Arizona Colt (1966)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Michele Lupo

Writers:

Lewis E. Ciannelli (English language version)
Ernesto Gastaldi (writer)

Release Date:

1969 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

For a Dollar Earned A Bullet Was Fired

Plot:

Bandit Gordon frees a group of prisoners, forcing them to join his gang or die. Arizona Colt, declining to do either...

Plot Keywords:

Prisoner | Beautiful Woman | Spaghetti Western | Horse | Escape

Cast

Giuliano Gemma	...	Arizona Colt
Fernando Sancho	...	Torrez Gordo Watch
Corinne Marchand	...	Jane
Nello Pazzafini	...	Kay / Clay (as Giovanni Pazzafini)
Andrea Bosic	...	Pedro / Pete
Roberto Camardiel	...	Whiskey
Mirko Ellis	...	Sheriff
Gérard Lartigau	...	John
Rosalba Neri	...	Dolores
Pietro Tordi	...	Priest
José Manuel Martín	...	Watch Henchman
Gianni Solaro	...	Banker
Valentino Macchi
Renato Chiantoni	...	Undertaker
Tom Felleghy	...	Will

Also Known As:

Il pistolero di Arizona (Italy)
Man from Nowhere (USA)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | Spanish | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Norway:16 (cut) | USA:M | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Leone Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Vente a ligar al Oeste (1972)

Soundtrack:

Arizona Colt

THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (Michele Lupo, 1966) **

This is the eighth Spaghetti Western I've watched starring Giuliano Gemma - the others had been A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965), THE RETURN OF RINGO (1965), FORT YUMA GOLD (1966), DAY OF ANGER (1967), A SKY FULL OF STARS FOR A ROOF (1968), THE PRICE OF POWER (1969) and SILVER SADDLE (1978). All of them are superior to THE MAN FROM NOWHERE - which turned out to be a sub-standard example of the genre and, though not an intentional parody, is so clichéd as to seem that way! Incidentally, the U.S. title is quite stupid since the main character (named Arizona Colt - also the film's original title) explicitly states he is named after the state he hails from!!

Fernando Sancho (again) is the trigger-happy chief villain; among his ragged outlaw gang is a drunkard Mickey Shaughnessy type who, unsurprisingly, befriends the hero - while favorite Euro-Cult starlet Rosalba Neri appears as a saloon-hostess, though she's killed off almost immediately! The film is stretched to a length of almost two hours for no very good reason which, with a none-too-exciting plot line at its centre (concocted by the ubiquitous Ernesto Gastaldi), quickly becomes tedious; even so, it does work its way to a good climax (with the hero utilizing a fake pair of hands to divert his adversary's attention, followed by a shoot-out in semi-darkness inside a funeral parlor).

The Wild East DVD I watched was extremely poor, which certainly didn't help my involvement in the film any: first off, the English dubbing is horrendous (Gemma's character is saddled with a ludicrous Southern accent); the muddy print - presented in a masked 1.85:1 ratio so as to simulate the original 2.35:1 Techniscope format! - features a number of jarring jump-cuts (indicating missing or damaged frames and suggesting, somewhat distressingly, that the film's supposed to be even longer than it already is) and, during one early instance, even falls several generations below the already unsatisfying standard on display. For the record, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE had a follow-up in ARIZONA COLT, HIRED GUN (1970) - with a different actor in the lead (Anthony Steffen), it's mainly notable for being Sergio Martino's debut film.