When I was a kid I often spent my weekends watching double features that played on television as part of the “Monster Matinee” and I thought I’d write about one I can vividly remember seeing for the Double Bill-a-thon currently running at Broken Projector.

I watched a lot of great double features on the Monster Matinee show during the late seventies and lots of forgettable movies as well. One double bill that really stands out in my memory was when William Beaudine’s Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966) and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966) were aired back-to-back. I had seen a brief commercial for the movies before they played and I was more than excited about seeing them together since they promised lots of “terror,” “thrills” and “action.” I had grown up loving westerns and horror movies, but until that point I had never seen any movie that combined cowboys with monsters. I just knew that Billy the Kid versus Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter had to be great. The mere idea of a horror/western film sent my 10 year-old mind reeling!

I invited some neighborhood kids over and asked my mom to make us some Jiffy Pop Popcorn and Tang to enjoy with the movies. We all gathered around the TV as the films began and anticipation was high, but nobody was looking forward to seeing these movies more than me. The first film shown was Billy the Kid versus Dracula, which starred the great John Carradine. I had previously seen John Carradine in the terrific 1945 film House of Dracula where he was very good. He scared me silly in that movie, so naturally I assumed he’s be great as Dracula again. Boy, was I wrong! As this incredibly dull film trotted along I immediately knew something wasn’t right. Billy the Kid versus Dracula totally lacked suspense and I couldn’t understand why. The other kids got restless and started playing board games. I ended up making excuses for the movie the entire time it was playing even though I found myself giggling at all the wrong moments. When Billy the Kid versus Dracula ended all the kids got up to leave, but I tried explaining to them that this was a ”double feature” and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter was on next. I was sure it would be better than the first movie we watched. The kids all ignored my desperate pleas and left. The popcorn and Tang were all gone so there really wasn’t any reason for them to stick around anymore.

I ended up watching the second half of this double feature all alone and that probably was for the best. Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter was actually a little better than Billy the Kid versus Dracula, but it was nowhere near as good as I had hoped it would be. I was totally dumbfounded by how bad the movies I had just seen were. My little brain was doing cartwheels trying to understand why the acting seemed so terrible and why the scripts made no sense. They were also shot so poorly that I could hardly make out was going on most of the time. I wondered out loud to myself how in the world anyone could make a boring movie with a fantastic title like Billy the Kid versus Dracula? I literally gave myself a headache trying to make sense of William Beaudine’s movies that afternoon.

My mom ended up asking me what I had thought of the films, but I was rather speechless. I explained to her that I didn’t understand them and I couldn’t figure out why they had been so bad. It was the first time in my life that I can remember being genuinely disappointed with a movie, so I told my mom I thought they were “real stinkers” and they were.

The director of these two stinkers was known as William “One Shot” Beaudine and he earned that nickname late in his career due to the fact that he would often shoot just one take, regardless of the problems that happened while he was shooting. It didn’t matter to Beaudine if actors forgot their lines or the special effects failed. He would go on filming and if any changes were made to the final product he churned out, they were done in the editing room. Before becoming a b-movie maker and working on popular television shows, Beaudine had been an assistant director to D.W. Griffith and even worked with him on films like The Birth of a Nation (1915). Beaudine also helped make Mary Pickford a star with movies like Little Annie Rooney (1925) and Sparrows (1926). Billy the Kid versus Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein Daughter were the 74 year old director’s last feature films after making over 350 movies, and they’re the work of a tired man just trying to make a buck who doesn’t seem to care what he’s shooting anymore. Both movies were often shown as a double feature at the drive-in during the sixties, so it’s not too surprising that the movies were also often shown together on television.

Beaudine’s Billy the Kid versus Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein Daughter are both currently available on DVD. If you’re curious to see one of Beaudine’s stinkers I recommend Jesse James Meets Frankenstein Daughter since it’s slightly better than Billy the Kid versus Dracula. The lovely Narda Onyx stars as Dr. Maria Frankenstein and she’s worth watching even if all the others actors involved with the film seem like their sedated and reading their lines off of cue cards.

