Ask most people to name an Italian Western, and they’ll probably look at you confused. Call it a Spaghetti Western and you’ll probably get a few films starring Clint Eastwood. But for just over a decade(ish) these films were made and devoured. Now Arrow Video brings us Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns Vol 3, proving that there’s more to the genre than a man with no name.
First up is Paolo Bianchini’s I Want Him Dead (1968). It’s a revenge flick, a theme common in these Westerns, especially the later ones. Craig Hill plays Clayton, a gun-slinger looking to deal out some lead-shaped justice after the brutal rape and murder of his sister. From a fairly standard premise, this above average film contains some surprising plot twists. Hill is excellent in the lead but the real stars are director Bianchini and cinematographer Ricardo Andreu. This movie doesn’t feel anything like your standard genre film because of the creative and innovative shots used throughout.
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Robert Woods is outstanding as the eponymous hero in El Puro. Playing a once feared gunfighter who has crawled into a bottle to hide from his past, it’s a surprisingly nuanced performance. The only ray of light in his life is Rosalba Neri’s Rosie, who looks after him and dreams of a life together. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that she never gets to see her happy ever after, and El Puro finds redemption as he deals with her killers. Yes, revenge is a popular theme in these films. Some of the editing is a bit choppy, but this one is worth your time.
The word ‘Classic’ in the set’s title is stretched to breaking point with Wrath of the Wind (1970), the least interesting film in the set, and undoubtedly the weakest. Really it’s only notable for its lead, Terence Hill (no relation to Craig). Hill is perhaps the most likely genre actor to not have been in the Dollars trilogy to be recognised by non-fans, most famously for his lead role in They Call Me Trinity. In fact, after the success of Trinity – a comedy – this film was often renamed as either Trinity Sees Red or The Revenge of Trinity to cash in on its success. This is despite Wrath of the Wind being about as funny as a party political broadcast.
The final offering sees Fabio Testi and Tomas Milian star in Lucio Fulci’s Four of the Apocalypse (1975). A film that sees four petty criminals thrust together, it depicts a planned 200 mile journey that is a very obvious allegory for the emotional journey the quartet take. With some excellent performances and shocks caused not just by gore and brutality but by surprise moments, this is another movie that could well appeal to most, and not just fans of Westerns.
Each of these movies are pretty grizzly and gory, with plenty of violence on display. Italian Westerns were famous for being ‘gritty’, and the title of the set should give away that these are no exception to that stereotype. With movies that range from bad to interesting at best, what elevates this set is the work done by Arrow on the special features and restoration. Once again they’ve shown that they know exactly what they are doing in presenting old films to a new audience. Each one is gorgeously restored, and a real joy to watch. On top of that the additional work is hugely impressive.
I Want Him Dead gets an accessible audio commentary from critics Adrian J. Smith and David Flint, and two new interviews: one with Bianchini and the second with his editor Eugenio Alabiso. There’s also an archive interview with Nico Unchained, the composer of the score. Blanchini’s interview is particularly interesting, and well worth a watch.
El Puro gives us not one but two versions of the film, the 98-minute cut, and the longer, 108-minute version. This one has been assembled from the original camera negative and an archival print and presented in both Italian and a newly created hybrid English/Italian mix, though there are some scenes where the Italian audio is either lost or was never produced. These are presented in Spanish with English subtitles. On top of that you get a new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, a new interview with actor Woods, and an fascinating look at the soundtrack and its composer, Alessandro Alessandroni, by musician Lovely Jon.
For Wrath of the Wind we also get two versions of the film. (The second is also no good.) Author and critic Howard Hughes provides the new audio commentary and there is a new interview with camera operator Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli. ‘They Call It… Red Cemetery!’ is a short film from 2022 by filmmaker Francisco Lacerda also included on this disc, and it’s better than the movie itself.
This bundle of special treats is wrapped up with a commentary for Four of the Apocalypse with Kat Ellinger. There’s also a previously unreleased interview with production manager Roberto Sbarigia, and then two appreciation films, one by Stephen Thrower looking at the movie and its director Lucio Fulci. Finally, Lovely Jon is back to talk about the soundtrack and its three composers Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera. There are also plenty of alternative titles, trailers and stills to pore over.
This set is simply staggering in what it brings collectors. Who cares if some of the films aren’t the best examples of the genre? There’s enough good here to make them worth watching, and so much additional entertainment and information that this is a collection any fan will love.
Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns Vol 3 is out on Blu-ray on 11th December from Arrow Video.
