The Return of Ringo

Spaghetti/Chorizo Western with the most successful intervention by secondary idol Fernando Sancho. This is the original installment from Gemma-Tessari trilogy formed by ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨The return of Ringo¨ and ¨Kiss, Kiss , Bang , Bang¨ , though the later is set in modern times and deal with a heist . All of them are amusing and entertaining and starred by similar cast as Gemma , Fernando Sancho , Lorella De Luca , Nieves Navarro and Antonio Casas ; furthermore same artistic equipment . They are familiar films , in fact , the actress Lorella De Luca married director Duccio Tessari and Nieves Navarro married the producer Luciano Ercoli . This is the second part from Duccio Tessari trilogy , starred by an awesome Giuliano Gemma . It's a tremendously exciting story of an ex-soldier named Ringo who had only one more killing to go . Ringo (credited as Montgomery Wood) is a civil war soldier who goes back to his familiar land to find his family decimated, his senator father was killed , his manor taken over by a bunch of Mexican bandits named Esteban ( Fernando Sancho) and Paco Fuentes (Jorge Martin) and his fiancée ( Lorella De Luca) about to marry the nasty Mexican behind all this . Ringo (Giuliano Gemma) is spending time in discover the schemes the bandits . Once again Ringo seeks vengeance , he goes undercover disguised as a Mexican beggar and learns he has a daughter . Meanwhile , the gang of a nasty Mexican named Esteban (Fernando Sancho) and his bandits occupy a mansion and take the ranch and its inhabitants . The local Sheriff (Antonio Casas) gets no option but to send in Ringo. Ringo goes the ranch against Fuentes's hoodlums who kill and mistreat countrymen . Ringo comes to the ranch just in time to make sure its inhabitants and rescue his lover , taking place a cat and mouse game , but later the events get worse .

This Western is superior than subsequent outing because it displays thrills , emotion, shoot'em up , intrigue and is pretty amusing . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shots or stunts every few minutes . This is a good S.W. plenty of action , shootouts , fist-play and without touches of humor as in previous entry . Ringo is stunningly played by Gemma . Giuliano is very fine, he ravages the screen , he jumps , bounds and leaps, hit and run ; plus jokes , laughs , he's a complete show . Fernado Sancho as a cruelly baddie role as Mexican bandit is terrific , subsequently the would play similar role in other Spaghettis . In the movie appears usual support actors as Spanish : George Martin , Antonio Casas , Pajarito as Italian players as Zamperla and Frank Oliveras . Special mention to Nieves Navarro or Susan Scott as attractive and rogue woman but she unfortunately would finish shooting erotic cinema . It's a co-production Spanish-Italian and shot on location in Fraga , Huesca , Spain that is well photographed by Francisco Marin , though is necessary a fine remastering because the film-copy is washed-out .¨Fraga¨ resulted to be the location where were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar , J.J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma , Juan Bosch, Ignacio F. Iquino and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and excellent production design by the usual Juan Albert Soler , he creates a magnificent scenario on the interior ranch and barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets filmed in Fraga and ,PC Alfonso Balcazar Studios, Barcelona and San Jose, Andalucia, Spain . As always , the musician Ennio Morricone, composes a nice Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted and splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score , including enjoyable songs at the beginning and the end.

This Italian writer / filmmaker Duccio Tessari so consistently mixed the good with the mediocre that it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . He wrote several Western as ¨A fistful of dollars ¨, ¨A train to Durango ¨Seven guns for McGregor¨ , ¨The return of McGregor¨ . He directed five Western as ¨Tex e Il Signore degli abissi¨ and with abundant touches of humor as ¨Vivi o Preferibilment Morti¨, ¨Don't turn the other cheek¨ and ¨Zorro¨ with Alain Delon and of course ¨Ringo ¨and sequel , mostly starred with his fetish actor Giuliano Gemma . Tessari directed all kind of genres as drama , adventure , wartime as ¨1981 Un Centesimo Di second ,1978 Das Fünfte Gebot ,1976 La Madama ,1976 Safari Express , 1973 Tony Arzenta ,1973 Los Héroes Millonarios ,1972 Forza 'G', 1968 I Bastardi¨. Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable movie that will appeal to Spaghetti Western buffs .

This movie is the follow-up to "A Pistol For Ringo"(Una Pistola per Ringo), but it is not a sequel. All of the main actors return for this story, but they play completely different characters, and while Giuliano Gemma portrays another character called Ringo, this protagonist has nothing in common with the first "Ringo." It may seem unusual to those who haven't watched a lot of these movies, but that kind of thing is quite common in the spaghetti western genre.

