I quattro dell'Ave Maria aka Ace High (1968)

[cigar joe]

.

Did anybody notice those bizarre colored boxes in the foreground in the 2nd transitional scene on horseback? thought it was some kinda 60s pop art thing at first or trad mexican . very strange

They were bee hive supers, you keep stacking suppers if you have a good honey producing colony, usually they are just painted white but they must color them down Mexico way.

Also did you notice the McBain family kids in one of the scenes there were all three of them lol.

I can't believe somebody didn't use Eli Wallach in more good westerns Spaghetti or otherwise, I wonder if MacKenna's Gold is any good.

Belkin, did you ever catch these other Wallach SW's, Corbucci's  "The White, The Yellow & The Black" (Il Bianco Il Giallo, Il Negro) or "Viva La Muerta, Tua!"?

[Belkin]

.

They were bee hive supers, you keep stacking suppers if you have a good honey producing colony, usually they are just painted white but they must color them down Mexico way.

Also did you notice the McBain family kids in one of the scenes there were all three of them lol.

I can't believe somebody didn't use Eli Wallach in more good westerns Spaghetti or otherwise, I wonder if MacKenna's Gold is any good.

Belkin, did you ever catch these other Wallach SW's, Corbucci's  "The White, The Yellow & The Black" (Il Bianco Il Giallo, Il Negro) or "Viva La Muerta, Tua!"?

Never caught them. Any good?.....Don't waste money on MacKenna's Gold. Great cast wasted in an insane storyline. I got the feeling everybody was high on something or other when they made it. In fact, you would have to be high on something or other just to watch it! SHARIF and PECK climbing a cartoon canyon is beyond description! And the theme song, OLD TURKEY BUZZARD! Could only have been worse if they's gotten LEE VAN CLEEF to sing it.....or ANDY DEVINE!

[cigar joe]

Belkin thanks for the heads up on Mackenna's Gold you know I think I remember seeing it as a kid, was that the one where at the end there is some kind of earthquake that topples a butte and buries the valley where the gold is? I don't even remember Wallach in it he must not have had much of a part.

I've never seen those other SW's either but an leary of them after Ace High, Il Bianco, Il Giallo, Il Negro, is supposed to be something like Red Sun, a western samuri flick.

Its hard to believe that Wallach didn't get more serious screen time he started out like gangbusters:

Baby Doll
Magnificent Seven
The Misfits
Lord Jim (don't remember him in this)
Gengis Kahn (don't remember him in this)
GBU

And then not much of any consequence after those, I remember Cinderella Liberty but mostly for Jack Nicholson I'll have to catch that again and I didn't think much of Godfather III.

What a waste of a great talent, I know he did a lot of Broadway, so maybe that explains why he wasn't in a lot of films.

[Belkin]

Belkin thanks for the heads up on Mackenna's Gold you know I think I remember seeing it as a kid, was that the one where at the end there is some kind of earthquake that topples a butte and buries the valley where the gold is? I don't even remember Wallach in it he must not have had much of a part.

I've never seen those other SW's either but an leary of them after Ace High, Il Bianco, Il Giallo, Il Negro, is supposed to be something like Red Sun, a western samuri flick.

Its hard to believe that Wallach didn't get more serious screen time he started out like gangbusters:

Baby Doll
Magnificent Seven
The Misfits
Lord Jim (don't remember him in this)
Gengis Kahn (don't remember him in this)
GBU

And then not much of any consequence after those, I remember Cinderella Liberty but mostly for Jack Nicholson I'll have to catch that again and I didn't think much of Godfather III.

What a waste of a great talent, I know he did a lot of Broadway, so maybe that explains why he wasn't in a lot of films.

Two of my favorite ELI WALLACH performances are in:
SEVEN THIEVES (1960); a terrific movie. Eli's co-stars are, EDWARD G. ROBINSON and ROD STIEGER.
and;
THE LINEUP(1958); Directed by DON SIEGEL.
If you haven't seen either of these, Cigar Joe, and you happen to come across them, you are in for a treat!

