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In the very earliest days of cheap VHS releases, I bought MY NAME IS MALLORY for less than ten bucks. It was the second VHS tape I picked up, the first being DAY OF ANGER under another title, GUN LAW I think. I never got around to watching MALLORY and it disappeared before I got serious about collecting spaghetti westerns. It's a good looking widescreen film, made at Elios Studios. I recognized a set from DAY OF ANGER, also used in DEATH RIDES A HORSE, the staircase in the saloon unmistakable. This one was not filmed in Ameria, Spain though, exteriors are in the countryside around Rome. Larry Mallory (Robert Woods) buys a ranch along with his partner, Col. Hasper (Renato Baldini). It used to belong to the Amblers, Bart (a very mean gunfighter, and his lovely sister Cora (the luscious Gabriella Giorgelli) and they want it back. Bart is willing to kill and steal to make it so, but Cora is innocent of his deviltry. Bart's main partner is Block Stone (shades of Dash Riprock!) played by Artemio Antonini. He's very good and reminds me physically of Eli Wallach's Tuco. He's a formidable opponent for Mallory and they have a terrific fight which leaves both men out of action for awhile. And the elusive Carla Mancini plays Maria, a maid who pours water on Cora while she's taking a bath. I believe it's one of the few identifiable roles she played. MY NAME IS MALLORY is an elusive movie, but it's worth seeking out. Robert Woods is good as always, although he sports a funky hair-cut in this one. He's a half-breed and I guess the pony tail indicates that. A solid six, spaghetti western fans will enjoy it more than non-fans.

If you are wondering why this was titled Fedra West, it's a not so subtle reference to Phaedra of Greek myth. Wife of Theseus (Clash of the Titans), she fell in love with Hippolytus, son of Theseus. When Theseus found out, it wasn't a happy ending for anyone involved. In this version, filmed in lovely Almeria in Spain, James Philbrook is Don Ramon, a wealthy landowner, Simon Andreu is his son Stuart, and Norma Bengell is Fedra, Don Ramon's wife, who loves his son.

It's a heavy, plot-ridden story without much room for the typical spaghetti situations. The music by Piero Piccioni is among the best the genre has to offer. Philbrook has gravitas and is good in the role, Andreu is adequate, and Bengell is just wrong for the role of Fedra. You just cannot understand why she inspires such passion in either man.

It's okay, but hardly the genre's finest moment. Romeo and Juliet fared much better in THE FURY OF JOHNNY KID. For hardcore fans of SWs only.

Director Muller aka Mulargia obviously looked at Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, but the lesson he took from them is SLOW STUFF DOWN! The stagecoach chase at the start of the movie takes up about ten minutes of outlaws riding in pursuit, the coach racing along the famous "white" road near Rome, built in antiquity by the Roman Empire. Lots of shooting, guys falling off of horses, wheels turning, horse's hooves clattering in the dust. Later on some outlaws wait outside a bank for some money to come out; they check their guns, look tensely at each other, look at the bank, look at their hostages, check their guns again...this goes on for about four minutes as tension builds...or is it tedium? And of course the hero is captured and beaten while the bad guys laugh. They chortle, cackle, and guffaw with each blow that falls. It goes on too long. Otherwise, this is a competent spaghetti of interest to fans of the genre. Tony Kendall is good as the brooding sheriff Dakota, falsely sent to prison by (among others) Dean Stratford as a leather-clad gunman who doesn't like him. Kudos to the stunt team who do a very good job of falling off of buildings, tumbling down cliffs and looking like they are really being hurt. Music is good, a nice soaring trumpet solo as the main theme. Filmed entirely in Italy, at Cinecitta Studio, no Almeria exteriors for this one.