Castellari' Heroes

Rosalba Neri and her spaghetti westerns

Now this could be even more interesting. Women had only occassionally a big part in spaghs, mostly they played just a second fiddle. Still there are some actressesconnected tightly with the genre and Rosalba Neri was one of them. She actually starred in many SWs, but mostly she just appeared somewhere in one scene or so. Let's see her resume.

Arizona Colt (1966)
She didn't appear in the western genre till 1966 but that year she made three of them. In this one she has just a small part of a prostitute that gets killed. Bad luck. Even for us, because the unsympathetic Corinne Marchand lives till the end of the movie.

Johnny Yuma (1966)
Now that's a good part - the villain of the movie! I don't remember much but her stripping sequence, that is too hot even for the parrot.

Dynamite Jim (1966)
A comedy, that I haven't seen. Just the awful title sequence.

Wanted Johnny Texas (1967)
Rosalba gets murdered in the first 30 minutes. That's all I know. Oh, and Fernando Sancho is blonde in this one.

Days of Violence (1967)
And again, dead at the beginning. I still have to watch that one.

This Man Can't Die (1968)
A really crappy movie with Rosalba in a tiny part with an ugly red curly wig.

Killer Adios (1968)
And she has the wig again! I don't know much about the size of her part here.

A Long Ride from Hell (1968)
Another of her typical small prostitute parts. The star of this one is Steve Reeves in his only western.

Sonora (1968)
George Martin, Jack Elam and Gilbert Roland are the stars and Rosalba probably plays again the same part.

El Puro (1969)
Another I haven't seen. Rosalba gets beaten to death in a long sequence, as far as I know.

Arizona Colt Returns (1970)
Rosalba plays a slightly bigger part in the sequel with Anthony Steffen, but most of the time she pretends being kidnapped and doesn't really have a lot to do.

The Day of the Judgment (1971)
She is even in the flashback only! As a long dead wife!

Watch out, Gringo! Sabata Will Return (1972)
She is now a hostage from a coach robbery. Not a big part, but more interesting one than the previous movies. At the same time she was starring mostly in horror pictures and in medieval erotic comedies...

The Great Treasure Hunt (1972)
And finally a movie where she plays a really big and good part. She really shines in this one and overshadows everyone in the cast. You really want more Rosalba as you watch it, and you get a lot. She's not nude in this, but that really doesn't matter. If you want her nude, watch Slaughter Hotel. Or rather Amuck instead.

In the West There Was a Man Named Invincible (1973)
A really lousy idea, letting one of the prettiest actresses play a widow with a moustache! A silly western comedy, too silly for me to try to watch it.

Charity and the Strange Smell of Money (1973)
I have even never heard of this comedy, so i don't have anything to write.

Blood River (1974)
And the last one... I still have to see this. It stars Fabio Testi and John Ireland, yet it can be really bad.

So altogether it's 17 westerns. I've seen 6. I believe the only bigger part of Rosalba's in a western is in Dynamite Jim and Blood River, otherwise she wouldn't be the reason to watch the movie. She did probably better in gialli, maybe worse in horrors - she had big parts, but the movies are all crappy.

Enzo G. Castellari and his movies

Enzo G. Castellari is one of my favourite Italian genre directors. His movies are always a promise of n action-packed ride, not mean spirited and often funny movies. He began in 1960's with westerns, made war movies, poliziotteschi, one giallo, adventure movies. He inspired Tarantino to make Inglourious Basterds and even appeared in the movie.

Some Dollars for Django (1966)
Although credited to Leon Klimowsky, Enzo was not only the assistant director, but he actually directed the movie himself. It's a mediocre Anthony Steffen vehicle, but it's not his worst. Nobody is called Django in the movie, of course.

Any Gun Can Play (1967)
A typical Castellarian spaghetti western riot with a lot of doublecrossing, doublecrossing of the doublecrossers and doublecrossing of the doublecrossers who doublecrossed other doublecrossers. George Hilton, Gilbert Roland and Edd Byrnes are the stars, but Hilton is the only one who leaves any impression - especially in the opening scene, where he kills Django, the Man with no Name and Colonel Mortimer from For a Few Dollars More!

Payment in Blood (1967)
Edd Byrnes meets Guy Madison this time, in a western that looks pretty similar to the previous one. I haven't seen it.

Johnny Hamlet (1968)
Shakespeare in the west! Visually great movie, but the plot goes downhill in parts that have nothing to do with the original play. Horst Frank is a great villain, Gilbert Roland is not a good sidekick.

