Arizona Colt

I really enjoy spaghetti westerns, so obviously I have seen a lot of examples of the genre. Though I haven't seen every spaghetti western made, I have seen enough so that I can say with confidence that "Arizona Colt" (a.k.a. "Man From Nowhere") is below average. I wouldn't say it's a TERRIBLE movie - it has some positive attributes. The scenery is nice, the production values and action sequences are acceptable, and Fernando Sancho makes a pretty good villain. However, the movie stumbles in two key areas. The first mistake is that the movie is very slow-going - they should have really increased the pace. The second mistake is that the movie lasts almost two hours, which is far past the breaking point. Had they edited down the script before filming began, these problems may not have happened, and we might have had a pretty good movie. But as it is, I can only recommend this particular spaghetti western to die-hard fans of Euro westerns.

After spending time in prison, bounty hunter, Arizona Colt (Giuliano Gemma) escapes after the Sidewinder gang massacres the guards and releases the prisoners whom all take off with Gordo (Fernando Sancho) and his men. Pressuring him into joining them, Arizona refuses to join the gang and leaves after humiliating Gordon and his men and heads to Blackstone Hill. There, the daughter (Rosalba Neri) of the saloon owner is murdered by one of Gordo's men. Arizona makes an uneasy deal with the townspeople that he'll bring back the killer for a reward in addition to marrying the bar owner's other daughter, Jane. After a brush with death, Arizona Colt must save the entire town now taken over by Gordo and the Sidewinders.

Giuliano Gemma flashes his pearly white teeth and twirls his sixgun as Arizona Colt who isn't too far from his "Ringo" persona. Matter of fact, there's a scene which nods towards Ringo when Colt asks for milk but then orders beer instead. It's a handsome looking western with great cinematography, a hummable score and title song, and some nifty action. Not as strong as Gemma's Ringo films but it's still a solid western that is well made and has a strong plot. Nice shootout finale between Arizona and Gordo - quite apt that it takes place in a shack full of empty coffins!! Maybe the runtime is a little long, though.

This is an entertaining , engaging Western crammed of shoot'em up , noisy action , fist-fights, punches , kicks, and overwhelming stunt-work . It concerns a heinous outlaw called Torrez Gordo : Fernando Sancho, frees a band of inmates , forcíng them to join his bunch , among them is Arizona Colt : Giuliano Gemma , who declines to do it . Meanwhile , bandit Gordo is scheming a bank heist with his henchmen : Nello Pazzafini , José Luis Martín . Along the way Arizona Colt meets an old drunk , Double Whiskey : Roberto Camardiel , and both of whom head for Blackstone Hill town . When one of Gordo' s hoodlums kills a saloon girl : Rosalba Neri , then Arizona seeks justice and offers to hunt down the murderer for a reward of five hundred dollars and to get the Dolores' sister , Jane : Corínne Marchand . As Arizona and Double Whiskey set out in pursuit the true guilty and later on , they have to confront the villain Gordo . At the ending takes place the thrilling showdown in moving style and under enjoyable musical score backdrop .There was no law, there was no order , there was just The Man From Nowhere . Arizona was his name , Colt was his game. For a dollar earned a Bullet was fired.