This week’s Recommended DVD Release of the Week is the Trinity Twin Pack from Hen’s Tooth Video which contains the films They Call Me Trinity (1970) and Trinity Is Still My Name (1971). The Trinity movies have been available on DVD for awhile, but this new DVD set features all-new digital transfers remastered from the original Technicolor prints and both films are presented in their correct widescreen ratios for the first time.

As I mentioned back in May, I really enjoy all the Spaghetti Western comedies starring the handsome blue-eyed Italian/German actor Terence Hill (a.k.a. Mario Girotti). Both movies in the Trinity Twin Pack feature Terence Hill along with his longtime co-star Bud Spencer (a.k.a. Carlo Pedersoli) as two unlikely half-brothers who find themselves in all sorts of unusual and very funny situations in the wild and wacky west. The Trinity films parody previous Spaghetti Westerns and seem to really enjoy poking fun at the genre as well as celebrating its eccentricities.

The talented Italian director and cinematographer Enzo Barboni directed and wrote both of the Trinity movies featured in the Trinity Twin Pack and he really knows how to make entertaining slapstick comedies that appeal to all-ages. I first saw the Trinity films when I was just a kid and I still find them funny today. Both of these Trinity movies contain plenty of creative gunplay and exciting action, but the violence and bloodshed found in many Spaghetti Westerns has been replaced by lots of laughs.

To learn more about the films I recommend visiting the official Cinedelic Records site for They Call Me Trinity and for more information about the handsome and funny star of the Trinity films check out Terence Hill’s Official International Website.

The Trinity Twin Pack DVD set is currently available at Amazon and you should be able to find both movies at better online DVD rental sources like Netflix and Greencine.

My favorite spy - Modesty Blaise

A quick reprieve from my French obsessions to chat about my obsession with spies & secret agents…

I was recently the very lucky Grand Prize Winner of the first contest held over at Tanner’s wonderful Double O Section blog. I received a brand new Wild Wild West - The Complete Second Season DVD set in the mail on Monday and I couldn’t be more happy about it. Thanks Tanner!

The Wild Wild West has long been one of my favorite TV shows (but I must add that I loathe the Will Smith movie) and I actually prefer Season II of The Wild Wild West to Season I because the show gets more entertaining and just plain crazy at times. The earlier episodes were shot in black and white and they’re a little more subdued. The second season has a few more laughs and it’s shot in color, which adds a lot to the almost psychedelic inspired action that often takes place.

I’m really happy that the success of the recent James Bond film has led to a renewed interest in all things spy related. Lots of great old TV shows like The Wild Wild West and Jason King are now being released on DVD and many old films such as Kommisar X and Espionage In Tangiers are also finding their way onto DVD. This coming weekend there is even a 007 Film Festival happening in San Francisco that I would love to attend.

If you happen to be interested in spies and secret agents yourself, I highly recommend visiting Double O Section. Tanner knows his stuff and shares lots of great info about the latest spy films, books and anything else he comes across that is spy related. He’s also planning to hold other contests in the future.

I love Spaghetti Westerns. The best ones are what I would call “gothic westerns” since they combine some of the best aspects of Italian gothic horror films and literature with classic American westerns and western novels. They are filled with high drama but laced with subtlety. They offer romantic views of the west but they’re often very dark and at times even frightening. Suspense, death, blood, dirt, graveyards, coffins and religious iconography are reoccurring aspects of Italian westerns. Silence and sound were equally valued by directors and atmosphere was as important as story. Good and evil are often irrelevant and humanism - with a misanthropic streak - is king.

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the politics at play in many Italian westerns. Many of the directors, composers and actors who made these films were card carrying Communists. Capitalism and Imperialism were often the real bad guys and many of the best Italian westerns managed to present their Marxist ideals in an incredibly entertaining way.

