Joe l'implacabile

Too much gold disappears during transports, so that the bank director hires an expert to guard the next one: Dynamite Joe (Rik Van Nutter)! Bandits and corrupt business-men are already making plans how to get rid of him, but Joe is prepared for many enemies with plenty of explosives.

The first western movie by Antonio Margheriti is somewhat too pedestrian. In the first half of the movie, nothing much is happening except discussions with bank directors and watching the saloon dancers. Only in the middle of the movie, when the villain seriously starts to attack Dynamite Joe (who replies with, guess what, a very big explosion), the audience wakes up and gets the opportunity to watch a movie that is somewhat entertaining at least in the second half, when the gold transport is on the way. Rik Van Nutter (best known for playing Felix Leiter in the James Bond movie 'Thunderball') is a kind of hero that rather is at home in secret agent movies and appears to be miscast here.

"Dynamite Joe" is a fairly obscure spaghetti western, rarely seen in the U.S., probably because there are no American actors in it. It's a lot more light-hearted than a lot of Italian westerns, but it doesn't work too well as either a comedy or a western. Rick Von Nutter stars as "special agent" Joe Ford, better known as Dynamite Joe. The character (and the film) seem to be influenced by both the James Bond phenomena, heavy in the 60's, and the TV show "Wild Wild West."

Joe's hired by the government to get a gold shipment safely through dangerous territory and past a group of "comancheros." He manages to do this when a wagon is made from the gold. (Yeah . . . that's believable!) Along the way we're told Joe has "an obsession with the letter G: gold, girls, and gunpowder!" The audience is also treated to (or tortured by) a couple of songs by a saloon girl (who looks a lot like Annette Funicello).

There is the usual -- for spaghetti westerns -- backstabbing and corruption of supposedly noble characters, and a number of mostly predictable twists in the plot. And then there's director Margheriti's famous work with miniatures during a sensational flood sequence. And as usual, the special effects in the sequence alternate from spectacular to dreadful, often within seconds.

In short, "Dynamite Joe" is watchable, but is far from the apex of Italian westerns. And Rick Von Nutter just walks through the title role on what I presume is supposed to be his charm. (Note to Rick: It ain't happenin', dude!)

In order to put an end to the numerous ambushes on the gold transports which are a real menace to the finances of the American government, the agent Joe Ford, called Dynamite Joe due to his liking for explosives, is entrusted with controlling the next transfer.

Dynamite Joe starts with a bang when Dynamite Joe (Rik Van Nutter) appears and at first you'll be forgiven to think that this is a Sergio Leone' Dollar film knockoff as Van Nutter, who strangely resembles Clint Eastwood, is dressed in a poncho, but soon you will realise it's further from that. It's a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek western, a romp, an antithesis to the grim, nihilistic spaghetti westerns, and reminds me of the TV show Wild Wild West. An exploding watch, an exploding leather bag, an exploding derringer, an exploding Stagecoach, a bandit who takes his throne with him wherever he goes, gold-Stagecoach painted red, male guards dressed as women but they have beards , and beautiful women vying for a cool hero who hardly blinks an eye during the mayhem. Definitely an outrageous romp with Bondian traits. It's an absolute blast- fun western all the way. It has some good action, too. Rik Van Nutter makes one cool hero and is winking at the audience. Pity there weren't sequels to this.

DYNAMITE JOE is a cheerful spaghetti western directed by the one and only Antonio Margheriti, who shoots with his typical aplomb: he brings a lightness of touch to the proceedings and fills his film with plenty of action too. Despite this, DYNAMITE JOE feels like a rather superficial movie, lacking in the kind of depth that makes a spaghetti western classic.

The film features Rik Van Nutter as the peroxide blond hero, a Bond-style protagonist who has something of a passion for explosives. The plot involves the transportation of a shipment of gold through enemy territory, and the enemies faced along the way; a number of rich businessmen turn out to be unsurprisingly corrupt, and Van Nutter has his work cut out dealing with them.

Unsurprisingly this is an effects film for the most part, with plenty of explosive action and even a few of Margheriti's infamous miniatures in a flood disaster scene. However, it's not very funny, and Van Nutter's hero is more than a little irritating. It's not a film I'd hurry to watch again, put it like that.

Anyone expecting another grim, operatic Italian revenge oater can skip Dynamite Joe. Rik van Nutter is an Eastwood lookalike from a few angles and Antonio Margheriti plays that up in the first few minutes before Joe goes back to a Robert Conrad/Wild Wild West style hero who's a specialist with explosives. van Nutter does an all around good job as a womanizing, easygoing troubleshooter. Hired to transport a gold shipment, Joe sets off huge explosions, romances two pretty girls, tangles with Mexican bandits and crooked American politicians. The cinematography is good, the music by Savina fits the tone of this wacky film and the action is fine, especially a stage coach Chase. There have been comedy westerns alla Italianni before such as Any Gun Can Play and straight westerns with some humor in spots but Dynamite Joe is total silly tongue in cheek slapstick which probably accounts for the heavy criticism.