User reviews

Shango is a typical Anthony Steffen spaghetti western, beautifully photographed with great music, lots of sweaty Mediterranean actors posing as Mexicans, bad dubbing, and a sneering Eduardo Fajardo as a Confederate Major who is reluctant to see the south go down in defeat (a staple of these pasta oaters!). Lots of gun play, hurtling stunt men, put-upon villagers, and the reliable Steffen as Shango, a Texas Ranger who just wants folks to believe that the war is over. Good production values, great sets, fine music and lots of action make this one a winner, if you like spaghetti westerns. Franco Cleef's restoration is fine with only an unavoidable slight hiss on the soundtrack.

This is a thrilling film , plenty action , thrills , fights , and starked outdoors from El Lacio , Rome and Cinecitta studios . The picture results to be entertainingly ordinary , but does not allow for the usual subtexts and undercurrents to develop that can make these flicks . This violent Western is set on dirty outdoors , woods and dark interiors , the star is a mysterious revenger , a Texas Ranger called Shango (Anthony Steffen) , who comes to avenge against nasty villainous . As Shango is a Texas Ranger who finds himself hanging at a cage , being subbsequently freed . Without memory , he gone back from a dark past to revenge and he encounters up against a former Confederate Major (Eduardo Fajardo) and his gang of thugs who have been terrorizing a local border town in search of gold . Furthermore , some Mexican bandits led by Martínez (Maurice Poli) trying to find gold . This sub-plot about gold seekers is adding with the previous dealing with former Confederate soldiers led by Major Droster (Eduardo Fajardo) terrorizing a Mexican town, while an ex-Texas Ranger, Shango (Anthony Steffen) tries to stop them . In that place there is a dangerous band led by a bandit called Crazy Joe (Fortunato Arena) and his hoodlums . While a gang of ex-Confederate soldiers and Mexicans bandits chase them . En route, the Texas Ranger executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the killings of the peaceful Mexican peasants .

This Italian production contains action , crossfire , drama , treason , high body-count and it's fast moving , being entertaining and approaching increasingly the Spaghetti style , more than the American western and keeping some details that make it special in this particular Pasta genre . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . Steffen is appropriate in his usual two-fisted character , he ravages the screen , shoots , hits and runs . Generic and mostly entertaining western with focus on a Texas Ranger against nasty Mexican ones and Confederate rebels . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , such as in the final gunfights . The movie gets the usual Western issues , as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies and spectacular duels , excessive zooms , among them . Good production design creating an atmospheric , but poor scenario , and fine , though rotten, sets . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . And developing a bloody and breathtaking showdown between the ordinary contenders , Steffen and his main enemy , Fajardo . Charismatic performance for all casting . The film is well starred by a frequent Spaghetti star . As it stars a mediocre actor , though here giving an acceptable acting , Anthony Steffen , as a Ranger that vows revenge against villains who have mistreated and killed Mexican people .This notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Steffen was one of the most popular actors of the genre - at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics. The handsome, Italian-born - actually at the Brazilian embassy in Rome - Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz began working in films as a studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica . From there, Steffen began acting in sword-and-sandal epics, later moving onto the Western genre , where he found his niche . Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood, however, Steffen never became a top international box-office attraction . His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include features as ¨Seven Dollars to Kill¨, ¨The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others . Although Steffen's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character as a revenger Texas Ranger who attempts to keep law and order . There appears as secondaries the habitual in Italian Western and Peplum , such as : Attilio Dottesio , Franco Pesce , Espartaco Conversi , Andrea Aureli , Petro Torrisi , Fortunato Arena ,among others .

The musician Di Stefano composes a nice soundtrack in Morricole style and well conducted . Striking cinematography by Gino Santini , though inappropriate sets , I miss the classic outdoors and settings from Almeria , Spain . This motion picture was well and professionally directed by Edoardo Mulargia , though with no originality , as it has a lot of flaws and failures . Edoardo Mulargia directed a lot of Spaghetti as ¨W Djianjo¨, ¨El Puro¨ , ¨Django Spara¨ , ¨ Cjamango¨ , ¨Shango¨ , ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨, most part starred by Robert Woods , Anthony Steffen or Eduardo Fajardo . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable Western that will appeal to Spaghetti fans .

Most spaghetti western fans will probably find "Shango" to be an average example of the genre - not great, but definitely better than some. It's hobbled somewhat by a limited budget - it's clear that the movie was not shot in Spain but in Italy, and the lack of a stark and stunning backdrop brings the movie down. Other production niceties (like when it comes to Confederate soldier uniforms) also seem to a degree limited. There are also has some significant portions that come across as kind of drab and dull, especially in the first third of the movie. But there are some fairly well done action sequences along the way (the movie has a pretty high body count.) The musical score by Gianfranco Fioravanti is nice to listen to. So the movie does have some merit. Though I wouldn't say it's a must see example of the spaghetti western genre, those who really enjoy these kind of movies will likely find it to be okay.

(1970) Shango/ Shango, la pistola infallibile DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Co-written and directed by Edoardo Mulargia where we see a man locked up in a bamboo-like cage hung onto a tree branch, and at first viewers are oblivious who he is but at the same time suspect that he may be the star of the movie. In this movie bloodthirsty bandits led by Martinez are coinciding with the confederacy led by Major Droster. And the major of the confederate army, Droster shoots and kills the telegrapher to prevent Martinez from knowing that the civil war is over. The major attempts to pin the murder to the captive man in locked the bird cage. As a matter of fact, he first kills the guardsman before he shoots the rope to free him leaving an empty holster for him to pick up, to make it appear he was the one who shot the telegrapher. And for some strange circumstances, a father Fernandez (Attilio Dottesio) and his son, Pedrito (Giusva Fioravanti) managed to save him who was locked in a cage for six weeks and once he regained his memory, he finally revealed to them he is a ranger, Shango played by Anthony Steffen.

When you like watch a movie like this, one would expect it to be as good or somewhat to be as unique as the movie the makers are attempting to capitalize on which is "A Fistful of Dollars", and then it's like by the time you see it, that it would not offer anything new to the genre which even the gunfights are too over the top and unconvincing. And what is more asinine is the fact that the hero in question, killed all but one despite the villagers/ peasants themselves are also armed. This is yet another unimpressed movie made on a whim.