TALL WOMEN, THE

The poor old Indians learn a valuable lesson in this film - that there's nowt so dangerous as a group of seriously pissed-off women. Whilst virtually every male member of the cast is stabbed, scalped or shot; the eponymous clique of dames prove simply too much, beating away the pesky redskins with a mixture of guile, courage and inappropriate footwear.

The plot brings to mind later US productions Soldier Blue (70) and Shalako (68). Apache warriors attack a wagon train travelling to San Francisco. As well as taking a cache of weapons - in anticipation of an all out war - they slaughter everyone except a small group of females. Fearing another attack, this naïve band decides to try walking to the nearest friendly location. Which happens to be an army fort approximately one hundred miles of hostile terrain away.

Making matters worse is the fact that a band of renegade tribesmen are pursuing them despite the orders of their chieftain to the contrary. They appear to be playing a macabre game by which, rather than swiftly administering the kill, they taunt their victims as much as is humanly possible.

These numskulls, however, neglect to consider the fact that they aren't dealing with any normal enemy. No, on this occasion they are facing up against the ladies. And ladies have petticoats. Yes, these unheralded items of clothing are revealed to be something of a desert-survivalism must, and a rage in all the best fashion houses at the same time! Shot? No worries, we can just rip up our undergarments to make some bandages. A huge mountain to climb? You'll need a rope for that - let's just tie your knickers together and bobs yer uncle. The only question you have to ask is where all these slim lassies store their endless supply of petticoats…

Apart from that they do pretty much everything you'd expect of a bunch of women. Argue, gossip, get lost, fall asleep on watch and look for the nearest shops. And some people say that these films are unrealistic!

This is a very atypical Spaghetti Western in that (a) there is no serious male lead and (b) it is driven more by plot than by style. It's uniqueness is furthered by the fact that, whilst it is obviously not of the strictly 'Italianesque' approach identifiable in other genre entries, it is also distinct from the American model. It definitely displays a cruel heart in the way that it's heroines are treated to a succession of indignities, but there's an unwillingness to take things to their unpleasant conclusions that would never be considered in later Euro-Westerns.

The cast of this adequate Sunday afternoon fodder is capable: there's a nice selection of starlets on view here as well as the stentorian Anne Baxter, an Oscar winner for her performance in The Razor's Edge (50). Rosella Como and Adriana Ambesi stand out in particular as 'The Grimaldi Sisters', a pair of circus entertainers who get to flummox the villains by performing some riding tricks. There's also a good role for Christa Linda, whose interesting career took in Decameron-type films (Tales of Viterbury (I Racconti di Viterbury - Le più allegre storie del '300, 73)) and Mex-ploitation (Rene Cardona's Night of a Thousand Cats (La Noche de los mil gatos, 72)) before descending to a cameo in a Burt Reynolds movie(Hooper (78)).

The directorial credits are somewhat confusing. Parolini is named as the director of the Italian version and Rudolf Zehetgruber of the German. This is interesting in that both later contributed suspiciously similar looking titles to the Kommissar X series. The exact circumstances of their relationship would be interesting to discover; did one give his name to the others films for distribution in their home country and, if so, which one?

As it is, such speculation is irrelevant as Sidney Pink, the American ex-pat responsible for a variety of European oddities such as Reptilicus and Candidate for a Killing (Un Sudario a la medida, 69) would appear to have been responsible. As such, Parolini's involvement with this particular production can be taken as predominantly talismanic. Indeed, his presence is only really detectable - at a stretch - in the presence of the aforementioned acrobats.

Matt B