Ringo and His Golden Pistol (1966)

Beautiful, moving film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"Grand Canyon Massacre" director Sergio Corbucci made his fourth western "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" (1968) after "Django" (1966) but before "Navajo Joe" (1966), and this represents Mark Damon's first Spaghetti western. Half-American, half-Mexican, the eponymous character is a black-clad bounty hunter with a black mustache who prefers to be paid only in gold. Gold means everything to Ringo who is as fast on the draw and as accurate as a frog catching flies with its tongue. Damon looks rather villainous in his solid black outfit, and he dresses more conventionally like a 1950s' Hollywood gunslinger. Unfortunately, "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" doesn't rank as one of Corbucci's better westerns, and Damon lacks the charisma that Giuliano Gemma radiated in the first Ringo western, director Duccio Tessari's "A Pistol for Ringo" (1965) as well as in Tessari's follow-up "The Return of Ringo." "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" pales Corbucci's other westerns. Ringo (Mark Damon of "Johnny Yuma") wipes out three of the Perez Brothers after they force a defenseless woman to marry into their family. The last remaining Perez brother, Juanito (Franco De Rosa of "Ballad of Death Valley"), wants to wreck revenge on Ringo for the deaths of his brothers. Juanito doesn't wield either a rifle or a six-gun, but he expects his armed henchmen to be crack shots. Juanito aligns himself with a renegade Apache chieftain, Sebastian (Giovanni Cianfriglia of "The Relentless Four"), and they decide to decimate the frontier town of Coldstone. Town marshal Bill Norton (Ettore Manni) isn't amused by their threats. Norton arrests our hero when he defends himself from an ambush within the city limits and relies on a bomb to blow his adversaries into little, bitty pieces. Sheriff Norton rules Coldstone with an iron fist and puts citizens in jail if they refuse to abide by his rules. Meantime, Sebastian and Juanito decide to join ranks and kill as many of the frontiersman as they can. Juanito gives Norton an ultimatum. He must hand Ringo over to him or he will wipe out the town. Predictably, Norton doesn't give up Ringo. The rest of the townspeople leave Coldstone before Juanito and his Apache allies attack. While Ringo sits in jail, Norton and his wife along with another freed prisoner decimate the aggressive Indians. Unfortunately, Norton does something truly inept. He sends his son off on horseback to ride to the nearest cavalry fort and bring back enough guns to run the villains off. Our heroes need not have done anything based on their collective marksmanship. Of course, Norton's son doesn't get far before the Apache seize him. Eventually, Norton comes to his senses and gives Ringo his golden pistol, and our hero polishes off Juanito when he uses Norton's young son as a shield."Ringo and His Golden Pistol" refers to the gold-plated revolver that our hero wears tied down to his thigh. Clocking in at 88 minutes, this Spaghetti western isn't as bloodthirsty as "A Fistful of Dollars."

Corbucci's fourth Spaghetti Western is likable enough, but it's still a long way from the baroque style of his subsequent example in the genre - DJANGO (1966) - much less the ultra-bleak outlook of his masterpiece, THE GREAT SILENCE (1968). Besides, star Mark Damon - made up here to look like the long-lost brother of Bob Dylan's Alias character in Sam Peckinpah's PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973)! - lacks the screen presence of Franco Nero, let alone the intelligence of Jean-Louis Trintignant! He still has fond memories of the film, however, since he mentioned it during the Italian B-movie retrospective at the 2004 Venice Film Festival (which my brother and I attended)!Apart from presenting an unusual - and perhaps unlikely - alliance against the cowboys by Mexicans and Indians, the film has a healthy sense of humor: after he's insulted in a bar, Damon orders the protracted preparation of a concoction made up of some ungodly ingredients - only to then throw it in the face of his opponent!; later, facing up to three bad men without his coveted golden pistol, he blows them all away by unceremoniously throwing a bomb in their midst!; sheriff Ettore Manni's jail has a frequent customer (to the point where he has come to consider it his home!) in a pint-sized old man - told by the former that he can't stay any longer, the latter commits "wilful damage to public property" by breaking the jail's windows as soon as he exits and, turning himself in immediately, he is thus able to keep his place in jail! The film manages to end with a bang: Damon blowing up the main street of the town (it seems that's all we ever get to see from it in any Western!) - followed by a memorable showdown (involving Damon's gold-plated paraphernalia). Carlo Savina's title tune is catchy, too: the film was originally called JOHNNY ORO and, therefore, has no relation to the two earlier "Ringo" titles made by director Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma!

Just when we thought cowboy movies had gone belly up, along came this operatic horse opera with a black outfit hero with a droopy mustache and a gilded side arm who goes about offing the clean cut family for the price on their heads - well they were murdering bandidos but still!All the energy and flamboyance that the plodding dollars films lacked and concepts that belonged in Italianate literature. Mark Damon stopping off between Roger Corman and being a corporate heavy was something new in movie heroes and, after blowing up the town, there he was facing an adversary who tells him "Smile at me Ringo, for I am death." How long had this been going on?

Johnny is pretty materialistic. Without a piece of gold he won't move a limb. Early in the story he could have killed bad guy Perez - but without the dime no kill. Story develops into a lonely-sheriff-versus-the-bandits one where the sheriff demonstrates his iron will to maintain law and order. Added to this familiar plot there is the element of temptation: if the town dwellers deliver Johnny to the outlaws the town would be saved. Unfortunately this sideline isn't well developed. In the end we get a good portion of action with explosions etc. Score, cinematography(too many studio shots) and acting are adequate. Was made in the same year as DJANGO with very different maverick heroes.5 / 10.