Recently Keith Brown over at Giallo Fever asked his blog readers what their “Top 10 Spaghetti Westerns” were. I had a hard time putting my list together because I like a lot of Spaghetti Westerns, but I thought I’d share my current Top 10 List here.

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (a.k.a. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966, Sergio Leone)
This is my favorite Leone film for many reasons. It’s a thoughtful, funny and entertaining movie with an amazing Morricone score. I really love the writing and I think the script is just brilliant, plus Leone films it all beautifully. Eli Wallach gives one of the greatest performances of his career as Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and in my opinion he steals the show from Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. The scene between Wallach and his brother (the priest - Luigi Pistilli) is one of my favorite scenes from any film ever made. Wallach is not just reviving his character Calvera from The Magnificent Seven here, he’s giving him depth and making him one of the most enduring characters in the history of cinema. It’s a movie I’ve watched countless times and I never get tired of it.

Watch: Lengthy clip leading up to my favorite scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2. The Great Silence (a.k.a. Il Grande silenzio, 1968, Sergio Corbucci)
I’ve already written a bit about why I love The Great Silence but the movie deserves a few more words. I think it’s Corbucci’s best film and definitely one of the most violent westerns ever put on film. There is deep humanity and brutal realism at play in The Great Silence and I think the movie has a kind of surreal quality that’s hard to put into words. Klaus Kinski gets to play one of the most ruthless characters ever created and that’s reason enough why this movie is one of my personal favorites but I also love Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance as the tragic and doomed Silence.

Watch: Great clip of Klaus’s brutality in The Great Silence

3. A Bullet for the General (1966, Damiano Damiani)
I wrote about this terrific film last month and explained why it’s one of my favorite westerns so I won’t bother with the details again. Please check out my previous review.

4. Once Upon a Time in the West (a.k.a. C’era una volta il West, 1968, Sergio Leone)
This is another great Leone film with a terrific Morricone score that I love. I think Henry Fonda is wonderful as the cruel killer Frank and the infamous scene where he murders the boy and his family is one of the most brutal scenes ever captured on film but the rest of the cast (Bronson, Cardinale and Robards) also offer worthwhile performances here. In the end though Once Upon a Time in the West is really an epic about the birth of the civilized west and the landscape that gives it life. The story and the directing are the real stars. It’s a beautiful love letter from Leone to all Spaghetti Western fans.

Watch: Clip from my favorite scene with Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West

5. For a Few Dollars More (a.k.a. Per qualche dollaro in più, 1965, Sergio Leone)
This is my second favorite Leone/Eastwood film. The story is wonderfully told and the film’s really entertaining but I especially love the interplay between Klaus Kinski’s hunchback character Wild and Lee Van Cleef’s Col. Mortimer. Both actors are my favorite western bad boys and their scenes together in For a Few Dollars More are truly priceless. Kinski’s performance is full of his typical twitches and outbursts, and Lee Van Cleef gets in his usual cold hearted stares. Eastwood is really good here and he looks truly fantastic in his poncho and hat but in the end this is really Lee van Cleef and Gian Maria Volontè’s movie. Both actors are terrific in their starring roles alongside Eastwood and once again Morricone delivers a fantastic score that really compliments the action and drama.

Watch: Great Kinski vs. Cleef fan video compiling clips from For a Few Dollars More

6. Django (1966, Sergio Corbucci)
I love the Django series and I had a hard time choosing between three Django films to list here. Django Kill - If You Live, Shoot! (1967) and Strangers Gundown (1969) are also worthy of being added to my Top 10 list, even if they’re inclusion in the Django cannon is debatable. In the first film the handsome actor Franco Nero stars as the enigmatic Django and his performance as the coffin carrying gunslinger is equal to Clint Eastwood’s best performances as “the man with no name.” The story of Django is well told and beautifully directed by Corbucci. The film also boasts a great score by composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov which is comparable to some of Morricone’s best work. All three of the Django films I mentioned are well worth a look if you like your spaghetti westerns dished up bloody and a bit surreal.

