aka El Macho (I), El Macho (Fr)
1977
Italy
S.B. Produzione
Director: Marcello Andrei
Story: Fabio Pittorru
Screenplay: Fabio Pittorru, Augusto Finocchi, Marcello Andrei
Music: Marcello Ramoino (Grandi Firme della Canzone)
Cinematography: Luciano Trasatti {Gevacolor - Technospes}
Editor: Otello Colangeli
Set design: Bartolomeo Scavia
Cameraman: Giorgio Di Battista
Filmed:
Release information: Registered 10.05.77. Italy (12.05.77, 110 mins), France (06.10.77, 95 mins)
Cast: Carlos Monzon (
El Macho, the Sheriff), George Hilton (
Hidalgo), Malisa Longo (
Keely), Susanna Giminez (
Soledad), Benito Stefanelli (
the Sheriff), Bruni Di Luia (
Gunner), Giusepp Castellano (
Ross), Black Maria Marselli, Attilio Severini, Gilberto [Galimberto] Galimberti (
a deputy), Michele Branca, Lorenzo Bruni, Alfonsina Cotungo, Vittorio Fanfoni (
Angel), Giuseppina Grimaudo, Enzo [Vincenzo] Maggio (
Sam), Sergio Serafini
Hilton plays a champagne-swigging, becaped bandito, The Duke. When one of his gang is killed in a stagecoach robbery the Sheriff notices that the dead man bore an uncanny resemblance to El Macho, a gambler who has just arrived in town. The cardsharp is - with the help of a cool $10000 reward - soon persuaded into impersonating the dead man in an attempt at infiltrating the villain's camp. There's only one problem, the chap whose guise he has adopted was an out and out loser who was treated with contempt by everyone…
This was one of a number of surprisingly good Spaghetti Westerns that appeared in 1976 or '77, after the genre had appeared to disintegrate. Other notable titles include A Man Called Blade (Mannaja, 77), Silver Saddle (Sella d'argento, 78) and Keoma (76). All of them play on the conventions of the genre to create something a little bit different. In this one the humour is upped, but the whole thing is handled in such a straightlaced fashion that it is far preferable to the nonsense slapstick of They Call Me Trinity (Lo chiamavano Trinità, 71) and it's like.
It also features one of Hilton's most winning performances as an outlaw who takes machismo to new heights of camp. In fact, he looks more like an insane crooner with a startling bouffant haircut and ever-present white gloves. Lead actor Carlos Monson (an ex-boxer of some repute) looks like a more crudely fashioned Tomas Milian, and exudes a similar character. The main problem is the soundtrack, which replaces the atmospheric acoustics of the traditional spaghetti score with bland proto-'80s synthesiser workouts.
