As an extension of an inquiry I posted elsewhere, I thought I'd toss this one out...

1) Excluding ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and the DOLLARS TRILOGY (since I presume they will show up on just about everybodies list), which Euro-Westerns would make your personal Top Ten list?

2) OK, now answer the same question, but limit it only to titles available on DVD

I would pick up Blue Underground's box set. Not only does it contain four fantastic films (pluse the usual BU extras), each disc also contains great liner notes which will lead you on trail of top notch Spaghetti Westerns.

Well, ten might be tricky, and as for DVD availability, that's even trickier, but here's a few of the usual suspects to be going on with:

FACE TO FACE - a terrific "political" spaghetti which Blue Underground REALLY need to sink their teeth into. It's head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. (There IS a Spanish DVD, but it has no English-language options, unfortunately.)

THE GREAT SILENCE - a grimly memorable snowbound spaghetti, with a terrific Morricone score. It's on DVD practically everywhere now, although Fantoma's US release has a rather substandard English audio track, very muffled and hissy (and no, that's not the best it's ever going to sound - the BBC have shown a print with perfect, HiFi quality sound that's also framed slightly wider). There's a French DVD I keep meaning to pick up, which has an anamorphic picture but only Italian language with French subs - not a problem for me, particularly, but it'll be a deal-breaker for many.

THE RETURN OF RINGO - wonderfully emotive revenge sequel to A PISTOL FOR RINGO, with another unforgettable Morricone score (recently released in an expanded version by Lionel Woodman's Hillside CD Productions). PISTOL is quite good fun, too, but hasn't anything like the wallop of RETURN.

A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL - another top quality political spaghetti boasting one of the best ensemble casts ever to trudge through Almeria: Volonte, Kinski, Lou Castel, Martine Beswicke (Sister Hyde!)... Excellent production values and a memorable revolutionary credo. Anchor Bay's region 1 disc seems to be the way to go.

A PROFESSIONAL GUN (THE MERCENARY) - maybe Sergio Corbucci's best Leone imitation, a marvellously fun and gripping adventure which is another candidate for the Blue Underground deluxe treatment (although I believe there's a Japanese disc available in one of those vastly-overpriced Macaroni Westerns import boxsets, albeit with no English-language option, comme d'habitude). I've had to make do with an LP-speed off-TV recording for too long now. Where's the damn DVD?

COMPANEROS - almost as much fun as PROFESSIONAL GUN, and at first glance easily confused with that film - in fact, for years I thought this was an alternate title for the other! (Well, they have the same production crew, pretty much the same cast, and were made around the same time...whaddya want from me?) Again, Anchor Bay's disc is the best (only?) option so far.

KEOMA - possibly the oddest spaghetti ever made - well, maybe with the exception of DJANGO KILL, anyway - this one has polarised fans for decades with its eccentric charms and, ahem, unusual music score. Franco Nero sports an unrecognisable shaggy mountain-man look, there's supernatural elements, a dirgelike soundtrack which pre-empts events like a kind of gravel-voiced Greek chorus, slow-motion violence... It's not really in the same league as the luminaries higher up the list, but it's worth a look. Anchor Bay offer the best disc.

You'll get many people raving over DJANGO, DJANGO KILL!-IF YOU LIVE, SHOOT!, NAVAJO JOE, AND GOD SAID TO CAIN, THE BIG GUNDOWN, THE HILLS RUN RED, VENGEANCE, et al... but, while I found all these titles entertaining to a greater or lesser extent, I wouldn't say they were on a par with the genuine classics shortlisted above. Oh, and never, ever trust anyone who tries to tell you that TEXAS ADDIO is any good - it isn't. :P

Anyone else like to chime in with a rebuttal?

how about DJANGO'S CUT PRICE CORPSES?

A PROFESSIONAL GUN is out on R2 Japan...at typically prohibitive Japanese import price at $50 from xploitedcinema:

http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=2419

I'd echo the above sentiments regarding the BU box set. For what it's worth, my own favourites are FACE TO FACE, DAY OF ANGER, THE BIG GUNDOWN, DJANGO, THE GREAT SILENCE, although FACE TO FACE and THE BIG GUNDOWN I'm not sure are available in editions as good they deserve.

THE PRICE OF POWER is also worth a look as an SW that is not only enjoyable but has a bizarre and intriguing concept - it's a spaghetti western based on the assassination of JFK.

Fulci's FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is also a fave but it's an acquired taste.