Watch: The final 6 min. of Django

7. Death Rides A Horse (a.k.a. Da uomo a uomo, 1967, Giulio Petroni)
The story treads familiar ground but it’s still one of the most entertaining revenge westerns ever shot. Lee Van Cleef and the very cute John Phillip Law give two of their best performances here as Ryan and Bill, and I think they have a surprisingly good chemistry together. The movie boasts some creative camera-work and it features one of Morricone’s most unnerving scores. One of my favorite scenes involves a poker game between Bill (John Phillip Law) and bad guy Burt Cavanaugh (Anthony Dawson), but Lee van Cleef gets a lot of great scenes in Death Rides A Horse as well.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from Death Rides a Horse

8. Massacre Time (a.k.a. The Brute and the Beast/Tempo di massacro, 1966, Lucio Fulci)
I wrote about Fulci’s Massacre Time back in March so I won’t bother going over it again but I will add that besides Fulci’s stylish directing, Massacre Time includes one of George Hilton’s best performances and it has a great score by composer Coriolano Gori (a.k.a. Lallo Gori).

9. My Name Is Nobody (a.k.a. Il Mio nome è Nessuno, 1973, Tonino Valerii & Sergio Leone)
I really enjoy the humorous westerns that feature Terence Hill and this one is my favorite of the bunch. It’s probably Sergio Leone’s most lighthearted effort but he works well here with Tonino Valerii who directed some great Italian thrillers. Henry Fonda delivers a terrrific performance as an old gunslinger and he has some wonderful scenes with Terrence Hill. Morricone’s score is really playful at times which works well with the movie’s comedy. My Name Is Nobody is a fun film but it’s also a touching farewell to the old west and it confirms that Leone offered Fonda some of his best and most interesting roles late in his career.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from My Name Is Nobody

10. Dragon Strikes Back (a.k.a. Shanghai Joe/Il Mio nome è Shangai Joe, 1972, Mario Caiano)
When I was a kid Kung Fu was one of my favorite TV shows. The impact that the show had on me is hard to explain but the philosophy it championed definitely made an impression on me. Dragon Strikes Back is basically a drawn out movie version of Kung Fu with Chen Lee (a poor man’s Bruce Lee) playing David Carradine’s role. It’s plain silly at times and the story is thin but it also has some great moments such as the fantastic bullfight and the duel between Chen Lee and Klaus Kinski (once again playing a nasty bad guy here). The combination of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu action flick is a strange mix that really works. The movie also has a great Bruno Nicoli score (with borrowed bits from Have a Good Funeral, My Friend) and overall the movie is just a really entertaining treat.

Note: Keoma (1976), Companeros (1970), A Bullet for Sandoval (1969) and Duck, You Sucker (1971) all came close to making my list.

I’ve only seen about 25 or 30 Spaghetti Westerns and there are hundreds so my list is subject to change in the future.

Like the Bandit… Like the Gringo… A bullet doesn’t care who it kills!

Blue Underground recently re-released the excellent spaghetti western A Bullet for the General (El Chuncho, quien sabe?, 1966) on DVD and I thought I’d take some time to write about the film since it’s one of my favorite westerns.

The movie begins as a young American “gringo” named Bill (Lou Castel) is arriving in war torn Mexico at the height of the Mexican Revolution. He watches indifferently as a group of young rebels are brutally executed in front of him. He then heads towards the railway station where he jumps the queue and pushes ahead of a long line of people to buy himself a train ticket to Durango. While he stands in line a young Mexican boy (Antonio Ruiz) asks him what he thinks of Mexico and he coldly responds, “Not very much.”