[spag fan]

I picked up Ace High new at Best Buy for only $7.49 this weekend, and I recommend others to do so as well. I don't really see why so many posters disliked this one. I found it to be well made and more enjoyable than the average spaghetti. Eli Wallach was great as always, and I thought the use of the Trinity Boy's was a plus, even if their voices were dubbed.

There are many "A-List" SW's that I found to be less enjoyable than this one. This is one of the better one's I've seen in a while.

[Christopher]

I've seen this movie out and read about it. Not sure if I want to buy it though, after reading through some of these reactions. Not that I really need to spend more money.

It would be cool to see Wallach though, so maybe I'll be able to catch it on sometime or rent it.

[cigar joe]

rent it 

[spag fan]

If you find it for less than $10.00, I'd say buy it. Lord knows I've spent more for less.

[boardwalk_angel]

I'd also recommend at least a rental. Hey, no great shakes here...fairly ordinary...Wallach's Cacopoulos is an interesting character..no more....no less....
*Spoilers Ahead*


...The final 1/3 of the movie.. Brock Peters..Hill, Spencer, & Wallach teaming up to "sting" the Casino..& the final showdown..which was playful, weird, & funny...w/ a definite wink & a nod to Leone & the "corrida" finale in general...is worth seeing.
"Wait!! I've been dreaming of this moment for 15 years..something's missing!"'   ..What's that?"         "Music...there was always music" 
It almost redeems the movie..at least, as the credits rolled ..I felt glad that I had watched it.

[boardwalk_angel]

Il Bianco, Il Giallo, Il Negro, is supposed to be something like Red Sun, a western samuri flick.

It's a very silly comedy played strictly for laughs...w/ Tomas Milian playing a Japanese servant named 'Sakura' (really!) to a samurai ..& is full of bad jokes...w/ admittedly, some cute little  visual references to "Django"..."Companeros"..and "Red Sun", of course....& some others.
I saw it last week....if you get a chance to see it..it's got some laughs & in-jokes that are worthwhile.. but not 1 serious moment...in fact, some of the jokes have modern references unrelated to the old western setting.
Giuliano Gemma's in it..& Eli Wallach's got some funny moments.

[bronsky]

It's a very silly comedy played strictly for laughs...w/ Tomas Milian playing a Japanese servant named 'Sakura' (really!) to a samurai ..& is full of bad jokes...w/ admittedly, some cute little  visual references to y moments.

With a farting Japanese pony. Well, that's a pretty bad comedy. The score is however much better than in Ace High. Neither film is as good as the Trinities, imho.

[The Smoker]

Sakura refers to it as  'thanking her majesties for this sweet perfume'. 
Im not sure if the Japanese sendup stereotypes hold up to well these days. It has moments of butt-cletching embarrasment at times. 70s Corbucci is a very Hit and Miss period. Some nice almost Post-modernist/western self-parody ideas like in his earlier 'What am i doing in the middle of this revolution' (1972) 'Italian actor thepian in a mexican revolution'. The Indians bandits are white bandits dressed up as natives. I think it gets remembered because of the three names on the poster  Milian / Wallach / Gemma and not much else.
Sunny & jed is a better more rounded piece of work. But still silly, but more black humour in a way.

[Marco Leone]

Haven't seen the Samuri one, but I can recommend "Long Live Your Death", starring Eli and Franco Nero.  Although the woman's (Lynn Redgrave) accent is very annoying in it!

I would suggest that those that have enjoyed Ace High would enjoy this also, as it has a similar sense of humour.

[Dlanor]

I have just seen a not so bad SW: I Quattro dell'Ave Maria by Guiseppe Colizzi.  With Bud Spencer and Terence Hill and Eli Wallach. He was a bit quieter than in was in GBU, but quite the same character.
 But what I enjoyed the more was the appearance of Marilù Carteny and Enzo Santaniello, respectively Maureen and Timmy in OUTIW! They were together ( and not dead) exactely like in OUTIW, as a family. They weren't different because the movie was shot the same year or the year before.
 I checked IMDB ,I would have never expected them to be Italian, I believed they were Irish or something like that.
 

[cigar joe]

Yes I noticed them too.