Nick asked, "how about DJANGO'S CUT PRICE CORPSES? "

I'll take that title to stand in for the hundreds of not so famous films which have varying degrees of trashy appeal, visual flair, weirdness-dividends, and really cool titles.

I'm in hibernation-mode and am gathering my winter store of less familiar Spaghetti titles (from under my bed, the back of my closet), and will post a separate thread on my home festival a little down the road.

I'd agree with all Steve's choices, except Keoma, which is a very good film, but is rendered almost unwatchable by the hideous voices on the soundtrack - the pastoral, folky, instrumental stuff is fine, and reminiscent of Mcabe and Mrs Miller, but the hideous euro-Cohen male singer(not Nero, though it sounds like him) and the nasal whine of this female counterpart, AND the horribly literal lyrics (HEEEEEEEEEE WASSSSSSSSS MY FATHAAAAAAAAA!) are a real turn off.

All the films in the BU set are great, bar one. DJANGO is arguably the most influential SW after Fistful of Dollars and is pretty much essential viewing, far more pessimistic than Leone's work. DJANGO KILL is definitely the oddest spaghetti western, and its Gran Guignol atmosphere never ceases to surprise me. Sollima's RUN, MAN, RUN is essential, though not as good as his THE BIG GUNDOWN or FACE TO FACE (neither on DVD). MANNAJA is an awful Keoma/Peckinpah ripoff, that I found barely watchable. Far more satisfying, and in a similar folk-hippy-western vibe, is Lucio Fulci's FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE (DVD from Anchor Bay).

KILL AND PRAY (aka Requiescant) (No DVD) is one of the best and most radical of the political spaghettis, and ranks along side QUIEN SABE, FACE TO FACE etc.

CEMETARY WITHOUT CROSSES (No DVD) is a very stylish, bleak, western that is one of the few that actually transcends the Spaghetti boundaries to become a really great western of its own.

Most SW fans seem to hate them, but I enjoy both TRINITY films (THEY CALL ME TRINITY, and TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME), though neither is especially funny.

Also, seek out Tonino Valeri (and Sergio Leone) 's MY NAME IS NOBODY, an strange, spoofy mixture of knockabout comedy, elaborate Leone-esque set-pieces and an elegy for the passing of the old west.

Theres more. Let me know when you are ready for a Miles Deem film!

I love KEOMA! One of the best Euro westerns with a wonderful soundtrack (which I am fortunate to own on CD!). See this at all costs...

Wild East is releasing KILL AND PRAY (English dubbed track only) in the next 2 weeks...xploited cinema has it up for preorder sale for $15 from the listed price $20. Extras include a Lou Castel interview. There's a non-subtitled Italian disc as well with more extras: interviews with Carlo Lizzani and Castel.

THE BIG GUNDOWN is also out from Italy with no English track or subtitle. :(

Speaking of KEOMA, I have the AB DVD for the longest time but I've never managed to get through the first 15 minutes because the loud wailing of the female singer scares me. :P Perhaps I should give it another shot soon...

While I completely agree with you, that's exactly why I liked the film. I've got a soft spot in my heart for lame flicks. I new I was in for treat the second that theme song started playing. "Youuuuu ... "

I'll speak up for MANNAJA, which I thought was a nifty mixture of spaghetti western and Gothic horror. I like the gimmicks of Mannaja (Maurizio Merli) tossing hatchets at his opponents instead of shooting it out with them and of so much of the action taking place in caves, muddy streets or thick fogs. It's also surprisingly brutal with one character buried in the desert up to his head with his eyelids sewn open. I like all four films in Blue Underground's set, although DJANGO is my favorite.

I have to give some props to THE GRAND SILENCE, even though it's the bleakest damn western I've ever seen. Hauntingly scored by the great Ennio Morricone and effectively acted, photographed and directed, THE GRAND SILENCE is one of the genre's landmarks, offering up an unusual setting and a dramatic climax likely to leave you shaken.

It's no landmark, but I like MINNESOTA CLAY. It seems highly influenced by television westerns, but it's a good action picture featuring a sympathetic performance by Cameron Mitchell, nice Spanish locations and plenty of gun-battlin' action.

I have probably a dozen more Italian westerns sitting around here that I have never gotten around to seeing, like DAY OF ANGER, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, THE MERCENARY, FACE TO FACE, THE FIVE MAN ARMY and more.

How does the Django BU disc compare with the Anchor Bay widescreen VHS?