These opening minutes offer an unapologetic look at an “ugly American”, whose innocent appearance and expensive suit can not mask his arrogance and lack of empathy towards the poor Mexican peons (unskilled labors) that surround him. But underlying Bill’s behavior are much darker motivations that become clearer as the film unfolds.

As Bill rides the train towards Durango his journey is suddenly interrupted by a gang of Mexican bandidos led by El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volonté) banging a drum in time with composer Luis Bacalov’s excellent film score (supervised by Ennio Morricone). The bandits want the train’s cargo of guns so they can sell them to the revolutionary army led by the respected General Elías (Jaime Fernández).

Instead of joining the fight against the bandidos, Bill helps in the raid and tricks Chuncho into believing that he’s a wanted man so he can join his gang of bandits. This sets the stage for the rest of the film as we’re introduced to the bandits and discover that they’re not typical thieves. Chuncho and his gang have political as well as financial motivations, and much like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, they try to help the poor while stealing from the corrupt Mexican government. Of course the cold-blooded American has plans of his own and things get complicated when his personal motivations conflict with the idealistic bandidos.

This terrific spaghetti western has lots of spectacular gun battles and makes great use of the beautiful desert scenery but the radical political ideas that were taking shape in the war torn sixties are the real focus of director Damiano Damiani’s impressive western. Damiani makes an admirable case against American capitalism and imperialism in A Bullet For the General, which he obscures within a very entertaining movie.

The script is based on a story by Salvatore Laurani that was adapted for the screen by Franco Solinas. Solinas is well-known for his leftist political leanings and he was a member of the Italian Communist Party. His scripts written during the sixties and seventies for films such as The Battle of Algiers (1966), Tepepa (1968), Burn! (1969), The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) and Mr. Klein (1976) brazenly expressed his political views in thoughtful but often controversial films.

At first glance it’s easy to assume that A Bullet For the General is full of typical characters found in many westerns but the characters that populate the film are complex and have a lot of hidden depth if you’re willing to go digging for it.

The revolutionary bandits are the movie’s real heroes but they are often portrayed as drunken simpletons unaware of what they’re fighting against and the bourgeoisie land owners are often portrayed as rational and somewhat sympathetic characters. Italian westerns are notorious for the way they refuse to offer typical examples of good guys and bad guys that are so often found in American westerns. A Bullet For the General is a great example of a movie that refuses to easily define any of the characters that populate it.

Gian Maria Volonté is truly magnificent as the bandidos’ leader El Chuncho. Volonté was a respected Italian actor and he had previously acted in two of Sergio Leone’s westerns, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965), but he passed up the chance to play Tuco (a role later given to Eli Wallach) in Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) in order to play Chuncho. Volonté preferred the more blatant political leanings found in the script for A Bullet For the General to the subtle politics at play in The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Some thought it was a bad decision on his part since Leone’s popular film could have catapulted his career but his role in A Bullet For the General is much more complex and in the films final frames the actor is transformed into one of Italian cinema’s most enduring heroes.

A Bullet For the General chronicles the birthing pains of a new nation. And the personal trials that Volonté’s character Chuncho must endure on his troubled journey to self-discovery brilliantly mirror what’s historically happening all around him. Mexico’s revolution is Chuncho’s revolution and we celebrate the country’s victories as we celebrate Chuncho’s final choices.

Klaus Kinski also has one of his best minor roles in the film as Chuncho’s half-brother Santo but unfortunately he doesn’t get enough screen time. Kinski’s Santo is a religious zealot who dresses in dirty monks robes and shouts political slogans while brutally killing his enemies. He seems driven a bit mad by the government made horrors he has seen the Mexican people suffer and he uses his rage to help the people fight back against their oppressors.

Lou Castel is perfectly cast as the heartless young “gringo” Bill. Castel had previously starred in the complex and dark Italian drama Fists in the Pocket (1965) where he played a deeply disturbed young man who wants to murder his family. He was only 23 when he made A Bullet For the General and his innocent appearance and youth easily mislead the audience into believing that he may not be the cold-hearted killer that he really is.

