Pistol for a Hundred Coffins

This western is the type of movie you might see from Something Weird Video or on MST3K. That's not meant to be a put-down (if it was I'd be putting down 2/3 of my movie collection). I really enjoyed this film.

The movie is directed by Umberto Lenzi, who is better known for his Euro-horror movies. The horror influence is clearly evident here when an escaped band of drooling lunatics runs around grunting and killing everyone in sight. It's a real hoot to see spaghetti western regular Eduardo Fajardo playing the part of a giggling homicidal idiot. This alone makes it worthwhile to seek out this film.

John Ireland is great as the gunslinging preacher, and Piero Lulli makes a great villain as usual. The acting from the rest of the cast is not exactly top-notch, but that just adds to the flavor of this film. It's quite funny in parts (perhaps unintentionally but one can never be sure).

There are also some really funny lines in the movie, which I will not spoil by mentioning here. The way everyone overreacts to the fact that the hero likes to drink water is especially hilarious.

I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys both spaghetti westerns and strange, funny cult movies.

Pistol for 100 Coffins (1968) Italian-Spanish Spaghetti Western written and directed by Umberto Lenzi and staring Peter Lee Lawrence as a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the south in the Civil War. Now newly released from prison, Lawrence takes up arms to deliver cold vengeance on the gunmen who murdered his family.

Not a bad movie, but if you've seen a lot of spaghetti's, you've essentially seen this one too. Indeed, Pistol for 100 Coffins checks off most of the usual story beats and genre tropes:

Man released or escapes from the law ✅ Quest for Revenge ✅ Stolen Cash or Gold ✅ Older Gunfighter Mentors a Younger Hothead - ✅ Incredible Photography ✅ Amazing Score ❌

Perhaps the films biggest drawback is the lack of a score written by il maestro, Ennio Morricone, legendary composer of Sergio Leone's films. A Morricone score would've brought this film to the level of Death Rides a Horse (1968), a better film with a very similar story.

For fans of spaghetti's this one is worth a watch, just keep in mind that if you've seen Death Rides a Horse or Leone's films, you've seen this story better told before. 6.5 out of 10.

Normally, because of my love for the spaghetti western genre, I can accept any shortcomings that can be found in the movies. But with "A Gun For One Hundred Graves", there were so many that at times I found the movie tough going. I saw the complete version, but even then there were times when linking footage and even entire scenes of explanation seemed to be missing! What makes it further odd is that there's material that could have easily been edited out without harming the narrative, from the band of lunatics to the hero's Jehovah Witness beliefs. The cast does its best with the material, with John Ireland giving the best performance. But the movie so feels like it was made up as it was going along, that I can only recommend this to die hard spaghetti western fans, and even they find the experience hard to sit through.

Returning from the civil war Jim Slade discovers his parents dead at their farm. It is said that the gang under the lead of Corbett has committed the crime. Jim now goes for revenge but things turn out to be more complicated than he originally thought. To get some money he accepts the job as a sheriff.

A Pistol for a 100 coffins has a standard revenge storyline but some foreboding atmosphere in the town and the odd addition of the prisoners from an asylum flourishes it with some difference, lending it some horror element. It is a little slow moving at times, yet fairly watchable. It gets better as you watch on, especially in the last forty minutes where double dealing, double crosses and twists and turns occur. There's a neat revelation towards the end that I hadn't seen coming. Plus there's some lively gunplay to keep Spaghetti westerns fans contented.

Jailed for his religious objection to violence, Peter Lee Lawrence is released from prison at war's end, to find his parents murdered by a gang of thieves. Reversing his stance on killing (though not drinking!), he seeks vengeance, eventually taking a job in Galveston, protecting a cash shipment from the last and hardest of the bunch.

From horror director Umberto Lenzi, this is a typically colorful, though somewhat routine Italian western, with some good double and triple-crosses, as well as a few oddball touches, like a jail full of giggling loonies from a burned-out asylum, escaping and wreaking havoc on the town!

Though not terribly memorable, A Gun For A Hundred Graves (another great title) is decent enough entertainment for spaghetti western aficionados who want to see all the genre has to offer. John Ireland, who plays a quick-draw preacher, is always worth watching. There's also some pretty good Morricone-like musical themes.