If you wait long enough for the Guy to start singing too, the effect gets wackier still and starts to make sense in cool sonic terms at the same time. It's the marriage of a Greek Tragedy Chorus and a Dramatic Monologue (as in Hamlet or William Shatner) inspired by the Leonard Cohen commentary overlaying MCCABE AND MRS MILLER (the female vocalist here does remind me of Mrs Miller the singer, come to think of it, the one who the Wikipedia informs us " gained some fame in the 1960s for her versions of popular songs like "Moon River", "Monday, Monday" and "Downtown" rendered in an untrained, operatic, vibrato-laden voice, often out of tune and off the beat." Have I cracked the Castellari Code?! ;-)

Joking aside, the music is integral to the movie, and sometimes works to great effect anyone can unequivocally enjoy. Woody Strode's banjo does a ghostly bluegrass breakdown upon Nero's reintroduction to his old friend which brings better times and the past into instant flashback focus like the striking of a match. (For Woody singing in a Spaghetti, you'll have to watch CHUCK MOOL/CIAKMULL where his soulful Mental Institution escapee holds a slimy priest hostage and makes him pump the bellows of the church organ as the Woodman sings hymns of praise to Jesus deep into the night. I'm not making this up!)

On the bottom line level, the female voice in KEOMA is supposed to be the Native American witchy woman who sees all, past, present and future. It really sounds like she's just watching the movie and giving a description to weirdly pointless effect. As in: "And Now the men have seized the girrrl...they'll kill her if the plague doesn't kill her firrssst! So you'd better hurry up and get your ass in gear, bring guns and antidotes and saave the daaay...Keooooommmaaaa!" That's made up but in the spirit of the piece.

Now, the guy is supposed to be Nero's character (love how he sings about his "Brudders") and some have made the mistaken assumption it's Franco himself vocalizing. It's not. I believe it's a guy named Guy who is also the singing interior monologue voiceover of MANNAJA. I think...

At this point in my viewing history, I have no problem at all with the singing and music. The whole project is "different" and idiosyncratically original, and the singing is part and parcel of the package.

Wow! Thanks for all the help. I have several of the titles mentioned, but knew that my knowledge was still severely limited. As for the BU box, I already own the Anchor Bay Django/Strikes Again set, so wouldn't I be better off buying the BU titles indivually (especially if I might be inclined to make up my mind about MANNAJA later)? Or is the BU version of Django vastly superior to the AB version?

Also, I love to hear more about DAY OF ANGER, KILL AND PRAY, and CEMETARY WITHOUT CROSSES, both pro and con.

Finally, what is the critical consensus on the following, which I recently recieved from a friend:

ACQUASANTA JOE
BLINDMAN
BOOT HILL
DEAF SMITH AND JOHNNY EARS
A GENIUS, TWO PARTNERS, AND A DUPE
OUTCASTS
A STRANGER IN TOWN

And, oh yeah, are any of the SABATA films REALLY worth my time?

Thanks again!
Paul

Paul, you definitely need to upgrade to BU's DJANGO! The transfer is taken from the original negative, long-though lost, and looks spectacular!

As for spaghetti westerns, I'm in the same boat as you: I'm wary of digging into the plentiful collection of DVD's in all regions covering the genre. For example, should I bother with things like HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL, MY FRIEND...SARTANA WILL PAY, JOHNNY YUMA, and dozens of others?

This thread has been incredibly helpful; it's obvious I need to pick up AB's Spaghetti Western collection ONCE UPON A TIME IN ITALY, and need to give MANNAJA another shot. I got rid of it and DJANGO KILL and regret it as they grew on me as I thought about them more.

My personal favorite spag western is RUN MAN RUN, thanks to the welcome sense of humor, a fun performance by Tomas Milian, the always great Chelo Alonso, a good score by Ennio Morricone and/or Bruno Nicolai (this debate still goes on), and a breathtaking chase through snow. It's a tad overlong, but I never get bored with it.

Yes! Those two, anyway. Johnny Yuma is a great cartoon Spaghetti on a good DVD release. Read Lee Broughton's very sharp review (he covers all the angles, and any further comment of my own would be redundant) at DVD Savant and decide if it's for you (it's under his review of also worthy MAN FROM NOWHERE/ARIZONA COLT):

http://www.dvdsavant.com/s1345yuma.html

All Sartana movies are more or less like one another the way Bond movies are -that's the series these most resemble for gimmicks, baroque violence, and dark gags - add a little Wild, Wild West (retro-futuristic devices out of Jules Verne); dump in the Amoral-yet-Just Manipulator Hero and Man With a Machine Gun and a Black Cloak aspects of Leone and Corbucci...and stir thoroughly. Savor... with a sixpack.

