Picking up where Arrow’s first box set left off, Blood Money: Four Western Classics Volume 2 sees four more Euro westerns arrive on Blu-ray.
Romolo Guerrieri’s $10,000 Blood Money (1967)
When it comes to bounty hunting, Django (Gianni Garko) isn’t in it to get criminals off the streets (or out of the desert, as it may be). He’s in it for the money – $10,000 to be exact, sometimes more, never less. When Django and Manuel (Claudio Camaso) first cross paths, Manuel is small change – hardly worth the effort of pursuing, which is why Django waits for the price to increase. When it inevitably does, though, Django learns the hard way that waiting may have been a mistake and that there are other things to life than money.
There’s nothing better in a western than when the antagonists have a begrudging respect for each other (think Raylan and Boyd on the TV show, Justified) and a big reason $10,000 Blood Money is the strongest film in this box set is because Django and Manuel are evenly matched. The relationship between Django and saloon owner, Mjanou (Loredana Nusciak) also adds personal stakes to the story. Technically their courtship happens too fast yet Garko and Nusciak really sell it and, because Mjanou wants to leave town on the next stage coach it puts a deadline on Django’s efforts to catch Manuel.
As the anti-hero, Garko is a very entertaining combination of cool when it comes to his job yet awkward when it comes to the ladies, and while Guerrieri and cinematographer, Federico Zanni, aren’t reinventing the wheel there are some nice visual flourishes in this movie, like when Garko goes after a guy named Scarface (Aldo Cecconi) and Guerrieri and Zanni turn his identity into a reveal. Not complicated stuff, but it’s those extra touches that make a movie special, like creating a familial connection between Manuel and his father, Stardust (Fernando Sanchez) by having them both wear gaudy gold necklaces.
Bonus Features:
Journalist and critic Fabio Melelli provides introductions on all four movies, and in this one he talks about how unusual it was to see the protagonist cry in a spaghetti western.
There’s also a new interview with producer Mino Loy where he’s very honest but repetitive about not being a fan of westerns, as well as a new interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi who clarifies that the main character wasn’t named Django in his screenplay and questions why Sauro Scavolini has a writing credit. Film historian Lee Broughton provides the commentary and draws parallels between 10,000 Blood Money and other spaghetti westerns
The only disappointment is a newly edited archival featurette combining clips of the director and Garko being interviewed. The subtitles stop at around the 8.5 minute point, so only fans who speak Italian will know what’s being said. This is the only featurette where that problem occurs.
Giovanni Fago’s Vengeance is Mine (1967)
Besides the director, $10,000 Blood Money and Vengeance is Mine share a lot of the same creative team, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, yet for some reason Vengeance is Mine doesn’t work half as well, despite the promising premise of two brothers on the opposite side of the law. Garko’s John Forest is a bounty hunter again but one who’s who spent ten years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. The real killer – Forest’s half-brother, Clint (Camaso) – has a bounty on his head but, in deference to their mother’s final wish, John wants to bring Clint in alive before the stagecoach robbers Clint double-crossed can find him first.
Neither brother is all that likeable and while the film makes a point of including flashbacks, there’s no real sense that they ever got along, which takes all the drama out of their conflict (it’s not like they were ever close). The film isn’t short of melodrama, though, or bad decisions (almost like a bad Poldark). John comes across as super mopy and his love interest, Annie (Claudie Lange), never stood a chance.
Bonus Features:
For his introduction, Melelli provides some background on Camaso, whose temper would eventually land him in prison.
There’s also a newly edited archival featurette of Garko and Gastaldi (in which Garko provides another perspective on Camaso’s death), a second interview with Loy, and a newly edited archival interview with composer Nora Orlandi whose scores for both $10,000 Blood Money and Vengeance Is Mine, are extremely memorable, especially in how they incorporate horror elements (like an organ for the opening of Vengeance is Mine). Finally there’s a commentary by critics Adrian J. Smith and David Flint who touch on the choice to set the film during the Civil War.
Giuliano Carnimeo’s Find a Place to Die (1968)
When her husband, Paul (Piero Lulli), gets trapped in a landslide, Lisa (Pascale Petit), enlists the help of some unsavory characters to save him. Are they really in it to help her, though, or because they realize the couple were onto finding some gold?
Find a Place to Die has so much going for it, especially in the group of actors assembled. They all have interesting faces and provide the perfect combination of personalities, from a crooked priest (Adolfo Lastretti) to a washed up cowboy (Jeffrey Hunter). The film is all action and shootouts, though, when it’s crying to be a character piece, and doesn’t make the most of its potential.
Bonus Features:
Melelli’s intro reveals that Find a Place to Die was a remake of an American western, Garden of Evil, starring Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark. He also brings up a controversy over who directed the film, with both of the film’s actresses stating in their autobiographies that producer Hugo Fregonese directed. Carnimeo admits no such thing, though, in a newly edited archival interview. There’s also an appreciation of the soundtrack and composer Gianni Ferrio by musician Lovely Jon, and a commentary by author Howard Hughes, who identifies some of the filming locations and points to two faults in the movie, one of which I agree with (the film could’ve used more extras) and one of which I’m not sure about (that the film could’ve used a bigger villain). Hughes also wrote the booklet that comes with this box set, which starts by considering the theme – blood money – and then zones in on each of the individual movies.
Cesare Canevari’s Matalo! (1970)
More an acid western on the lines of Zacariah than anything else, Matalo! begins with a hanging interrupted. Burt (Corrado Pani) – the guy who was supposed to get the noose – is saved at the last minute but then he knew he’d survive. He arranged the rescue himself.
Killing his rescuers afterwards comes as more of a surprise (to them at least) and seemingly signals that this is a film where rules are off the table, but sometimes rules are good and it’s not every film that can bounce back after giving it’s lead the heave-ho (Matalo! isn’t Psycho).
Claudia Gravy does her best to fill the charisma hole left when an important character is sidelined, but there’s only so much one person can do. The film doesn’t have much dialogue either (it’s almost a western ballet), so it needs actors who can shine without talking.
Bonus Features:
Critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson are on commentary duty and talk about how the film doesn’t shy away from masochism. They also argue for a recess on the term “spaghetti western.”
Melelli’s intro gets into how the same story was used for the film Kill the Wicked! (which got released first), while Lovely Jon provides another soundtrack appreciation (this time for composer Mario Migliardi). There’s also a new interview with filmmaker Davide Pulici on Canevari, who started out as an actor, before moving into producing and directing. Pulici got to know Canevari personally before he died.
Blood Money: Four Western Classics Volume 2 is available on Blu-ray now from Arrow Films and includes the English and the Italian language tracks for all four films.
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