Blood for a Silver Dollar | |
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Directed by | Giorgio Ferroni |
Screenplay by | Giorgio Stegani [1] |
Story by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Toni Secchi [1] |
Edited by | Antonietta Zita [1] |
Music by | Gianni Ferrio [1] |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Euro Films International [1] |
Release date |
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Countries |
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Language | Italian |
Box office | $2.2 million (Italy) [3] |
Blood for a Silver Dollar (Italian : Un dollaro bucato) is a 1965 spaghetti Western film directed by Giorgio Ferroni, written by Giorgio Stegani and Ferroni, and starring Giuliano Gemma and Ida Galli.
Gary O'Hara, a Confederate Lieutenant, returns from the war, to fight one at home. Prior to his release from the Prisoner of War camp his pistol has its barrel sawn off, as well as his brother Phil's gun and all the pistols from Lieutenants of the South. He arrives at his house and finds his wife living in poverty. He promises to reunite with her after three months and travels to Yellowstone to make a living. There, he meets the wealthy landowner and banker McCoy, who hires Gary and asks him to arrest a new gangster in town named "Black Jack", who has supposedly wrought havoc in the community.
Gary agrees to kill Black Jack, but it is revealed too late that the outlaw is actually his brother Phil, who also recognizes his brother Gary just a second later after shooting him. McCoy and his men kill Phil and order a Mexican farmer and his wife to bury him and Gary. Soon after, the Mexicans discover that Gary has miraculously survived being shot, since the bullet was stopped by a silver dollar coin Gary always carries in his left pocket. The Mexican couple takes Gary away to safety, and everyone in Yellowstone believes he has died.
After hiding away for some time, Gary returns to the lands near Yellowstone and saves a group of farmers who are being harassed into selling their lands to McCoy. Thus he finds out that his brother Phil was actually protecting and helping the defenseless farmers against McCoy's men's raids and violence. Gary sets himself up for revenge against his former employer, and works with the local sheriff and the farmers' leader to stop McCoy's men from stealing a shipment of gold belonging to the farmers to be used by them to pay off a loan to the bank owned by McCoy. Nevertheless, events take a turn when Gary realizes that the sheriff, as well as McCoy, are in fact former criminals wanted by the law and are only masquerading as respectable men. Things get even more complicated when O'Hara's wife comes into town looking for her husband.
Blood for a Silver Dollar was first released in 1965. [4] [5] [2] Upon release in the United States, nearly all of the cast members and production team had their names changed for the English audience. [6]
It was the second highest-grossing Italian film in Italy for the year, behind For A Few Dollars More , with a gross of $2,225,000. [3]
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.
For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonté as the primary villain. German actor Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a secondary villain. The film was an international co-production between Italy, West Germany, and Spain. The film was released in the United States in 1967, and is the second instalment of what is commonly known as the Dollars Trilogy.
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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).
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Anthony Steffen, born Antonio Luiz de Teffé von Hoonholtz, was an Italian-Brazilian character actor, screenwriter and film producer. Steffen achieved fame as a leading man in Spaghetti Western features. He was also known as Antonio Luigi de Teffe.
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Ida Galli is an Italian film actress best known for her roles in spaghetti Western and giallo films in the 1960s and 1970s. Galli has appeared under several pseudonyms, including Arianna, Evelyn Stewart and Isli Oberon.
Giuseppe Addobbati was an Italian film actor known for his roles in Spaghetti Western and action films in the 1960s and 1970s. He was often billed as John MacDouglas for films released to an American audience.
Blood at Sundown is a Spaghetti Western film directed by Alberto Cardone. The film is notable as the primary inspiration for the Sartana film series, starring Gianni Garko as a antiheroic incarnation of the villainous character he previously portrayed in Blood at Sundown.
Wanted is a 1967 Italian Western film directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Giuliano Gemma, Teresa Gimpera, and Nello Pazzafini. Gemma made two more westerns directed by Ferroni, with similar plots, where his character likewise carried the first name "Gary".
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Sundance and the Kid is a 1969 Spaghetti Western comedy directed by Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma, Nino Benvenuti, and Sydne Rome. The film was also released under the titles Alive or Preferably Dead and Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid.
The White, the Yellow, and the Black, also known as Samurai and Shoot First... Ask Questions Later, is a 1975 Spaghetti Western comedy film.
Giorgio Ferroni was an Italian film director.
Long Days of Vengeance (Italian: I lunghi giorni della vendetta is a 1967 Western film directed by Florestano Vancini. It is the only western directed by Vancini, here credited as Stan Vance. The film is a Spaghetti Western version of Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo.