Heroes of the West - part 18

 And to add to the other picture series, our western hero for today is James Stewart.

Queens of the Italian Cinema

 I didn't add anything to the series (and the western heroes) in quite a time... So, today it's Rosalba Neri.

Films I Watched from September to December 2020

* = first time watched

A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975)
Králové videa (2020)*
Ator the Fighting Eagle (1982)*
Emanuelle in Bangkok (1976)*
12 Angry Men (1957)
Apache Gold (1963)
Carambola (1974)
Run, Man, Run (1968)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)*
Last of the Renegades (1964)
The Desperado Trail (1965)
Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death (1968)
Flaming Frontier (1965)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)*
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)*
Death Line (1972)*
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981)
From Beyond the Grave (1974)*
U pokladny stál (1939)
The Whip and the Body (1963)*
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Sabata the Killer (1970)*
The Stranger Returns (1967)
Day of Anger (1967)
Beyond the Law (1968)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Death Rides a Horse (1967)
Death Sentence (1968)
Seven Guns for the MacGregors (1966)*
God Forgives, I Don't (1967)
The Great Silence (1968)
The Return of Ringo (1965)
Dead Men Ride (1971)
The Road to Fort Alamo (1964)*
God in Heaven, Arizona on Earth (1972)*
Django Kill! If You Live, Shoot! (1967)
Pistoleros (1967)*
Boot Hill (1969)
Django the Bastard (1969)
It Can Be Done, Amigo (1972)
Five Man Army (1969)
Mannaja (1977)
Born to Kill (1967)*
The Valachi Papers (1972)
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Světáci (1969)
Marečku, podejte mi pero! (1976)
Bomber (1982)
Byl jednou jeden král (1954)
Tři veteráni (1983)
Šíleně smutná princezna (1968)
Hot Shots Part Deux (1993)
The Irishman (2019)*
Watch Out, We're Mad! (1974)

Top 5 of the new ones:
The Masque of the Red Death
The Irishman
The Whip and the Body
Death Line
The Brides of Dracula

Top 5 of them all
Once Upon a Time in the West
For a Few Dollars More
The Great Silence
The Hateful Eight
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians

Films I Watched From May to August 2020

* = first time watched

Crime Busters (1977)
Paranoia (1969)*
So Sweet, So Perverse (1969)*
A Quiet Place to Kill (1970)*
Oasis of Fear (1971)*
Seven Samurai (1954)*
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Django Unchained (2012)
Return of Godzilla (1984)*
Kill (1968)*
The Magnificent Dare Devil (1973)*
Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)*
Django (1966)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
Go For It (1983)
Ace High (1968)
Flatfoot in Hong Kong (1975)
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991)
Who Finds a Friend, Finds a Treasure (1981)
The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1993)
Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
Deep Red (1975)
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970)
And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)
Let the Corpses Tan (2017)*
The Hidden Fortress (1958)*
The Mercenary (1968)
Death Race 2000 (1975)*
Red Lion (1969)*
Outlaw of Red River (1965)*
Execution (1968)*
Dinner for Adele (1977)
A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975)*
The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry (2010)*
Frankenstein and the Wolfman (1943)*
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1968)*
Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)*
Samurai Cop (1991)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Magnum Force (1973)
Partie krásného dragouna (1970)
Pěnička a Paraplíčko (1970)
The Death of Black King (1971)
Vražda v hotelu Excelsior (1971)
Gunfight at High Noon (1963)*
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

 

Top 5 of the new ones:

Seven Samurai

Kill 

Red Lion

Horror Rises from the Tomb

So Sweet So Perverse

Top 5 of all of them:

Inglourious Basterds

Dirty Harry

Reservoir Dogs

Dinner for Adele

Ace High

Fernando di Leo and his movies

Fernando di Leo was an interesting filmmaker. As a screenwriter, he left his traces in any possible genre, including many spaghetti westerns, even many famous spaghettis, like Navajo Joe, The Return of Ringo, Massacre Time or Long Days of Vengeance. But when he became a director, he never made a western and made a lot of mafia movies instead. His heroes were mostly gangsters or vigilantes, when he made a movie about a cop, he was usually a corrupted one.

