A Stranger in Town

The Stranger (Tony Anthony) arrives in town. There aren't many people and even fewer friendly faces. Mexican troops arrive and get ambushed by bandits disguised as monks. Most soldiers surrender and are promptly executed by gang leader Aguilar (Frank Wolff). The Stranger tells him about an incoming gold shipment and wants a cut.

With the success of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, one would expect many followers. Quite frankly, I've never heard of this or Tony Anthony. (That can't be his real name.) I think I recognize Frank Wolff. First thing, Tony Tony is no Clint Eastwood. Everything is a little bit less. This is not on the same level, but maybe it's in the same building.

Other than thinking a USB cable unplugged every few seconds this was an OK movie. Somewhere a sound engineer looking for an Android system sound saw this movie and said, "hey, that's perfect!". I saw where others had compared it to other Italian westerns and that's OK, they are fun to watch on a slow day. I could see this in a marathon on a boxed set or on TV late at night, even in an RV on a long road trip. Compared to today's post Covid offerings this is fun, like most old foreign westerns. I gave it a middle of the road score because there are better foreign westerns than this one but this offering was a little different. It's always fun seeing how different cameramen work.

Offbeat Western about a strange but deadly gunfighter and taking on a nasty bandit called Aguila and his hoodlums . The movie contains gun-play, action Western , chills , and bloody spectacle . Unknown to anybody else but himself , no one knew the stranger , not the band of killers he destroyed o the woman he ruined . The Stranger (Tony Anthony) arrives in an abandoned village where he witnesses the massacre of Mexican soldiers by a heinous bunch commanded by Aguila (Frank Wolff) . The Stranger threatens Aguila to denounce him if he does not accept to let him take part in the robbing of a shipment of gold carried by a group of Unión soldiers to deliver the Mexican army . The scheme is a success but when The Stranger claims his due of the theft , he gets a good punches instead . But The Stranger is not the kind to get trapped so easily. Tempt him , whip him , brand him , break him , but makes damn sure the stranger doesn't crawl out of town alive ¡ .

The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , and it's slow-moving but when take place gun-play results to be fast moving and quite entertaining . Acceptable Spaghetti Western ; it follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Tony Anthony is very fine, giving even some cynic touches , he ravages the screen , he shoots , hits and run and ultimately takes the law on his own hands . The Stranger is caught and there takes place the ordinary ¨Pestaggio¨ in which protagonist receives hitting , punches , beating , knocks but he manages to escape with the gold , then the bandits, who want his skin, chase him . This movie gets the ordinary Western issues, such as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , quick scenes and exaggerated baddies . This is a good Spaghetti Western with some moments genuinely entertaining if you can avoid thinking too much . It's an improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and though sometimes minimalist turns out to be quite amusing . Made on a fairly middling scale with passable set design , adequate photography filmed in Elios studios and evocative musical score . Screenplay with interesting premise about a 'strange gunfighter' , it follows a similar plot to classic ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the starring Tony Anthony and his enemy Frank Wolff who steals the show as a sensationalistic villain . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Tony Anthony , is good in his usual tough as well as silent role and he starred some decent Westerns . Anthony did work for many years on Spaghetti Westerns ,some with co-production company Lupo-Anthony-Quintano Production . He produced and starred in two 3-Dimensional movies, both of which enjoyed a modest theatrical release . After making various films , Anthony effectively retired from the movie industries . In addition , a nice casting full of usual Italian secondary such as Fortunato Arena , Aldo Berti , Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia as Aguilar henchman and the beautiful girls Jolanda Modio and Gia Sandri as Maruca . Special mention to Raf Baldassarre in his ordinary role as a cruelly baddie , he is terrific , and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . Appropriate cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi , but is necessary a perfect remastering , being the copy a little washed-out . Rare musical score plenty of strange sounds : whistle , shouts ,voices in Morricone style , it was composed by Benedetto Ghiglia .

The motion picture was well realized by Luigi Vanzi as Vance Lewis . Direction by Luigi is finely crafted, here he is more cynical and violent and also inclined toward humor and packs too much action . Vanci is a craftsman who makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , moving shootouts and bemusing scenes . Vanci directed a trilogy about ¨The Stranger¨ starred by Tony Anthony , they are the followings : "A Man, a Horse, a Gun" or "The Stranger Returns" with Daniele Vargas , Marina Berti , Dan Vadis and again Raf Baldassarre , and "The Silent Stranger" with Tony Anthony, Lloyd Battista, Kenji Ohara , Raf Baldassarre , this third film Tony journeys to Japan intent on returning an ancient scroll to its rightful owner . Furthermore , other films directed by Ferdinando Baldi in which appears Tony Anthony in similar character are ¨Get mean¨ and ¨Blindman¨. ¨A stranger on town¨ is an outlandish , surprising and uneven story but will appeal to Spaghetti Western aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough

Tony Anthony (which you may know as the titular character of 'Blindman') probably is the most feminine of all SW anti-heroes, and still one of the coolest. He's just so damn relaxed that the coolness comes naturally, there's little of that typical affectation on his part. He is a slouch, stoic but not stilted, he's wearing a pink shirt, has bleached blond hair and there's no sign of any homophobic tendencies (when he shoots a baddie who falls into his lap he doesn't react with either irony or macho behaviour to ensure us how masculine he is). After he got beat up badly he rescues a woman who later wordlessly rides on a horse with him on the back of the horse and her in front, him holding on to her hips to not fall off, but not in any sexual way. In the sequel, 'The Stranger Returns', he's even carrying around a parasol for much of the running time. I find it funny that its movie poster even asks the question: "Is he interested in women?"

Despite all that he's a real badass who most of the time is unquestionably more skilled and smarter than any of his enemies. There's no doubt he'll prevail in the end and we still care, we'd even care if he hadn't been beaten up (see sequel), which is a scene that most SWs have to make us care about our anti-hero because most viewers tend not to care about characters who have the upper hand all of the time. It's worth to note that Tony Anthony more than most stars of a movie not only shapes his own character but apparently the films as a whole as a producer and writer. Ever since this film he always starred in the movies he played in, that guy wouldn't play second fiddle to anyone.

Dialogue in the film is EXTREMELY sparse, although it doesn't have more action than your average SW. After the first 15 minutes there is a section in the film that is the most essential to the plot and it has the most dialogue. Cut away that 10-minute section and the complete dialogue adds up to maybe 20 lines. The main music theme rocks melancholically and is catchy, arguably it's a bit overused, but this never bothers me in a film if the tune is good. The additional score arrangements are also effective but the film doesn't shy away from silent sections either. Certainly there's nothing special about the film (except that it WORKS), it's just a lot of cool fun. Every bit as good as the surprisingly enjoyable sequel.

Personally, I enjoyed all three of the Anthony (Stranger) movies...I I took them as satire of the Eastwood trilogy...Eastwood smokes cheroots, Anthony rolls cigarettes that unravel in his mouth...Eastwood wears a poncho, Anthony a ratty serape...Eastwoods kills with his six gun, bad guys take Anthony's six gun so he kills with a shotgun...Eastwood is direct, Anthony is sneaky...the list could go on and on...the Anthony trilogy is to the Eastwood trilogy as the James Coborn (Our Man Flint) were to the Sean Connery (James Bond) movies...high quality the Stranger movies were not, campy fun they were...how can you not like a ratty little scoundrel like the stranger, who's always losing his pistol and getting beat up, who looks like a skid row derelict, but somehow, manages to kill all the bad guys in the most inventive of ways...what's not to like...