Ein Dollar zwischen den Zähnen

"A Stranger in Town" is the first of Tony Anthony's "Stranger" films - a character heavily borrowed from Eastwood/Leone's "Man With No Name". As I understand it, the aim of these films was to take the European vision of a western to a wider American audience. Which it successfully achieved.

The Stranger (Anthony) arrives in town to witness a brutal massacre of Mexican soldiers by a gang of bandits led by Aguila (Frank Wolff). Before the execution, Aguila assures the soldiers that he is "a fair man" - a regularly uttered pronouncement throughout the film. The death of so many men demonstrates otherwise.

The Stranger agrees to work with the bandits, who are now clad in the soldiers uniforms, to help steal gold from the US army. The plan is successful, but the Stranger is soon double-crossed once he arrives to collect his 50% share (despite Aguila being "a fair man"). After a beating, he escapes with the gold, and is pursued by the gang......

Whilst there are obvious similarities between this movie and the Dollars Trilogy - in particular a Fistful of Dollars - this is an enjoyable film in its own right. It lacks the class of Leone, and the cool of Eastwood, but Anthony and Director Luigi Vanzi never tried to mimic these aspects, concentrating instead on the action and violence. Indeed, Anthony's Stranger never appears invincible, and remains likable throughout what is a very simplistic story.

The star of the show however is Frank Wolff - a man that does not know the meaning of a bad performance. Based largely on Volente's Ramon, Aguila is equally as barbaric, but just a little more clumsy. And "a fair man!". Of course!

There is very little dialogue in the whole movie, playing on the cliché of what we (or I imagine, more realistically, what the general American audience of that time) expect from a Spaghetti Western. Quite intentionally. The fact that there are few words puts great pressure on the quality of Benedetto Ghiglia's score - which thankfully stands up to this task.

All in all, A Stranger in Town makes up for what it lacks in class and story with entertaining characters and good fight sequences. The beginning sequence where the Mexican soldiers are led into town by a group of singing monks - who soon cast off their robes and reveal themselves as Aguila and his gang - immediately persuades the viewer that this will be an enjoyable film. The final confrontation between the two main stars is equally as effective.

It is not (and doesn't pretend to be) one of the greatest Spaghetti Westerns. In fact, Aguila would probably proclaim it as a "fair" film. And this time he wouldn't be lying. Good fun, and recommended.

I don't grade spaghetti westerns on a curve but I do judge them for what they are, spaghetti westerns. Spaghetti westerns are in breed of their own. "A Stranger in Town" ends up being a near miss for me. I thought Tony Anthony (Wow, that's a great name) was fine as the stranger and Frank Wolff made a good villain. The rest of the cast doesn't matter. "A Stranger in Town" (that's the title under which I saw this movie) has a pretty good first half hour or so but then it slides down for a quite a while. "A Stranger in Town" is never a bad movie but despite the violence is an often dull one. That said, I'll probably watch it again.

The Stranger (Tony Anthony) arrives in town. There aren't many people and even fewer friendly faces. Mexican troops arrive and get ambushed by bandits disguised as monks. Most soldiers surrender and are promptly executed by gang leader Aguilar (Frank Wolff). The Stranger tells him about an incoming gold shipment and wants a cut.

With the success of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, one would expect many followers. Quite frankly, I've never heard of this or Tony Anthony. (That can't be his real name.) I think I recognize Frank Wolff. First thing, Tony Tony is no Clint Eastwood. Everything is a little bit less. This is not on the same level, but maybe it's in the same building.

Other than thinking a USB cable unplugged every few seconds this was an OK movie. Somewhere a sound engineer looking for an Android system sound saw this movie and said, "hey, that's perfect!". I saw where others had compared it to other Italian westerns and that's OK, they are fun to watch on a slow day. I could see this in a marathon on a boxed set or on TV late at night, even in an RV on a long road trip. Compared to today's post Covid offerings this is fun, like most old foreign westerns. I gave it a middle of the road score because there are better foreign westerns than this one but this offering was a little different. It's always fun seeing how different cameramen work.

This movie rocks! Tony Anthony is the other "man with no name." He is great in this movie. His performance is every bit as good as Eastwood in "A fistful of Dollars," but he'll never get as much recognition because he's not a square-jawed pretty-boy like Clint. Frank Wolff is also in top form in this film, as usual.

This is sort of a minimalist spaghetti western. The story is simple but great. It never gets boring. There is very little dialog, and that works well in this film, giving it an ultra-cool vibe without being too slick. Yes, there are a few small similarities to "A Fistful of Dollars," but it is by no means a copy of that great film, as some other reviewers might have you believe. This movie has a personality all its own, and the situations here are very different.

The music score is incredible. It manages to be great, and very stylish in a spaghetti western sort of way without owing anything to Ennio Morricone. It is really quite memorable and original, and one of the few non-Morricone scores that would be worth owning the soundtrack to.

There's lots of great lines and cool action in this movie. Tony Anthony really "takes a licking and keeps on ticking." One of my favorite parts involves the lovely Gia Sandri as "Maruca," a butch looking (for the 1800's) S&M babe. Anthony kills her by using her fetish to his advantage. I also love how Frank Wolff's great line "I'm a fair man" comes back to haunt him later. It's classic stuff all the way.

If you like spaghetti westerns, you've got to see this one!