This Ringo is not an outlaw like the one in the previous movie, yet he is much more serious and deadly, because he has been wronged on a very personal level, and is seeking justice and revenge. This gives the movie a much more somber tone than the previous film. It's a gripping story without a single boring moment.

All of the main actors are at the top of their game in this one. Antonio Casas is especially good as the dysfunctional sheriff who pulls himself together with the help of Ringo. Giuliano Gemma is even better in this movie than in the previous film, and I can't say enough about Nieves Navarro. Not only does she do a wonderful job portraying "Rosita," she looks even more incredible in this film than in the last one, which is a feat I would not have thought possible. She is quite possibly the most amazingly beautiful woman to ever appear in a western.

Morricone's music score is also an improvement over the one he wrote for the first Ringo movie. There is more music in this film, and the tunes are more memorable. I especially like the theme song.

Although "A Pistol For Ringo" wasn't bad, it was apparently just a warm-up for the filming of this movie, because "The Return of Ringo" is a much better film on all levels. It's not completely without flaws, but the imperfections here just add to the movie's charm and appeal. I consider this one to be a must-see for spaghetti western fans.

Duccio Tessari's RETURN OF RINGO is one of the great unseen spaghetti westerns churned out by the Italians after the unexpected success of Sergio Leone's first two "Dollars" films. A sprawling, high-powered epic tale about a Union soldier returning after the war to find his wife & home usurped by a local pistolero and his band of gunmen. Giuliano Gemma is excellent as always in the role of the suave, cool-headed hero who works up a ruse to pose as a peasant worker to infiltrate the household and fight from the inside to reclaim that which was his.

Ennio Morricone scored a magnificent musical pastiche of themes that is quite different from his usual Leone contributions. Non-fans of the genre will be pleased by the attention to detail in the lavish production, with a high profile supporting cast led by Fernando Sancho, sexy Nieves Navarro and Lorella De Luca as Gemma's former beloved. He looks odd during his scenes with his hair bleached blond and is unconvincing as a Mexican but Gemma really was one of the great Italian genre leads. His approach is somewhat different than Clint Eastwood, usually playing himself as a gentleman who simply happened to learn how to be an efficient killing machine under the stress of war.

There's some genuinely amusing and tightly choreographed gunplay in the ending showdown, and the screenplay by Tessari, Fernando di Leo and Alfonso Balcázar is surprisingly humanistic for this kind of fare. Highly recommended, look for it in North America on a VHS with the title BLOOD AT SUNDOWN.

7/10

This western may be similar to other westerns in its revenge-plot. At the same time though, there is a romance to it, seldom found in westerns. Just like 'The thief of Bagdad' (Michael Powell) had a unique atmosphere of mysticism, so does this western, although it is less pronounced and may even seem involuntary. Nevertheless, deliberate or not, it conveys a feeling of times long gone by and may even resemble something quite different of its kind, such as the 30-page adventure story by Carl Barks (Donald Duck Four Color: 'In old California'). Because of all this a 10 out of 10.

The Return of Ringo (1965)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Captain Brown (Giuliano Gemma) returns home from the Civil War and finds that a group of Mexican bandits led by Fuentes (Fernando Sanches) have killed his relatives and taken over the town. Naturally this isn't going to sit well with Brown so he must come up with a plan to take everything back.

Looking at the title of this thing you might think that it's a sequel to A PISTOL FOR RINGO but it's not. Well, it kind of is but not really. What you've basically got is a somewhat remake because the majority of the actors from the first film return here but they're are now playing different characters. THE RETURN TO RINGO is certainly a step down from the first film but there are still enough entertaining moments to make it worth watching.

The biggest difference that you'll notice with this film is the fact that there isn't as much comedy as the first one and that this here is a lot more darker. It's interesting to see what Duccio Tessari did with this film because he basically got the same cast and crew and got to make the first movie over. I found this to be rather interesting and especially how we got to see the actors appear in different types of roles. I'm not sure how often something like this happened but it was a curious decision and it probably played out better than had the director gotten new actors for these new roles.

Both Gemma and Sancho are once again the highlight of the picture as they are both very good in their roles and really do a great job with the hero-villain aspect. Lorella De Luca is also very good in her part and the rest of the supporting players are nice as well. Throw in the nice score, the good cinematography and some pretty good action and THE RETURN OF RINGO is a worthwhile film for fans of Spaghetti Westerns.