The city of Almería in Spain must have been an exciting place in the late ’60s as the Italian film industry arrived to shoot hundreds of Westerns. This dusty area in the Andalusia region was the perfect place to fake being in Mexico, Southern California and Texas. Even on a massive screen, the rocky, dry area was a perfect stand in. Hollywood during this time had moved Westerns to the TV screen with Rawhide, Gunsmoke and Bonanza pulling in big ratings. But in Europe and other countries, moviegoers wanted to see showdowns on dusty streets. The Spaghetti Western proved to be the perfect evening pleasure for cinema viewers on the range. Because there were so many Euro westerns being churned out at this time, it’s easy to confuse a lot of them. Many of them did their best to be confused with Clint Eastwood’s Fistful of Dollars with their own Man With No Name gunslinger. Quite a few drew inspiration from other sources. Forgotten Pistolero (Il Pistolero Dell’ave Maria) adapts the Greek myth of Orestes to the high prairie.
After getting jumped by a gang on the dusty trail, Rafael (God Made Them… I Kill Them‘s Peter Martell) finds shelter at the home of Sebastian (Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold‘s Leonard Mann). Turns out Rafael isn’t really a stranger. He knew Sebastian nearly 15 years ago when they were kids. The reunion goes weird when Rafeal tears apart Sebastian’s life when he informs him that all he knows is a lie. Turns out his “mother” buried in the yard is really a former housekeeper. She had to take off with the child after Sebastian’s mother Anna (Thunderball‘s Luciana Paluzzi) and her lover Tomas (A Bullet for Sandoval‘s Alberto de Mendoza) turned on Sebastian’s dad. Now Rafael wants his friend to claim the estate that rightfully should be his. He also needs to rescue his real sister Isabella (One Dollar Too Many‘s Pilar Velázquez) from her current fate arranged by the mother. Is Rafael willing to bring vengeance on the mother he didn’t really know?
Forgotten Pistolero (Il Pistolero Dell’ave Maria) does an amazing job of merging the Greek myth with the mythology found in the western films. Everything is set up right in the way a director will restage Shakespeare plays to a different era. Forgotten Pistolero is a lot more entertaining since there’s not much gun play in the original ancient Greek adaptations of the myth as done by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.
Director Ferdinando Baldi had made his mark on the Spaghetti Western landscape with Texas, Adios with Franco Nero and Django, Prepare A Coffin with Terrance Hill. Forgotten Pistolero ranks up with those two films. Leonard Mann was discovered by the film’s producer Manolo Bolognini who thought he looked like Nero and Hill. This was Mann’s first film. He had a long career in Italy and even made a few films in America including Night School and Unfaithfully Yours with Dudley Moore and Nastassja Kinski. Forgotten Pistolero (Il Pistolero Dell’ave Maria) breaks the Fistful of Dollars formula since we’re given a man who learns his real name.
Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer brings out the details in the family massacre. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Mono in English. The soundtrack has been cleaned up so you can hear the subtle whistling in the theme song. The movie is subtitled in English.
Italian Language Version (83:24) has the English subtitles burned in on the screen. The audio is LPCM 2.0 Mono.
Trailer (2:43) is from the English release.
Leonard Mann Interview (34:00) is an interview with the actor conducted by Mike Malloy in 2007. This talk was for the great documentary Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s. It’s more about Mann’s career in Italian cinema and the Poliziottesco genre. He talks a little bit about his time making Westerns. He suggests what brought the Spaghetti Western era to an end. We also learn how TV channels in Italy weren’t on the air that long during the day in the early ’70s. It must be pointed out that Leonard Mann is an American born in New York.
Diabolik presents Forgotten Pistolero (Il Pistolero Dell’ave Maria). Directed by Ferdinando Baldi. Starring Leonard Mann, Luciana Paluzzi, Peter Martell, Alberto de Mendoza, Pilar Velázquez, Piero Lulli, Luciano Rossi & José Suárez. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 84 minutes. Release Date: December 16, 2025.
