Dead Men Ride (Anda muchacho, spara!)(1971)

[titoli]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067769/

http://www.spaghettiwestern.altervista.org/vari-west.htm

This is a best 40 or even 30 and, in my opinion, it might have made easily also the top 20 if they had had more courage in the editing room with cutting 20 minutes of not necessary good mexican paisans rethoric. But editing is one of the strong points of  this movie, with the antefact being slowly revealed in flashbacks till the very end. Testi escapes from a prison, arrives into a town where a gang led by Fajardo (his hairpiece rivals and best Bardem's cut in NPFOM) exploits the poor peones who extract gold from mines. Testi is perfect in this movie as all the other actors. We are also graced with some nudity by a very good looking girl. The score by Nicolai has  no memorable tune, but the level is the usual one: better than most, with a peak in the final duel which is very, very effective. You may give this 7,8 or even 9\10 but it is a must see anyway.

[The Firecracker]

I found it to be very generic. I saw it in italian so some plot points escaped me. I need to see a copy with english subs.

There is an english language copy titled "OVER THE RAINBOW" (believe it or not) but it is hard to track down and it is also cut.

[Banjo]

My bootleg copy is in Italian(with English subs     )but frustratingly theres a fault with the dvdr for the last 20 minutes where the picture keeps sticking or breaks up.

But i agree totally with Titoli that this maybe  top 30/40 and i also think that its Testi's best sw performance.

Nicolai's extremely Morriconesque soundtrack is also very enjoyable.  

[Arizona Colt]

I just finished watching this one. It's definitely a hidden gem. An unusually well directed effort from a virtually unknown director made all the more special by the fact that Italian westerns like this weren't the flavor of the day at the time. The script is also very good as are the actors. Also, there's a high quotient of nudity present. The score by Nicolai is a highly enjoyable selection of musical cues and motifs. It's also available on CD. A nice surprise, this one. I'll definitely be doing a review for this one on my site.