This Ravioli Western packs ruthless roles , thrills , shootouts , quick-fire , violence , high body count and some hilarious moments thanks to Fernando Sancho character . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , but frenetic fight-sequences make up for it .This is a decent and passable movie with usual ingredients , there is a nice implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the movie approaches its climax , as an amusing gimmick at the ending when our sympathetic protagonist : Gemma faces off the nasty Fernando Sancho. Gemma is pretty well as a good-looking gunslinger . Giuliano is top-notch as one army man taking on a group of bandits and as always he makes his own stunts with sympathetic touches , as usual . Gemma along with Anthony Steffen, George Hilton ,Gianni Garco, turns out to be one of the greatest stars of the Spaghetti Western . In his first Westerns he often used the peculiar name Montgomery Wood, posing as an American actor . His biggest hit was A Pistol For Ringo , following a sequel titled The Return Of Ringo , and others as Adios Gringo , Arizona Colt , The Price of Power, Day of Anger and later, the twilight western : California and his last one : Tex . But he also played other genres as Peplum: The Titans , Thrillers : Master Touch , Wartime : Young Lions . And he perfomed roles in prestigious films as Il Gatopard , Desert of Tartars , and Il Prefecto Di Ferro . Here appears some familiar secondary faces from Spaghetti or Paella Western , as Spanish actors : Roberto Camardiel as likeable co-starring , Jose Luis Martin, Alvaro De Luna , Jose Orjas , as Italian players as Andrea Bosic , Rosalba Neri , Nello Pazzafin i, Mirko Ellis, Tom Felleghy , Riccardo Pizzuti, , John Bartha , Jeff Cameron , among others . It is followed by a sequel : ¨Arizona returns¨ or ¨Arizona lets fly and kill everybody¨ 1970 by Sergio Martino , replacing Gemma by Anthony Steffen along with Roberto Camardiel , Rosalba Neri again . And special mention for the always great Fernando Sancho in his ordinary role as a swanky , boastful Mexican bandit and stealing the show , as always . Good production design and art design by Petrarca , creating adequate scenarios with luminous outdoors , rocky mountains and deserts from Almería , Spain , well photographed by Guglielmo Mancori and also filmed in Cinecitta studios , Rome Lacio , Italy . Agreeable and long-standing musical score , containing an attractive and charming leitmotif from Francesco De Massi.

This Spaghetti was compellingly directed by Michele Lupo who made all kinds of genres. Lupo made various Bud Spencer vehícles as Bulldozer, The supersheriff , ET and the supersheriff , and Buddy go west . Lupo directed Giuliano Gemma , his fetish actor , in several films as Master Touch with Kirk Douglas , this Arizona Colt , and California with William Berger . Rating 6,5/10. Essential and fundamental seeing for Giuliano Gemma fans . Better than average western .

This is the eighth Spaghetti Western I've watched starring Giuliano Gemma - the others had been A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965), THE RETURN OF RINGO (1965), FORT YUMA GOLD (1966), DAY OF ANGER (1967), A SKY FULL OF STARS FOR A ROOF (1968), THE PRICE OF POWER (1969) and SILVER SADDLE (1978). All of them are superior to THE MAN FROM NOWHERE - which turned out to be a sub-standard example of the genre and, though not an intentional parody, is so clichéd as to seem that way! Incidentally, the U.S. title is quite stupid since the main character (named Arizona Colt - also the film's original title) explicitly states he is named after the state he hails from!!

Fernando Sancho (again) is the trigger-happy chief villain; among his ragged outlaw gang is a drunkard Mickey Shaughnessy type who, unsurprisingly, befriends the hero - while favorite Euro-Cult starlet Rosalba Neri appears as a saloon-hostess, though she's killed off almost immediately! The film is stretched to a length of almost two hours for no very good reason which, with a none-too-exciting plot line at its centre (concocted by the ubiquitous Ernesto Gastaldi), quickly becomes tedious; even so, it does work its way to a good climax (with the hero utilizing a fake pair of hands to divert his adversary's attention, followed by a shoot-out in semi-darkness inside a funeral parlor).

The Wild East DVD I watched was extremely poor, which certainly didn't help my involvement in the film any: first off, the English dubbing is horrendous (Gemma's character is saddled with a ludicrous Southern accent); the muddy print - presented in a masked 1.85:1 ratio so as to simulate the original 2.35:1 Techniscope format! - features a number of jarring jump-cuts (indicating missing or damaged frames and suggesting, somewhat distressingly, that the film's supposed to be even longer than it already is) and, during one early instance, even falls several generations below the already unsatisfying standard on display. For the record, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE had a follow-up in ARIZONA COLT, HIRED GUN (1970) - with a different actor in the lead (Anthony Steffen), it's mainly notable for being Sergio Martino's debut film.

Released on DVD here in the states as "The Man From Nowhere", this entry into the Western All'Italiana oeuvre features pretty boy Guiliano Gemma as the good, veteran character actor Fernando Sancho as the bad, and a disappointing script as the ugly.

Arizona Colt can never quite figure out what it's trying to be. As a Hollywood western there would have been a few too many deaths and too strong a focus on destruction. As an Italian Western it takes itself too seriously and leans too heavily on wide tracking shots of the ol' west.

There is some good humor, and the reveal how Arizona is going to take on a town full of baddies is very slick, but this movie is a series of good moments and an overall weak effort when considered as a whole.

Rating: 16/40