 |
| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Were it not for the ongoing studious
efforts from the good folks at Arrow Video who continue to be at the forefront
of boutique home video film releasing labels, I would be completely lost when
it comes to the spaghetti western film.
From the Sartana series to the Pistol for Ringo films,
Arrow has all but provided a formal educational experience regarding this
beloved Italian subgenre which lasted throughout the 60s and 70s.
Following their new 4K UHD rerelease of
Sergio Corbucci’s still ultraviolent spaghetti western epic Django and
their recently released boxed set of Italian crime thrillers Years of Lead,
Arrow Video now presents Vengeance Trails: 4 Classic Westerns. A limited blu-ray boxed set consisting of
four stellar and often overlooked offerings which not only showcase the
highlights of the genre but also the versatility of the four directors tasked
with bringing on their own unique spin on the subgenre.
Including but not limited to such
renowned Italian auteurs as Lucio Fulci, Maurizio Lucidi, Massimo Dallamano and
Antonio Margheriti, Vengeance Trails is a smattering of some of the very
best spaghetti western productions as well as a further investigation into the
annals of the subgenre and the many unique voices which came to them. Moreover, most of the directorial efforts
included here are by filmmakers who would later become known for their work in
the horror or giallo subgenres.
Often noted for their savage violence
in a desolate no man’s land, their lone drifter heroes which lay waste to any
and all who cross them and their distinctive soundscape of moody, lyrical
original scores, the films curated in Vengeance Trails all share a
kindred theme of brutal revenge in the barren and abrasive wide open west where
the law is ruled by the quickest of the draw.
Presented in pristine digital
restorations alongside a plethora of extras, booklet and double sided poster, Vengeance
Trails cements Arrow Video’s reputation as the leading boutique home video
label in bringing some of the world’s best films together on blu-ray for the
very first time. With this, let us take
a closer look inside Arrow Video’s Vengeance Trails!
Massacre Time (1966)
Well before becoming known as “The
Godfather of Gore” with his Zombie and The City of the Living Dead buckets
of blood and guts fests, Italian writer-director Lucio Fulci got his start on
the Italian cinema scene in comedies of all places before moving on to the
spaghetti western. With Massacre Time,
the film presented Fulci’s very first western before moving on to The Four
of the Apocalypse… and Silver Saddle in the mid-1970s. Capitalizing on the recent success of Sergio
Corbucci’s Django as well as Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name trilogy,
the film casts Django star Franco Nero alongside future giallo star
George Hilton in this savage, brutal and highly stylized spaghetti
western.
Nero plays gold prospector Tom Corbett
who returns to his home to find the town being ruled with an iron fist by
industry tycoon Jason Scott (Giusseppe Addobbati) and his sickly sadistic son
Junior (Nino Castelnuovo) who quickly snatched up the reins of power behind his
back. His only ally is his perpetually
intoxicated brother Jeff (George Hilton) who teams up with Tom to fight back
the Scotts dynasty and return his hometown to its peaceful origins. But the Scotts have a few tricks of their own
up their sleeves and aren’t prepared to go down so easily.
 |
| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Written by Shoot First, Die Later director
Ferdinando Di Leo, aided by arresting cinematography by future And God Said
to Cain cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini and set to a lyrical score by My
Name is Pecos composer Coriolano Gori, Fulci’s spaghetti western starts out
the Vengeance Trails boxed set with a bang. Playing off of the big screen swagger of both
Franco Nero and eventual Sartana star George Hilton, the film is at once
a buddy gunslinger flick and one Hell of a brass knuckled vengeance picture
with more than a few moments forecasting the brutality that would become
trademark in Fulci’s later works.
If you only know Fulci for crimson
drenched internal organs coming out onto the camera, Massacre Time will
be an eye opener for you. Though it
doesn’t quite have the nihilistic and nasty edge of Corbucci’s Django it
comes pretty close at times in its own right.
In addition to the gruesomeness is a wealth of scenic beauty suggesting
Fulci knew more about widescreen panoramic compositions than he let on. Moreover, the film along with Django further
solidified Franco Nero’s career as one of the quintessential figures of the
spaghetti western, as synonymous with the genre as Maurizio Merli is with the poliziotteschi.
My Name is Pecos (1966)
Next on the list of Vengeance Trails
by eventual Street People and Motel of Fear director Maurizio
Lucidi is the Robert Woods starring Mexican gunslinger revenge flick My Name
is Pecos. Much like Fulci’s Massacre
Time released within the same year, the film concerns a lone gunslinger
named Pecos Martinez (Robert Woods) who returns to his hometown to find it
overtaken by gangsters who also murdered his entire family. Determined to avenge himself against Joe
Clane (Pier Paolo Capponi) and his cronies, Pecos engages Clane and his crew
who in actuality are on the hunt for a barrel full of money stolen by one of
his own men following a bank heist.
 |
| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Featuring an equally cool and chilly
lone hero who singlehandedly takes on an armada of adversaries while also being
something of a heist thriller, My Name is Pecos and its hero played by
Robert Woods with his white Mexican outfit will remind some of George Hilton’s
turn in Sartana’s Here…Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin. Visually the film captures the rough and
ragged western landscape beautifully through Shoot First, Die Later cinematographer
Franco Villa and Massacre Time composer within the same year also turned
over My Name is Pecos’ iconic score and theme song.
