A Pistol for Ringo | |
---|---|
Directed by | Duccio Tessari |
Screenplay by | Duccio Tessari Uncredited: Alfonso Balcázar Fernando di Leo Enzo Dell'Aquila [1] |
Produced by | Luciano Ercoli Alberto Pugliese |
Starring | Montgomery Wood Fernando Sancho Hally Hammond Nieves Navarro Antonio Casas George Martin |
Cinematography | Francisco Marín |
Edited by | Licia Quaglia |
Music by | Ennio Morricone |
Production companies | Produzioni Cinematografiche Mediterranee (PCM) Balcázar Producciones Cinematográficas |
Distributed by | Cineriz (Italy) Embassy Pictures (US) |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Countries | Italy Spain |
Language | Italian |
Box office | $1.9 million (Italy) [2] 17,379,404 pesetas (Spain) |
A Pistol for Ringo (Italian : Una pistola per Ringo) is a 1965 Spaghetti Western, a joint Italian and Spanish production. Originally written and directed by Duccio Tessari, the film's success led to a follow-up, The Return of Ringo , later that year, which, in spite of sharing the same name for the titular character, is not a sequel to this film and deals with an entirely new character and storyline.
The film stars Giuliano Gemma (billed as 'Montgomery Wood') alongside Fernando Sancho, Nieves Navarro, George Martin, Antonio Casas, José Manuel Martín and Hally Hammond. [3]
The film opens as the film's protagonist, a gunfighter known as "Angel Face" or Ringo, kills four men in a gunfight. He is then arrested for manslaughter and locked up in the city jail where he awaits trial.
Meanwhile, Major Clyde and his daughter Ruby are celebrating Christmas with several guests on their ranch. They are interrupted by a bandit gang who storm the hacienda and take them hostage. The bandits have narrowly escaped from a bank robbery in which their leader Sancho has been wounded. In a desperate attempt to deter their pursuers, they decide to hold the family hostage threatening to execute two a day until they are allowed to go free.
The house is surrounded by a posse led by the town sheriff, however he fears for the safety of the hostages, including his fiancée Ruby, if he attempts to free the hostage by force. He decides to enlist the aid of Ringo, who agrees to infiltrate the gang and free the hostages in exchange for his freedom and a percentage of the stolen money.
He manages to successfully join up with the gang, posing as a fellow outlaw on the run, however Ringo's plans quickly become complicated as Sancho begins ordering the execution of hostages as well as the tension within the house as Delores, Sancho's woman, encourages Major Clyde's romantic feelings while one of Sancho's men begins making advances towards Major Clyde's daughter, Ruby. He at first seems to double-cross the sheriff, however he succeeds in deceiving Sancho and allows the sheriff and his posse to storm the hacienda freeing the hostages and defeating Sancho and his bandits.
Encouraged by the success of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars the previous year, which he had helped write, Duccio Tessari decided to produce his own western. A well-known screenwriter of horror and "sword-and-sandal" films, he had previously worked with several Spaghetti Western directors, most notably "the two Sergios", as the co-writer of Sergio Leone's The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) and Sergio Corbucci's Romulus and Remus (1961).
He had originally developed the story and co-wrote the script with Alfonso Balcázar. There is more humorous theme, and at times uses slapstick comedy, compared to usual Spaghetti Westerns. The interaction between actors was more relaxed to fully develop the effect of comedic sequences. The main character, loosely based on gunfighter Johnny Ringo, was portrayed as the antithesis of Leone's Man with No Name character — talkative, well dressed, clean-shaven and preferring milk to whiskey.
The cast, both leading and supporting roles, were primarily made up of Italian and Spanish actors including Montgomery Wood and Hally Hammond, born Giuliano Gemma and Lorella De Luca respectively. This was also the spaghetti western film debut of Giuliano Gemma, previously having a minor role in Tessari's Sons of Thunder , and would go on to star in a number of other Spaghetti Westerns including One Silver Dollar (1965) and Adios, Gringo (1965). Shortly after the film was released, Gemma compared his role as Ringo to his character in Sons of Thunder commenting "For this film, I acted a character who was a little like the one I had played in "Sons of Thunder". Quite simply, I was in a different costume and a different setting." [4]
Shot on location in Almeria, Spain, most of the filming took place during early 1965 prior to its premiere in Italy and Spain later that year. [5]
A Pistol for Ringo was a huge success on the domestic market following its release in Italy on May 12 and in Spain on December 9, 1965, grossing US$1,940,000 in Italy [2] and making over 17,379,404 ₧ (US$104,450) in Spain. The film was shown across Western Europe during early 1966; although it would not appear in Finland and Sweden until early the next year. In Scandinavia, the film generally received an "over 16" rating in Norway (16), Finland (K-16) and Sweden (15 År) while having a significantly higher rating in West Germany (FSK 18) and the United Kingdom (U).
It also did well in the United States where it premiered in New York City on November 2, 1966. The film particularly stood out from its American counterparts, mostly consisting of lower quality b-movies. Its theme, composed by Ennio Morricone and performed by Maurizio Graf, was a more traditional American western ballad compared to his previous work on Spaghetti Westerns and proved popular rising to number one on the Italian charts.