I must confess I'm out of date on the dvd Sartanas. Which ones are any good as presentations? Are there any that don't cost Japanese prices?

If you want to give any of the SABATA films your time, the first film is the one to go. Plot-wise it is on the daft side, and Gianfranco Parolini's use of the zoom lens can annoy at times - but the action quota is high and the movie, in general, is good entertainment. Lee Van Cleef handles the role well and seems to be enjoying himself.

As a variation of the Euro-western you may want to consider VIVA MARIA! (1965), an enormously fun comic adventure directed/coproduced/cowrote by Louis Malle. You've got the gorgeous team of Jeanne Moureau & Brigitte Bardot on hand here as traveling entertainers who become revolutionaries in early 20th century Mexico. MGM put this out on cassette but I don't think it has arrived to DVD just yet.

Can't say I've seen KILL AND PRAY (I'll check it out when the DVD comes out shortly though) but CEMETARY WITHOUT CROSSES disappointed me somewhat. There were some stylishly-shot scenes and it was interesting to see a woman in a reasonably strong role (rare in a spaghetti, and like OUATITW it was co-written by Argento - a connection maybe?) but otherwise it was nothing special. The music lacked dramatic impact (too much jangly guitars, not enough Morricone-inspired trumpets!) and I found it pretty difficult to follow exactly what was happening at times, particularly given the large spells without dialogue (it probably didn't help that I was quite tired when I was watching it mind you).

DAY OF ANGER on the other hand is definitely one to watch. The Gemma/Van Cleef partnership is excellent, all the usual ingredients of SW films are there (including some terrific shootouts) and, particularly in the case of Gemma's character, there is actually more development of character than is the norm for a spaghetti. Riz Ortolani's music is spaghetti-esque enough but at the same time distinctive enough not to be just another Morricone rip-off. You should definitely watch this one, and the Wild East DVD also contains a pretty interesting interview with Gemma as well.

FACE TO FACE is great. I'd also like to see BLINDMAN and some of the SARTANA titles get a good release. SBS have had a lot of great SW's on in nice widescreen prints with subs down here in Oz, and many have ended up at the usual grey-market outlets.

Not to get anyone down though, but at this point Blue Underground aren't doing any future Spaghetti Westerns beyond their SPAGHETTI WESTERN COLLECTION box, and have no further plans to. It'll be nice if they change their minds (maybe further in the future) but that box is apparently it for the moment.

KILL AND PRAY (aka REQUIESCANT, the better title in my opinion) is an excellent film, though it may be a disorienting mix for some of ultra-Baroque pop and political agit prop. Director Lizzani does a far better job of making a genuinely "popular" and properly genre film with a deconstructing (tick, tick, tick) message than Godard's wayward, occasional swipes in this direction. Politics, such as they are, exist at the level of spoonful of tequila helping the medicine go down, and are well served as well through a time-tested, ingratiating technique: the 'Candide' approach, by which I mean a likable, naive, innocent hero raised to believe everything is simple and on the up and up wandering into the lurid world outside of Eden. The director's made some smart choices here. One is choosing Lou Castel as the gunslinging preacher. Giuliano Gemma could have played the role up to a point: his specialty was trusting boyishness betrayed, as well, and brushing oneself off and getting even. Lou has got that kind of open face too, but he also had his own specialty at the time that's tapped into: as the number one Euro badboy rocking the system and punking out, whether merely "bugged" by humanity. a junior Marlon Brando-James Dean, or, as here, a movie-surrogate leader of the sixties countercultural, revolutionary movement. But that's soft pedalled and integrated into a crackerjack, if outlandish, ripping yarn told with considerable irony and critical distance...which brings us to good choice number 2) Mark Damon, usually a toothsome Californian teen-idol, here got up in mascara and Phil Spectorish paranoia as a loony epitome of all that's worst about America: a racist, classist, elitist South-will-rise-again power broker and all round Hammer Film Vampire deep into dungeons and captive brides who he plays curious drinking games with (including a variation on the famous William Burroughs 'William Tell' Routine), which brings us to 3), the outstanding drinking and party games, never better represented in the genre: one other involves two nooses, a clock, and a mariachi band featuring the Pier Paolo Pasolini contract players! Oh yeah, the ACCATTONE director is a rival priest revolutionary, that movie's star is a convincingly scowling tough guy. and his favorite smiling flower child doofus plays trumpet ! I recommend this as one of the best, oddball entries (and with a message tossed in painlessly and at no extra cost)

"And, oh yeah, are any of the SABATA films REALLY worth my time?"