I Came, I Saw, I Shot (1968)
Antonio "I am the greatest" Sabato, Frank Wolff and John Saxon are fighting for gold again, but this time it's more comedy. A comedy I haven't seen.

Kill them all and come back alone (1968)
Action, action, action! Seven prisoners on the way to steal gold from a confederate camp. Or something like that. The copy that is available today is really yellow.

Eagles over London (1969)
I haven't seen this war movie, but it has Evelyn Stewart and also Eduardo Fajardo as a Nazi!

Cold Eyes of Fear (1971)
Enzo's only giallo and by many viewers not a good one.

Tedeum (1972)
Another spaghetti western comedy, with an awful theme tune. Jack Palance is in it.

High Crime (1973)
Enzo goes to the crime movies, for the first time with his regular star Franco Nero. Not their best collaboration, but it's a beginning for something better, with great soundtrack by De Angelis brothers.

Street Law (1974)
I really liked this one the first time, I think I need to rewatch it. Franco Nero kicks ass and his chase with the Ford Mustang, where he's running in front of the car is priceless. The music is really good too - containing Dune Buggy from the Bud Spencer-Terence Hill movie!

Cry Onion (1975)
Either you hate or like this spaghetti western comedy. It's popularity in the Czech Republic is probably given by the fact it was one of the few SW¨s screened in the communist Czechoslovakia, and it has a really good dubbing that eliminated the nonsense like Nero's fake high voice or a talking horse. But wasn't this only in the English version? So which one will we choose? An onion or a pistol?

Keoma (1976)
The best movie by Castellari, starring Nero again. The music is a little bit hurting, but in the movie it makes a great atmosphere. One of the best spaghetti westerns.

The Big Racket (1976)
Another eurocrime, this time a team work against the omnipresent criminals. Nero is replaced by Fabio Testi here. A great hard rock OST by the De Angelis brothers again, making this their sixth collaboration with Castellari in a row.

Heroin Busters (1977)
Testi again in a movie that is almost like an antidrug study in the first half and a non-stop action ride in the second. Music by Goblin this time.

Inglorious Bastards (1977)
Castellari goes to the war again, with Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Raimund Harmstorf and a few others. Lots of cheap action, but sometimes really funny.

The Shark Hunter (1979)
Castellari returned to Nero and De Angelis brothers in a Jaws ripoff.

The House by the Edge of the Lake (1979)
One of the very few horror movies by Castellari. 

Day of the Cobra (1980)
Nero again as a cop, but in San Francisco. Co-starring Sybil Danning.

The Great White (1981)
Another Jaws ripoff! This time with James Franciscus (Cat O'Nine Tails) and Vic Morrow as Robert Shaw.

1990: Bronx Warriors (1982)
And Enzo goes more and more trashy. I haven't seen these movies. This is like an Escape from New York ripoff starring someone called Mark Gregory, Fred Williamson, Vic Morrow, Christopher Connelly (who was almost in all of these Italian 80's trashy movies) andGeorge Eastman (detto).

Escape from Bronx (1983)
And it has a second part! With Gregory there's Henry Silva or Antonio "I know I'm really great" Sabato.

Warriors of the Wasteland (1983)
Enzo has seen Mad Max 2 as well So he took Eastman and Williamson again and created some postnuke shit.

Tuareg (1984)
Another action movie taking place in Africa this time.

Lightblast (1986)
Erik Estrada as a cop in a crime-sci-fi movie! Ok...

Striker (1987)
Even Castellari made his own Rambo?

Hammerhead (1987)
And he worked with Daniel Greene of Hands of Steel too. A crime movie apparently.

Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989)
Cannon produced fantasy TV series directed by Castellari was stopped during filming. One year later Luigi Cozzi took the filmed scenes and edited them into a really, really crappy movie, but signed only by Castellari.

Jonathan of the Bears (1993)
Enzo returned to the spaghetti western in 1990's, again with Nero and John Saxon too. But this time he shot it in Russia... I'm not sure I really want to see this...

Caribbean Basterds (2010)
You ripped off the title of my movie, Quentin? I'll rip off yours! This looks like a real shit...

Keoma Rises (201?)
The long time prepared western, with Nero to star. Originally they intended to have also Tomas Milian, Gianni Garko, George Hilton, Fabio Testi and Bud Spencer in. Spencer and Milian died meanwhile. Would the movie be ever made? Do we want to see an attempt of another Keoma with 77 years old Nero by 80 years old Castellari? Would there really be the opening scene with Tarantino, Rodriguez and Roth? If it will be made, I'll be in the first row to see it. If not, I won't be sorry.