Naked Violence (1969)

All I know is this one is more of a social drama perhaps? Co-starring Nieves Navarro under her Susan Scott alias.

Slaughter Hotel (1971)

At the beginning of his career, he tried to make a giallo, and... didn't succeed. This movie is mostly boring and pornographic. Rosalba Neri is hot as hell in this, but we didn't need to see her body double touching herself. Klaus Kinski is useless in it.

Caliber 9 (1972)

This is where the real Fernando di Leo begins. A mafia movie with a great cast (Gastone Moschin, Barbara Bouchet, Mario Adorf, Lionel Stander, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli etc.), good story and unexpected twists. Perfect score by Luis Bacalov and Osanna, amazing opening sequence.

The Manhunt (1972)

Second film of his sort of trilogy, this time starring Mario Adorf as a falsely accused pimp, who has to hide from mafia killers. And those killers are Henry Silva and Woody Strode. Bad times for Mario... bad times for almost everybody, mostly the women - and what women! Luciana Paluzzi, Femi Benussi, Sylva Koscina... Great funky score, this time by Armando Trovaioli, great action sequences. The chase in the middle of the movie is insane.

Boss (1973)

Final film of the trilogy, but not as good as the previous two in my opinion. Henry Silva stars as a cold-blooded killer, who kills everyone in his way to the top. Richard Conte is the mafia boss, Gianni Garko is a corrupt policeman.

Shoot First, Die Later (1974)

Again a weaker one, first of Di Leo's collaborations with Luc Merenda. Merenda plays a cop here, but a cop working for the mafia. Richard Conte is here again, as a lawyer this time, and we also get Di Leo's favourite actor, Vittorio Caprioli, playing a deaf old guy, who becomes a witness of a crime, and therefore dangerous for the mafia. Delia Boccardo is Merenda's girlfriend, so we know she won't meet a good end here.

Kidnap Syndicate (1975)

Merenda again as a father, whose son is kidnapped together with a son of a rich businessman played by James Mason. When Mason refuses to pay the ransom, the poor child is killed in order to force Mason to pay. Merenda gets in a rage, but... the second half is not such a riot as we would expect from the director of Manhunt. Vittorio Caprioli is back as the policeman.

Loaded Guns (1975)

Poliziesco / sex comedy starring Ursula Andress! Not a bad one though. Yes, it becomes really silly and there are moments when Andress' body plays the lead, and the final fistfight is really silly and feels out of place. But a fun movie.

Nick the Sting (1976)

To be honest, I stopped with Di Leo in 1975 so far, so just quickly to the rest. This one stars Merenda again, paired with Lee J. Cobb. All I know about it.

Mr. Scarface (1976)

Jack Palance as a mafia boss in a eurocrime comedy. Seems so.

Blood and Diamonds (1977)

Claudio Cassinelli takes the lead here, Barbara Bouchet returns as a gogo dancer once again. Martin Balsam is in it as well I think. And Vittorio Caprioli again.

To Be Twenty (1978)

A sex comedy that turns into a horror in the end.. Sex comedy starlets Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati starring. Caprioli again co-starring.

Madness (1980)

Joe Dallesandro as a criminal on the run in this movie. I think so.

Killer vs. Killers (1985)

I think this is di Leo's last movie and he didn't end with anything else than a gangster movie with Henry Silva. He made an action flick with him the previous year as well I think.

Well, seems like apart from crime movies and sex comedies and one sex drama Di Leo really didn't do any other genres. But that kind of compares him with Sergio Leone, as the master of the poliziotteschi genre. Not that his movies were as great as the Sergio Leone westerns,but he really concerned to one genre, like Leone with westerns or Dario Argento and Mario Bava with gialli and horror. Other directors made most of the genres. These did their stuff.