God, yes! I blame premature senility for not remembering to mention them earlier, but I can enthusiastically second the recommendation for SABATA (the first, with a wonderful comic-adversarial relationship between Van Cleef and deadly-banjo-toting rival William Berger) and add my own controversial (?) hurrah for the third, non-canonical "Sabata" film, variously known as INDIO BLACK (in its original incarnation), or in English-speaking territories as ADIOS SABATA and THE BOUNTY HUNTERS. This one replaces Van Cleef with Yul Brynner as a black-leather-clad (mit der tassles) variation on the amoral Sabata character and is another double-crossing race-to-get-the-gold picaresque Mexican adventure with Emperor Maximilian's Austrian/Nazi troops as the villains, and singer Dean Reed as Brynner's handsome devil of a partner-cum-rival. The film even closes with a blatant crib of a joke from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (but the film is so much fun you'll gladly forgive the cheek of it). There's also a terrific score by Bruno Nicolai, available on CD (under the INDIO BLACK title) and well worth having.

Anthony: Blindman will be released on DVD by Koch Media, Germany early next year; remastered, complete version and with the full English dialogue track. :)

Nic, I just heard this news and am very happy about it. I also heard somewhere that the same company has a Sollima box-set coming out. That would be great.

You are correct, Anthony! The box will contain Sollima's three westerns, remastered from their original negatives (The Big Gundown will include a small scene missing from the newly released Italian DVD!). Only German and Italian audio though, but with English subtitles. The box will also include a 250 page book covering the basics of SpWe knowledge. Don't know what language it'll be in, though...maybe both English and German, don't remember right now.

I'm at work right now - what are the big three Sollima titles again? BIG GUNDOWN, FACE TO FACE and... ?

In a perfect world we'd have the English tracks too, but I've only ever seen FACE TO FACE in Italian and it works very well - a very powerful film. FACE TO FACE is a real favourite.

Isn't it Run man run that's out from BU.

The three Sollima westerns are "THE BIG GUNDOWN", "FACE TO FACE" and "RUN MAN RUN". Btw, Anthony, there is a very good German release on DVD of "HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL; SARTANA WILL PAY". Xploited has it in stock, pick up a copy! They have a DVD of "IF YOU MEET SARTANA, PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH" in stock also, but the quality is not that great.

The info in this thread has been tremendously helpful. I also came across SEVERAL Top Ten lists elsewhere, and while most of the films mentioned repeatedly in this thread, also appeared on many of these other lists, I also found muliple mentions of 4 films that have not been mentioned here.

These are:
MAN CALLED BLADE
(appearing on 3 Top Ten lists)
BANDITOS
I WANT YOU DEAD
MASSACRE TIME
(each appearing on two lists)

Anyone have an opinion on any of these?

Thanks!
Paul

Haven't seen BANDITOS yet (looking forward to it), but know the others pretty well. Here's the quickest of rundowns.

BLADE/MANNAJA: It's the easiest to relate to as a MHVF Eurocult fan, quite likely. Appropriate excess levels, De Angelis music (and accompanying Goth-style sung voiceover commentary, lyrics being pretty priceless especially as Teutonically ugghed), and Steiner as especially slimy villain.

MASSACRE TIME is Fulci's best Spaghetti attempt, says I, ahead of its time in taking the genre crazily further than its limited, cynically expected business possibilities predicted, and goosing it -and all genres- up for further grue and madness thoroughly unprecedented (and not revisited in Fulci's own career for some time to come), but definitely 'old fashioned' given that it was made nearly forty years ago, and perhaps overly familiar seeming now...so who knows how you will like it. It's novel, historically, for injecting what appears to be Hong Kong-style action aesthetics into Western action movies; for giving future star George Hilton his big break as a drunken master, basically breaking the balls of little brother, and current star, Franco Nero (hot off of DJANGO), and tossing in new dimensions of incest and sadomasochistic angst and fetish weirdness ("Daddy, we will finish our duet NOW!" seethes unsettled Liberace-like villai , and stinky, whipwielding guy "Junior", played by Nino Castelnuovo in a spotless white suit, to his quaking pa at the harpsichord). It's "Wacky-action-Gothic-Greek Tragedy-Hong Kong-Western" as dreamed up by unsung inventor of nearly every early chapter of the genre (and some of Tarantino's, as well), scenarist F. Di Leo. Evidently, I like this.