There were some scenes cut in the English-language version to make it more focused on its action and dramatic elements. One scene which was cut includes Ringo removing the bullet from Sancho's shoulder. This specific scene was originally used to explain why Filipe, one of Sancho's henchmen wears a bandage on his hand (Ringo had previously broke his hand with a goblet). Other changes included removing the Christmas carolers and the opening farce duel as well as dialogue and name changes. One example was the during the final scene when Major Clyde throws a flintlock pistol to Ringo. In the English version, Major Clyde claims his grandfather used the pistol at the Battle of Waterloo, however in the original version he states the pistol was used at the Battle of Austerlitz. Austerlitz was used rather than the French defeat at Waterloo to please European audiences. The film retained its original title for the most part, however it was also re-titled as Ballad of Death Valley in the U.S. and Ringo: The Killer elsewhere.
The success of A Pistol for Ringo inspired numerous sequels, most notably $10,000 for Ringo (1965), Ringo and Gringo Against All (1966) and Two R-R-Ringos from Texas (1967). A musical comedy, A Woman for Ringo (1966), was also released and starred Sean Flynn and the Bayona Twins, Pili and Mili Bayona. However, the film received extremely poor reviews, as would most other western-themed musicals. Other such sequels included Ringo and His Golden Pistol (1966), [6] Ringo of Nebraska (1966) and Ringo the Face of Revenge (1967). [7] The Texican (1966) was retitled Ringo il Texano in Italy.
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.
The Dollars Trilogy, also known as the Man with No Name Trilogy, is an Italian film series consisting of three spaghetti western films directed by Sergio Leone. The films are titled A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Their English versions were distributed by United Artists, while the Italian ones were distributed by Unidis and PEA.
Ringo and His Golden Pistol is a 1966 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Mark Damon.
George Hilton was a Uruguayan actor well known for his many spaghetti Western performances. Sometimes credited as Jorge Hilton, he appeared in over 20 Euro-Westerns as well as several giallo and action films.
Giuliano Gemma was an Italian actor. He is best known internationally for his work in Spaghetti Westerns, particularly for his performances as the title character in Duccio Tessari's A Pistol for Ringo (1965), Captain Montgomery Brown/'Ringo' in Tessari's The Return of Ringo (1965), the title character in Michele Lupo's Arizona Colt (1966), Scott Mary in Tonino Valerii's Day of Anger (1967) and Michael "California" Random in Lupo's California (1977).
The Savage Guns is a 1961 Eurowestern film, an international co-production by British and Spanish producers. Based on a specially commissioned screenplay, The San Siado Killings, written by Peter R. Newman and directed by Michael Carreras, the film is credited as the first traditional Spaghetti Western.
The Return of Ringo is a 1965 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Duccio Tessari from a screenplay he had co-written with Fernando Di Leo, inspired by Homer's Odyssey. It stars Giuliano Gemma in the title role, which, in spite of sharing the same name with that of A Pistol for Ringo along with most of the actors and the crew, is not a sequel to that film and deals with an entirely new character and a storyline. It also stars Fernando Sancho, Nieves Navarro, George Martin, Antonio Casas, and Hally Hammond.
The Cats is a 1968 crime film directed by Duccio Tessari, starring Rita Hayworth and Klaus Kinski.
Silver Saddle is a 1978 spaghetti Western. It is the third and final western directed by Lucio Fulci and one of the last spaghetti Westerns to be produced by a European studio. The film was based on an original story written by screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni and directed by Fulci for the Italian studio Rizzoli Film Productions.
Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang is a 1966 Eurospy comedy film directed by Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma, Nieves Navarro, George Martin, and Daniele Vargas.
George Martin was a Spanish film actor, sometimes credited as Jorge Martín. He is known as a frequent star in the Italian 3 Supermen series and for numerous parts in Spaghetti Westerns and Italian exploitation films.
Nieves Navarro García is a retired Spanish actress and fashion model. She worked extensively in Italian cinema appearing alongside actors such as Totò and Lino Banfi in the 1960's and 1970's. She later adopted the Anglicized stage name Susan Scott for many of her productions after 1969.
Duccio Tessari was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns.
Lorella De Luca was an Italian film, television, and voice actress. One of the most recognized ingénues of Italian cinema during the mid-to-late 1950s, she is best known for having played naive young girls in dramas and comedies.
José Manuel Martín Pérez was a Spanish film and television actor, radio broadcaster, and screenwriter. He was a popular character actor in Spanish cinema during the 1950s and 60s, best remembered for playing villainous henchmen, appearing in more than 100 film and television productions.
Django Shoots First is an Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Alberto De Martino.
Tex and the Lord of the Deep is a 1985 Western film co-written and directed by Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma and William Berger. The film is an adaptation of the Tex comic series that were popular in Italy. Previously attempted to be made into a production in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the film was eventually made by Tessari who adapted the film from the comics originally to be a pilot for a television series.
Savage Gringo is a 1966 Western film starring Ken Clark. The film is about a drifter who protects a rancher couple from a ruthless landowner. Under its Italian title, Savage Gringo was one of numerous Spaghetti Westerns retitled to take advantage of the success of Duccio Tessari's successful Ringo duology.