A Stranger in Town

"Un dollaro tra i denti" is a great spaghetti western, marked out by a good showing from Tony Anthony and -as usual- a show stealing performance from Frank Wolff. Jeah, there are just a few sentences spoken in this one, but that's not a big problem. However, when there are dialogs, they are great, funny and full of sadism. The story is not that spectacular, but the actors are doing their best. Frank Wolff, armed with a machine gun, shoots, shoots and shoots. However, he is not able to stop the stranger(Tony Anthony). And Tony takes revenge with his sawed-off shot gun. Moreover, "Un dollaro tra i denti" has a wonderful music score by Benedetto Ghiglia.Just breath-taking. This is definitely not a bad spaghetti-western. Let's say an underrated masterpiece. But keep in mind, you have to see it UNCUT. Otherwise it will be really boring.

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

"A Stranger in Town" is the first of Tony Anthony's "Stranger" films - a character heavily borrowed from Eastwood/Leone's "Man With No Name". As I understand it, the aim of these films was to take the European vision of a western to a wider American audience. Which it successfully achieved.

The Stranger (Anthony) arrives in town to witness a brutal massacre of Mexican soldiers by a gang of bandits led by Aguila (Frank Wolff). Before the execution, Aguila assures the soldiers that he is "a fair man" - a regularly uttered pronouncement throughout the film. The death of so many men demonstrates otherwise.

The Stranger agrees to work with the bandits, who are now clad in the soldiers uniforms, to help steal gold from the US army. The plan is successful, but the Stranger is soon double-crossed once he arrives to collect his 50% share (despite Aguila being "a fair man"). After a beating, he escapes with the gold, and is pursued by the gang......

Whilst there are obvious similarities between this movie and the Dollars Trilogy - in particular a Fistful of Dollars - this is an enjoyable film in its own right. It lacks the class of Leone, and the cool of Eastwood, but Anthony and Director Luigi Vanzi never tried to mimic these aspects, concentrating instead on the action and violence. Indeed, Anthony's Stranger never appears invincible, and remains likable throughout what is a very simplistic story.

The star of the show however is Frank Wolff - a man that does not know the meaning of a bad performance. Based largely on Volente's Ramon, Aguila is equally as barbaric, but just a little more clumsy. And "a fair man!". Of course!

There is very little dialogue in the whole movie, playing on the cliché of what we (or I imagine, more realistically, what the general American audience of that time) expect from a Spaghetti Western. Quite intentionally. The fact that there are few words puts great pressure on the quality of Benedetto Ghiglia's score - which thankfully stands up to this task.

All in all, A Stranger in Town makes up for what it lacks in class and story with entertaining characters and good fight sequences. The beginning sequence where the Mexican soldiers are led into town by a group of singing monks - who soon cast off their robes and reveal themselves as Aguila and his gang - immediately persuades the viewer that this will be an enjoyable film. The final confrontation between the two main stars is equally as effective.

It is not (and doesn't pretend to be) one of the greatest Spaghetti Westerns. In fact, Aguila would probably proclaim it as a "fair" film. And this time he wouldn't be lying. Good fun, and recommended.

I was familiar with this film's reputation long before I finally saw it, and am amused to be impressed with what it finally turned out to be. A few years back I purchased Roger Ebert's "I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie", a collection of his zero star "bomb" reviews of stuff that failed to pass even minimal muster with him. A DOLLAR BETWEEN THE TEETH was reviewed under it's Americanized title, A STRANGER IN TOWN, and Ebert fled the film twice with the same kind of revulsion I feel when encountering fruit.

I can sympathize with him: This is an ultra-cheap, mean spirited, nearly artless little study in applied bad taste & nihilism masquerading as a cowboy movie for grown-ups. It doesn't even have a particularly involving musical score, the one thing that the Italians usually managed to get right with their Westerns. The first thing our "star" gunslinger encounters when entering the seemingly deserted town the film takes place in is a dead body. Then he beats the sole patron of a saloon to death with a tequila bottle, and the movie never gets any friendlier.

