FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO (1969)
aka Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria
aka The Gunman of Ave Maria
Label: Carambola/DiabolikDVD
Region Code: Region-Free:
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 83 Minutes 24 Seconds
Audio: English or Italian PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Ferdinando Baldi
Cast: Leonard Mann, Luciana Paluzzi, Peter Martell, Alberto de Mendoza, Pilar Velázquez, Piero Lulli, José Suárez, Luciano Rossi
Spaghetti western Forgotten Pistolero (1975), aka Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria, is directed by Ferdinando Baldi (Get Mean, Comin' At Ya!), and is a Italian western adaptation of the Greek myth of Orestes. The film opens with wounded stranger Rafael (Peter Martell, The Bloody Judge), having been pursued and ambushed by armed men, arriving at the home of Sebastian (Leonard Mann, Night School), who treats his wounds and feeds him, Rafael reveals that his arrival is no accident, that he was his childhood friends, and that the woman who raised Sebastian until her death was in fact not his actual mother, His real mother is Anna Carrasco (Luciana Paluzzi, 99 Women), a woman who betrayed Sebastian's father, Mexican general Juan Carrasco (José Suárez, A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die), who was murdered her and her lover Thomas (Alberto de Mendoza, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh), massacring the general, his men, and many innocents, including Rafael's mother, to take over the hacienda. Sebastian has no memory of this other than some brief flashes, it having been erased by the trauma of his past. Rafae also reveals that Sebastian's sister Isabella (Pilar Velázquez, Naked Girl Murdered in the Park) is the love of his life, but that she was forced to marry kindly Juanito (Luciano Rossi, Death Smiles on a Murderer) to keep them separated.
After dredging up Sebastian's forgotten past the gunslinging duo to set out on a road to revenge Sebastian's father, and to rescue Isabella, leading to a bloody and fiery finale at the Carrasco hacienda, with even more family secrets revealed!
This is a terrific spaghetti western, you need to know the Greek myth of Orestes to "get it", offering a sweaty and dirty tale of family secrets, betrayal and revenge. The cast is pretty terrific, particularly Peter Martell as Rafael and Paluzzi as the treacherous Anna, both sizzle in the roles. Pilar Velázquez as Isabella is also terrific, a stunning beauty who also is aware of her mother's treachery, stirring up turmoil and the hacienda that creates a fracture in her mother's relationship with the murderous Thomas. I thought Mann is a bit sedate in the role, and considering he's one of the main leads, well, it does diminish it somewhat. I also though that de Mendoza's turn as the murderous lover was a bit subpar, but credit where credit is do, the film still works like gangbusters with some terrific action sequences and quickfire gunslinging, and it carries plenty of emotional impact, its exceedingly well made and quite an entertaining flick.
Audio/Video: The flick gets a 2-disc set from Carambola via DiabolikDVD in 1080p HD framed n 1.85:1 widescreen, both the English-dub version, with optional English subtitles, and the Italian version, with burned-in English subtitles, are presented on separate Blu-ray discs. The image looks terrific, the sweaty western has excellent colors that are well-saturated, the sweaty, dust-covered visuals shone in HD, plenty of texture and detail to the image, black levels look solid and skin tones look accurate. Audio comes by wat of English or Italian PCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, both tracks are clean and well balanced, the dubbed dialogue and canned sounds of gunshots come through clean and precise, and the score by Roberto Pregadio (SS Experiment Camp) with a title track with a wonderful Morricone-esque whitling theme sounds terrific.
The sole extras is a 35-min Leonard Mann Interview conducted by tough guy expert Mike Malloy, the director of the 2012 doc Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s. Mann discusses his career in Italian cinema making westerns, gialli and euro-crime flicks, memories of the shoot and his co-stars and his life after his acting career fizzled.
The two disc Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a flipper tray housing the discs, with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the illustrated movie poster.
Special Features:
Disc 1
- Feature in English with Optional English Subtitles
Disc 2
- Feature in Italian with Non-Removable English Subtitles
- Leonard Mann Interview conducted by tough guy expert Mike Malloy
Buy it!
#ad