I WANT HIM DEAD is a solid and slickly made time waster, high production values and very good value all round for what's at bottom a routine entry. It's a safe bet if you grow to like these films, or if you like them plain and simple and a bit silly, but I wouldn't top ten it, more like 25 or 26.

Nic, thanks for the advice about HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL; SARTANA WILL PAY, I will grab that disc from Xploited, particularly as I want to get all the Sartana's eventually. (Is that one from the actual series?). I did a run through Xploited's back catalogue pages a fortnight ago and made a list of DVD's I wanted to pick up - it came to a wallet-straining 95 or so titles. FUNERAL may well have been one of them but I'll now put it up near the top of the list. There's an Italian crime double (ALMOST HUMAN and something else) which I'll also grab, all of which should keep me in pleasurable Euro heaven (hopefully in scope) for a while.

I'd be additionally curious as to what folks thought were the best legit Spaghetti Western DVD's available. I own Blue Underground's box and will pick up the repackaged Anchor Bay collection (plus the Leone's old and new are a no-brainer) but what else stands out? DVD Savant didn't give a very good review to ACE HIGH (I thought I saw it written as ACES HIGH onetime) but having any Spaghetti Western out on DVD with a nice 16x9 transfer is hard to say no to, unless someone thinks I should say no to that one.

BANDIDOS (or BANDITOS) was on SBS TV widescreen and subbed once or twice, and ended up via those screenings in Craig Ledbetter's voluminous ETC catalogue. I owned the Japanese DVD once but was disappointed in the transfer and the English dubbing - I remember the Italian version was generally preferable (even though I'm yet to watch the whole thing). I thought CEMETARY WITHOUT CROSSES was great, and RETURN OF RINGO has a great tune over the finale (something like "No promises, my sweet heart GOOD-bye...") which convinced me that it's one I need to see in full someday.

"I'd be additionally curious as to what folks thought were the best legit Spaghetti Western DVD's available."

Just to reiterate a couple of DVD recommendations from earlier up this thread, the UK region 2 release (Nouveaux Pictures) of MY NAME IS NOBODY looks great (it's a sort-of Leone title, so you've probably got it already, but it doesn't hurt to be sure :D ), and Anchor Bay's COMPANEROS is likewise terrific - but you were going to pick this up in a boxset anyway, so...

As far as THE GREAT SILENCE is concerned, I'd really like to be able to say that Fantoma's region 1 edition was the one to go for, but...despite really cool packaging, a nice booklet, and alternate ending (incidentally, available on pretty much every other regional release to date), I can't be as enthusiastic as I should be due to the really, really poor quality English-language dub track. But as this problem seems to plague every other DVD of this title in other lands, too - other regions either eschew the English track completely or offer what appears to be the same hissy optical track as the region 1 - there probably isn't much of an alternative available. Never mind, the picture quality IS very good...but Morricone's score deserves better.

Wasn't there supposed to be an Italian BLINDMAN DVD from Alan Young Pictures, as well? Can't see any sign of this online...but maybe it's better to wait for the German one, anyway (although the content might get it banned from Amazon.de).

Anthony: "HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL; SARTANA WILL PAY" is a "real" Sartana movie, starring Gianni Garko. It's the third in the series.

Speaking about The Great Silence; the newly released UK DVD is the best one, without a doubt.

I've seen it as recently as today as a pre-order at various sites. I like them and trust them based on past experience. I'd expect Italian and English tracks, though I can't state that as a fact...Erm, actually I can now. Unilibro.it says so and has a release date of 12 December.

MASSACRE TIME gets my highest recommendation and is the SW I would most like to see get a deluxe R1 presentation. Hilton is just terrific cast against type and makes a perfect foil for the morose Nero. It takes the grim subject of interfamily warfare and makes an exhilarating action film out of it. All the characters are multidimensional and the film is both full of surreal action and intimate moments between alienated family members.

AND GOD SAID TO CAIN... Margheriti's best SW and another I covet on R1 DVD. Kinski is hypnotic as the merciless avenger who just may be from Hell or is at least on his way there. Great spiritual revival style theme song by the late Don Powel and needs to be seen in widescreen format.

Interesting that the two most prolfic director's in this area JR MARCHENT and Demofilo Fidani are the least represented on R1 DVD and will probably remain that way for the foreseeable future. Although Marchent's ZORRO THE AVENGER, an engagin, and early Spanish-French Zorro adventure scripted by Jess Franco among others, can be found in the bins of your local Wegmans or Walmart.