Like most westerns, there aren’t many women to be found in the film but the two actresses that do get to share the spotlight with the men are exceptional and breathe a lot of life into their roles. Spaghetti westerns are often accused of having badly written female characters but critics would have a tough time trying to find any poorly defined female roles in A Bullet For the General.

Martine Beswick plays the beautiful Adelita, a tough señorita who’s deeply scarred from being raped by a rich land owner when she was only fifteen years old. She’s desperately trying to forge some kind of loving relationship with one of the bandits but their life on the run offers them very few intimate moments together. Stolen kisses and a few hours of passion don’t hold much weight in the violent world they inhabit and Adelita longs for a stable home.

When the American arrives she seems attracted to his stoic silence and independence, which often mirrors her own demeanor. She’s pleased when he finally starts paying attention to her but the pleasure she gains from his attention is short lived after he suggests that she should return with him to the United States. Adelita is smart enough to know that a relationship with the gringo would never work in his country. She’s fought hard to be treated as an equal among the men that she rides with and she would loose her hard earned pride and independence if she went to America. Adelita quickly refuses his offer and she stays with her Mexican bandit until his bitter demise.

The name “Adelita” is associated with one of the most famous folks songs of the Mexican revolution and there’s no doubt that the writers purposefully selected the name for Beswick’s character. The “Adelita” song tells the story of a brave woman known as a soldadera (a female soldier) who cares and cooks for the troops but also bravely fights alongside them. Soldaderas became a vital part of the Mexican revolution and were idolized for being beautiful, strong and courageous women, just like the character of Adelita in A Bullet For the General.

Carla Gravina also has a small but memorable role as Rosario, the wife of a rich land owner named Don Feliciano (Andrea Checchi). When the bandidos arrive at Don Feliciano’s home and demand justice for the crimes he’s committed against the Mexican people, he crumbles and feigns heart troubles so he can hide in his bedroom. Rosario is unfazed and she confronts the unruly bandits alone. The audience is not asked to sympathize with her politics but it’s hard not be impressed with her grace under pressure. Rosario is unwilling to easily succumb to the bandit’s threats and she verbally assaults them while trying to diplomatically resolve the highly volatile situation she’s found herself in. All does not go well and Rosario is almost raped but she retains her dignity throughout the ordeal.

A Bullet For the General is undoubtedly one of the greatest spaghetti westerns made during the sixties and I’m thrilled to see DVD companies like Blue Underground keeping the film available for new audiences to discover.

On Sunday (Feb. 25th) Ennio Morricone will receiving an Honorary “Lifetime Achievement” Oscar at this years’ Academy Awards ceremony to celebrate his contribution to the art of film music. It’s unbelievable that it’s taken the Academy so long to recognize Morricone’s incredible contribution to cinema, but thankfully they’re going to try and make up for past mistakes on Sunday night.

Unfortunately it seems that during the Oscar show Celine Dion will be performing a tribute to Morricone, which I can’t understand. The talented Edda Dell’Orso, who has contributed amazing vocals to countless Morricone tunes is still alive and performing, so it seems really strange to me that Dion will be performing at the Oscars to honor Morricone instead of Dell’Orso. I also think Celine Dion’s vocal abilities pale in comparison to Edda Dell’Orso’s.

Ennio Morricone has long been one of my favorite film composers. I grew up in a household where Hugo Montenegro’s Music From ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly’ & ‘A Fistful Of Dollars’ & ‘For A Few Dollars More’ got a lot of play and even though it wasn’t exactly Morricone’s original score, that record definitely made a huge impression on me and helped shape my deep appreciation of film scores. When I started collecting soundtracks in the 1980s, Morricone’s original score for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was one of the first ones I bought and it’s still my favorite Morricone-Leone score.

