallo works. She explains why she was invited to contribute the commentary.
A Man In the Saloon (19:51) catches up with assistant director Luigi Perelli. He’d talk about growing up with a daily diet of going to the movie theater. He talks of skipping school to play billiards and hit the cinema. His big thing in college was a paper on the Sociology of Cinema. He used the paper as a way to talk with people in the industry. So it seems right that he ended up with a career in film production.
They Called Him Simon (11:40) interviews actor Gino Barbacane as he recounts this movie, His Name Is Pecos and Massacre Time. He talks about how frantic Lucio Fuchi was on the set to make sure he stayed on schedule. He has an odd tale of Fellini. He is all praise for Robert Wood. This is almost a Gino Barbacane boxset. He even plays us a tune. What a swell guy.
Western Bandits (11:27) lets historian Fabio Melelli put this film into context with all that Dallamano and his crew bought to the film that went beyond the Man With No Name.
Alternate end title sequence (1:18) has Ricky Shot ride out of town with more credits.
DISC 4 – AND GOD SAID TO CAIN
New commentary by author and critic Howard Hughes gets deep into the background of the film that was Italian and West German production. He points out that all of the locations are in Italy.
Between Gothic and Western (19:57) features historian Fabio Melelli and an audio interview with actress Marcella Michelangeli. Fabio relates the film back to a horror movie. There is so many shadow in this town that’s being stalked in the middle of a windstorm. He links this to an earlier film except not nearly as visually impactful. He mentions how rare it is to see Klaus Kinski as the hero while still being creepy.
Of Night and Wind (12:56) meets up with actor Antonio Cantafora. He plays Dick in the film. He talks about playing such a conflicted character since he wants to defend his family, but his dad did something so wrong to Kinski’s character.
German Promotional Gallery has promotional material including posters, press photos and advertising kit when it was released as “Satan Der Rache.”
Arrow Video presents Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns. Starring Klaus Kinski, Franco Nero, George Hilton, Robert Woods and Enrico Maria Salerno. Boxset Contents: 4 movies on 4 Blu-ray Discs. Release Date: July 27, 2021.
