Johnny Hamlet

First the good. The revenge story has a somewhat unique feel to it, despite being simply another revenge story, with a Hamlet storyline for the script. This makes it seem like fresher "Spaghetti." The location shooting is good, with some unique geological rocks, and more importantly caves. It is intriguing to see a cemetery located in one of these underground caverns. The soundtrack by Francesco De Masi is appropriate and good. Now the bad. Acting by anyone not named Gilbert Roland is sub par, including the wooden lead performance. The stunt work is also at fault, especially the fight scenes, which appear weak throughout. The film is totally watchable, but certainly is no classic. MERK

This western starts of with our hero Johnny, who sports an orange brown tan and sparkling white teeth, having a nightmare about his father (of whom we only get to see his long black cape). He soon wakes up at the beach (?) where a group of traveling performers are reciting Hamlet. Johnny shoots some people (not the actors) and gets on his horse to leave. If he had stayed to get more acquainted with "the Danish play" it could have saved him a lot of trouble.

After a rip-roaring theme song that proclaims ‘A dreamer grows wise as he opens his eyes', director Enzo G. Castellari immediately sets the tone by mixing Sergio Leone's spaghetti style with that of Sidney J. Fury's "The Appaloosa". There are countless zoom shots, a loud and eclectic musical score ranging from angelic choirs to kitchen utensil sound effects, extreme closeups, minute attention to detail (we spend some time seeing an extra tying his old fashioned cowboy laces) and just about every shot seems to have something obscuring the frame, be it a chair, a staircase or an open fire. But when Johnny arrives back home to spy on his widowed mother (nicknamed 'the Queen') and witnesses her being spanked in the bedroom by her new husband Claudio, it becomes clear as water where these characters originated.

Johnny has the habit of getting into trouble everywhere he goes, but luckily each time his Clark Gable lookalike guardian angel pal shows up to save him. This man not only looks like a 1930's matinee hero, he also acts like one, laughing in the face of danger and saying ‘hopla' when jumping down on somebody's head. He has even perfected the ‘James T. Kirk Drop kick'. There are some other additions to the original text: while looking for his fathers killer Johnny is sidetracked by a subplot involving a Mexican bandit called Santanna, and I also don't remember any crucifixion scene in Shakespeare's play.

The performing troupe from the prologue reappear to help the mystery along, but although Johnny manages to bed a red haired actress, he fails to use them in his plans to compromise Claudius. His other love interest Ophelia- I mean Laura appears too briefly to lose her mind, but still ends up all wet and tragic. The comedic gravedigger actually gets a bigger part in this version, and still manages to show up in the same place as always, albeit without Yorick.

The finale does take a bit too long, as there are at least three dramatic shootouts (with an ever decreasing number of participants). Some directors never learn that prolonging a hero's suffering is pointless as long as the audience knows he will eventually get his revenge. Besides that, Clark Gable will always be there to save Johnny at the last minute. I don't suppose the real Clark ever played the part of Horatio. That versions Hamlet might have survived to ride into the sunset too.

7 out of 10

Adieu, adieu ! Remember me.