The "star" is one Tony Anthony, an actor I had never heard of before, and with my cynic's attitude about European genre entertainment the natural assumption was that "Tony Anthony" was a pseudonym. It isn't. He stands about 5'9", looks like he may have been a boxer at one time, and speaks with a Brooklyn accent. His blond hair dye isn't fooling anyone, but he knows how to take a beating like Brando. By studying Anthony's IMDb reference page one learns that he made about a dozen movies during his career and was an advocate of the 3-D revival of the early 1980s that resulted in Friday THE 13TH PART THREE with it's 3-D popcorn popping effects and the infamous spear to the eye. Anthony made three "Stranger" films, this one being the first, and with or without Mr. Ebert's acquiescence they have amassed a bit of a cult following due to their unremitting brutality, grim overtones and nihilistic, deadpan remorselessness for being morally bankrupt.

Just like Tony Anthony himself -- at least on camera -- so it makes sense that the films managed to resonate with some viewers. They are honest about their intentions. One of the misconceptions about the fascination with Spaghetti Westerns is that audiences become enamored with their overtly arty & superficially poetic nature. That may be true, but the fondness I feel for Spaghetti is more rooted in a dislike for the traditionalist approach to making Westerns, which usually have a moral centerpoint. As such it is fascinating to find one that quite literally has none: Nobody in this movie is heroic or noble, there is no justice or redemption, only a bunch of filthy, sweaty, drunk, bloodthirsty bastards fighting it out in some dusty nowhere for a couple of sacks of gold.

I find the honesty to be delightfully refreshing. Here at last is a Western about lust, greed, hatred, contempt; All of the reptilian aspects of the human psyche glossed over by the traditional approach with it's pap sentimentality, laughable romantics and lunkheaded attention to detail. By contrast, A DOLLAR BETWEEN THE TEETH is stripped of all but the bare essentials needed to tell the story, which is gleefully ripped off from FISTFUL OF DOLLARS lock, stock and smoking barrel.

But on the ultra dirt cheap. Almost all of the handguns seen are modern-day police revolvers, and you can see the department store blue jeans labels on some of the costumes. There are maybe four locations used in the film and two are outdoor locations easily recognizable from ten dozen other Italian made Westerns. The two others are collections of ramshackle buildings in a wonderful state of disrepair that are probably no more than a few hundred yards away from each other in real world terms. Yet here they make up a little universe of their own, sort of like how the Holodeck on "Star Trek" is always the same room no matter what it is programmed to look like. Throw in a couple of sand pits filmed from various different angles and a totally minimalist music score comprised of only those elements needed to propel the action forward and we are talking about a pared down work that reminds me more of the artwork of someone like Sol Lewitt or Mel Bochner than anything Sergio Leone may have produced.

One name jumps out at me from the production credits: Allen Klein. It is indeed the same Allen Klein who was brought in to save The Beatles from bankruptcy in 1969, and after thinking about his connection to the film things started to make a bit more sense. He and Tony Anthony must have been acquaintances of some kind and for whatever reason Klein put up the money to make this film -- probably hoping to cash in on the surprise box office success of FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and the other Leone favorites. In 1967 you literally could make a movie like this in a place like Italy for about $15,000 or so, provided you had industry people who perhaps owed you a couple of favors (or were enamored by the clients associated with you, i.e. The Rolling Stones) and I can quite literally see this as a filmed investment scheme, with Tony Anthony fronting the project for Klein.

However it came about the movie was made, and as an object lesson in low budget film-making it is a fascinating if somewhat ghoulish little production that somehow, against the efforts of no less than Roger Ebert, has managed to withstand the test of time. It's an awful film to be sure but you do have to sort of marvel at it's insistence to be not just in bad taste, but in the worst taste possible.

7/10

Although this movie has a reputation of being absolutely awful -- apparently Roger Ebert rates it a bomb -- and, while it is clearly a rip-off in every imaginable way of the Leone-Eastwood collaborations, down to Tony Anthony -- playing 'The Stranger' dressing in a poncho -- the technical work on this movie is quite decent and makes for a pleasant enough afternoon. The cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi is top notch; in fact, the long, dialogue-free sections of the movie flow very well, thanks to the camera-work and the editing, for which we can credit Maurizio Lucidi, who later went on to helm a few movies.

If the story holds few surprises for fans of Sergio Leone -- well, when did Westerns ever do much in the way of innovation? Go see this movie for the traditional strengths of a western -- which means a decent show and some beautiful pictures -- and you'll have a good time. Not every movie must be a great classic, after all.