Trailer for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (music by Ennio Morricone)

When I think about my favorite westerns, Ennio Morricone’s music immediately comes to mind. It’s hard not to be moved by the somber sounds of wailing harmonicas, Spanish horns, echoing whistles and Edda Dell’Orso’s haunting vocals that manage to perfectly bring to life the dirty, dusty and violent west that lives in my imagination. It’s tough to pick a favorite when it comes to Morricone’s soundtracks for spaghetti westerns because he composed so many great ones, including the scores for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For A Few Dollars More (1965), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Death Rides A Horse (1967), My Name Is Nobody (1973), and A Bullet for the General (1966). Besides his amazing score for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), I’m also really fond of Morricone’s score for The Great Silence (aka Il Grande silenzio) which he recorded in 1968.

The Great Silence is one of my favorite westerns directed by Sergio Corbucci and it stars Klaus Kinski in one of his most memorable roles as a vicious bounty hunter who’s being tracked down by a gunman out for revenge called Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant). Morricone’s score for The Great Silence perfectly captures the mood of Corbucci’s film, which is set in a small dirty town as well as the snow-covered mountains of Utah. The main character of the film is called Silence because he can not speak due to having his tongue violently cut out when he was a young boy, so the film has very little dialogue compared to some other westerns. The “silence” in the film gives Morricone’s score room to really breath and come alive in ways that are extremely powerful and often very moving. It’s an incredible score for a really exceptional western that is filled with many beautiful as well as brutal moments.

Trailer for The Great Silence (music by Ennio Morricone)

Besides Italian westerns, Ennio Morricone has created some incredible scores for some of my favorite Italian horror films and thrillers including Nightmare Castle (1965),The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970), The Fifth Cord (1971), My Dear Killer (1972), Who Saw Her Die? (1972), Bluebeard (1972) A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971) and Mario Bava’s action-packed Danger: Diabolik (1968).

I think Morricone’s giallo scores are among the best film scores he ever recorded and I find myself listening to them more then any other soundtracks that I own. These scores really show off his diversity as a composer since they often include a wide variety of musical styles. From jazzy beats to haunting melodies, Morricone’s giallo soundtracks are filled with memorable music that is often complemented by the vocal stylings of the great Edda Dell’Orso.

One of Morricone’s best giallo scores was composed for Massimo Dallamano’s film What Have They Done to Solange? (aka Cosa Avete Fatto a Solange?) recorded in 1972. This complex soundtrack features moody instrumentals, unusual rhythms and sharp horns. It also includes some surprisingly playful pieces of music as well. His score for What Have They Done to Solange? is one of Morricone’s most experimental and it’s also one of his darkest, which makes it extremely complimentary to Dallamano’s disturbing giallo.

Trailer for What Have They Done to Solange? (music by Ennio Morricone)

Another one of Ennio Morricone’s best giallo scores was created for Luciano Ercoli’s Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (aka Le Foto proibite di una signora per bene) recorded in 1970. Ercoli’s fascinating film is more mystery then horror and has lots of bare skin and very little bloodshed. Morricone’s score for the film is fantastic and includes lots of Bossa influences and pop beats. The music highlights the sexier aspects of Ercoli’s giallo, but still manages to be extremely suspenseful at all the right moments.

Trailer for Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (music by Ennio Morricone)

I have a lot of favorite Morricone scores and this post only highlights a few of them. Hopefully it has introduced a couple of people to scores they haven’t heard or at least encouraged someone to seek out Morricone’s more obscure soundtracks. He’s composed hundreds of amazing scores for films and I’ve only heard about 30 or 40 myself, so I’m looking forward to discovering a lot more gems hidden away in Ennio Morricone’s incredible discography. I’m also looking forward to seeing Clint Eastwood (I hope!) present Morricone with his long overdue Oscar on Sunday night.