(1968) Johnny Hamlet/ Quella sporca storia nel west (That Dirty Story in the West) DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Co-written and directed by Enzo G. Castellari unique adaption of William Shakespheare's Hamlet. It has Johnny (Chip Corman) being taking care of by a traveling circus troupe while he is unconscious dreaming about his dad. We find out, Johnny after shooting two men that he has just returned from serving with the confederacy three years earlier, and learns that his dad has been murdered visiting his grave site inside of a cave. Only for him to be visited by two troublemakers, Ross (Enio Girolami) and his friend, Bill/ Guild (Pedro Sanchez) who often wears green clothing as if he is celebrating St Patrick's Day including the hat and jacket. They show up to cause trouble only for them to be stopped by one his dad's best friend's,Horace/ Harris/ Horus (Gilbert Roland). He then visit's his mother, Gertry/ Gretchen/ Arlene/ Lana Hamilton (Francoise Prevost) and notices she is now mingling with his uncle, Claude Hamilton (Horst Frank) or Johnny's dad's brother making them into an item. He suspects that Claude is up to no good, except that he does not have any proof that he is in fact murdered his dad. And it was soon revealed that Johnny's dad died as a result of a robbery regarding some missing bags of gold dust. And that according to Claude, he shot the guy or bandit that supposedly to have murdered his dad we find out his name is Santana (Manuel Serrano). Except that Harris also handed him a clue that happens to be a distinctive looking crest he also finds out that the guy who Claude claimed murdered his dad is still alive. One thing leads to another that may also include johnny's former flame, Ophelia (Gabriella Grimaldi) whose dad also happens to be the sheriff, (Giorgio Sanmartin). Down the line, we then find out that in order for Johnny to find his dad's killer, he first have to find out the whereabouts of the missing sacks of gold dust and who else was seen wearing the crest.

Although I liked the idea of the grave sites inside of a cave, the rest of the movie was not that good as both johnny and his best friend or friend of his dad's Harris both had many opportunities to get rid of the two troublemakers or pests of Ross and Bill. The movie kind of drags as every revelation has become not so surprising and becomes kind of expected. A much better movie is not based on Shakespeare withe exact same principle is "The Forgotten Pistero"

I'm going to rank this the 6th best Spaghetti Western of all time, behind only the five Sergio Leoni classics (because personally I find Sergio Corbucci's most renowned efforts too gothic and depressing for my taste)

Enzo Castellani has studied the SL playbook and does a great job of framing his shots to maximise the value of the scenery and uses zooms and close-ups to build tension and help mitigate the limited acting skills of some of the cast.

Most Spaghetti Westerns use generic semi-arid Spanish scenery to stand in for the West of the United States, making no attempt to match the scenic grandeur achieved by John Ford, in his use of Monument Valley as a backdrop, or Anthony Mann's use of the Rocky Mountains, and fair enough too as the genre is mainly one of B movies with small budgets. However great background scenery doesn't have to cost more money, and here they make extensive use of the picturesque rock formations of "Cuidad Encantada" near the equally picturesque town of Cuenca in Spain.

The script is decent and draws some added zest from elements borrowed from Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet", however don't expect to carry that analogy too far, as there are not nearly enough fights and shootouts in a Shakespearian play to satisfy the intended audience of a Spaghetti Western. Castellani knows this and ensures that there is plenty of action to be found here, accompanied by thuds and whacks which even exceed the usual level of impact, with each blow sounding as if a door or wall had been demolished to provide it.

I also found the choreography of the fight scenes to be above average, with fights incorporating some imaginative use of flips, throws and tumbles to season the usual diet of punches and broken furniture.

As for the acting, it's up to the expected level for a Spaghetti Western, some memorably fruity villains, a very attractive but somewhat wooden hero and female eye candy, and a single Hollywood has been, hoping to follow in Clint Eastwood's footsteps and get a career boost. In this case it is the redoubtable Gilbert Roland, who once did a shift as the Cisco Kid in B Movies of the 1940s, and he brings his customary assured macho charisma to the role of experienced friend of the hero, who steps in to save him whenever he gets in over his head, which in this movie is pretty much constantly.

Highly recommended to fans of the genre.

This underrated spaghetti western, based on an idea by Sergio Corbucci and directed by Enzo Castellari of Keoma fame, sports excellent cinematography, a nice soundtrack by the recently deceased Francesco De Masi and an impressive cast. While the protagonist, played by Andrea Giordani, is the usual spaghetti 'avenging hero' fare, the highly charismatic Horst Frank and the rest of the cast do a great job. The 'Hamlet' theme injects a lot of originality into the vengeance story, the intro dream sequence being very surreal and creative. And while you will not find a deep, meaningful version of 'Hamlet' here, lots of religious metaphors are around and, along with the healthy dose of humor (which not everyone will appreciate) make this one of the more intelligent euro westerns around. Definitely recommended.