An instant success and fierce
competitor with the Django and Man with No Name films, My Name
is Pecos went on to spawn a sequel Pecos Cleans Up with Lucidi
returning to the director’s chair and Woods reprising the central role. As such, My Name is Pecos is a solid
spin on the spaghetti western formula with an engaging scenario, marvelous set
pieces and one Hell of a gunslinging hero at the epicenter. Moreover, it also helped cement Robert Woods
as a bankable star of the spaghetti western thriller.
Bandidos (1967)
Well before achieving cinematic
notoriety with his vicious giallo shocker What Have You Done to Solange? and
his Eurocrime masterpiece Colt 38 Special Squad, Massimo Dallamano
started out as a cinematographer for Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars followed
by For a Few Dollars More. With
the dark and moody spaghetti western epic Bandidos, Dallamano makes his
directorial debut in one of the genre’s most affecting and truly thrilling
offerings, a vengeance trail with more than a few startling twists and turns
down its long and winding road.
Richard Martin (Enrico Maria Salerno)
is an expert marksman who finds himself in the crossfire of a train robbery led
by his former protégé Billy Kane (Venantino Venantini). Rather than kill him on sight, Billy Kane
instead shoots Richard in his hands, making it impossible for him to fire a
gun. Condemned to barely making ends
meet as a traveling showman, he happens upon Philip Raymond (Terry Jenkins) a wrongfully
convicted prison escapee whom he takes under his wing and begins training him
in the art of gunslinging for the purposes of avenging himself upon the man who
destroyed his hands.
 |
| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Far bleaker than the first two with a
somber opening cue by Egisto Macchi which sets the lyrically depressed tone of
the whole endeavor, Bandidos is at once action packed and mournful. Take for instance the opening train robbery
which claims the hands of the film’s hero Richard. Following the massacre, an original track set
to the theme music plays as the camera pans slowly across dead bodies on the
train, setting the mood of this world as one where death is omnipresent and
lawlessness reigns. As a western the
film demonstrates Dallamano’s mastery of the camera and understanding of the
then contemporary spaghetti western picture.
Featuring a brilliant central
performance from Enrico Maria Salerno who does a fantastic job of illustrating
the once classy gunman’s fall from grace and gorgeous scenic cinematography
from Emilio Foriscot, Bandidos is unique for being at once a genre thriller
and for looking at the spaghetti western landscaped with a wide angled
lens. Moreover, it jump started
Dallamano’s tragically short film directing career which left behind more than
a few indelible masterpieces of Italian cinema as well as arguably one of the
finest spaghetti westerns the genre has ever known.
And God Said to Cain (1970)
Lastly in the Vengeance Trails box
is the most interesting spaghetti western yet for combining elements of gothic
horror with that of the western tropes with Cannibal Apocalypse and War
of the Planets director Antonio Margheriti’s And God Said to Cain. Starring the infamous movie legend Klaus
Kinski, best known for his fare with director Werner Herzog, the film concerns
a former Confederate officer named Gary Hamilton (Kinski) released from a ten-year
prison sentence for a crime he didn’t commit.
Hellbent on revenge upon the man and his armada who framed him, Acombar
(Peter Carsten), he returns to his hometown on a dark and stormy night as a
tornado threatens the town determined to have his vengeance.
Unique for taking place almost entirely
at night with the spooky mood of the tornado encroaching on the town at night
while a one man assassin runs through it picking off Acombar’s men one by one, And
God Said to Cain plays like a horror movie with Kinski as its monster. Though ostensibly a spaghetti western, the
film mixes gothic haunted house horror with the western tropes and setting in
such a way that we’re presented with a spaghetti western completely unlike any
we’ve seen before or debatably since.
Though the film sides with Gary Hamilton, the film fears for Acombar’s
men who have bitten off more than they can chew with this one-man army.
 |
| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Something of a treat for fans of both
Italian horror and westerns who rarely ever see them combined into one new
wholly original beast with arguably the most frothing mad dog beast of an actor
as its hero, And God Said to Cain is at once dark and foreboding while
also being a highly satisfying exercise in revenge action thriller cinema.
An unlikely entry into the spaghetti western
genre and early demonstration of Margheriti’s eventual skills for the horror
genre, And God Said to Cain closes the door on the Vengeance Trails boxed
set with one massive echoing thud, leaving you feeling as though you’ve
witnessed something terrifying and amazing at the same time. Truly one of the most unique offerings in the
Vengeance Trails box, wrapping it up to be one of Arrow Video’s most
splendid offerings of 2021!
--Andrew Kotwicki