Ennio Morricone’s Offical Website - EnnioMorricone.com

Fan Run Music Blog - Morricone Lover

For lots more Oscar talk and links to more Morricone related articles stop by Dennis Cozzalio’s great film blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule

Over the weekend I had the chance to watch Sholay (1975), which was my introduction to curry westerns. I enjoy 1960s-70s Bollywood films, but I’ve only seen a limited amount and the ones I have seen tend to be crime/caper films or horror movies. Since I love spaghetti westerns and have seen plenty of them over the years, I figured it was time to spread my wings a bit and experience a western done Bollywood style.

Bollywood westerns are often referred to as "curry westerns" and these Hindi language films borrow basic plot ideas from American and Italian westerns, but have the added bonus (or deterrence, depending on how you view it) of musical numbers and they give the drama, romance and comedy aspects of the film’s plot almost as much screen time as the action. This all makes for a very long movie and at 204 minutes, Sholay is indeed a very long film. I personally would have enjoyed the movie much more if it was trimmed down to about 2 hours, but it was still entertaining and an interesting introduction to curry westerns.

Sholay is directed by Ramesh Sippy and stars the charismatic Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan as Jai and Dharmendra as his fun-loving partner Veeru. Jai and Verru are career criminals who get hired by a retired police officer named Thakur (played by Sanjeev Kumar) to help him capture a dangerous bandit called Gabbar Sing (Amjad Khan) and his band of outlaws who are terrorizing the small village where the retired police officer lives. What follows is an epic tale about revenge that includes plenty of romantic as well as funny moments.

Sholay borrows it’s basic story-line and some of it’s best ideas from two of my favorite westerns, The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) with a little bit of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) tossed in for good measure. I’ve read complaints from people who like to point out how unoriginal curry westerns are since many of their plots are borrowed from other movies, but these complaints seem to come from people who don’t realize that many western directors over the years have borrowed their plots from other sources as well and have still managed to create entertaining and fresh films that offer new insight into old ideas. John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s wonderful Seven Samurai (1954) and Bernardo Bertolucci (who co-wrote the screenplay for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West) has said that he was inspired by earlier westerns like Robert Aldrich’s The Last Sunset (1961).

Director Ramesh Sippy should be given credit for being able to take well-worn ideas from other westerns and giving them an entertaining Bollywood twist. He does a terrific job of filming the action packed opening train chase that should impress even long time western fans and the "festival of colors" musical number is really spectacular.

The two stars (Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra) seem to be having lots of fun in this unusual buddy movie. The two lovely female leads (Jaya Bhaduri and Hema Malini) also do a great job with their roles and it was interesting to watch romance blossom between them and the lead actors, since both couples in the film actually fell in love during the production and were later married in real life. I was especially impressed by Amjad Khan who played the bandit Gabbar Sing. He does a terrific job of playing the lead villain and steals just about every scene he’s in.

One of the most impressive things about Sholay is it’s terrific score by Rahul Dev Burman (aka R. D. Burman). The musical numbers (which are often the highlight in any Bollywood film) are very catchy, but the background music is especially well done. Burman obviously found inspiration in the film scores of composers like Ennio Morricone and Elmer Bernstein, but he brings a worldly Indian flavor to the music which is especially interesting. I plan on purchasing the score in the future since it’s well worth listening to again.

Sholay isn’t without it’s faults and besides the obvious need of a good editor, the film has a few unintentional laughs that fans of cheaply made exploitation flicks might still enjoy. I know I did! Early big budget Bollywood films clearly had production limits when compared to major Hollywood and European films from the same period.

The Eros DVD release of Sholay is really dissapointing. The film is shown only in fullscreen and the picture quality is lacking. It comes with no extras and considering it’s price, you would expect a little more for your money.

To it’s credit, after 30 years Sholay is still the highest grossing movie in India and is considered one of Bollywood’s greatest achievements. The movie has definitely got me interested in seeking out more curry westerns and hopefully I’ll find them as entertaining as Sholay.