Reviewed by Steve Fenton
Lyrics
from the theme song “Maybe One, Maybe Nine,” composed by Luis Enríquez Bacalov
and sung by Fred Bongusto: “Maybe one /
Maybe two / Or Maybe three / Maybe four / Maybe five / Or maybe six / Maybe
seven / Maybe nine / He wants to kill a man…”
(Errr,
what happened to eight?!) This
miscounted if nonetheless effective theme song is used very frugally, heard
only partially during and then closing the film.
For
this 1967 Italian-Spanish coproduction, which was variously announced in the
trades under such Anglo shooting titles as THE
DAY AFTER TOMORROW and the catchier and more quintessentially
“spaghetti”-sounding COFFINS FOR NINE,
I’ll begin with a bit of synoptical detail (WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!):- Mr.
Jefferson, an aging banker (José Bodalo, best-known within the spagwest genre
as lusty revolutionary bandido
“General” Hugo in Sergio Corbucci’s DJANGO
[1966]), cooperates in the robbery of his own bank in Canyon City, treacherously
breaking his prior deal with bandit chief José Espartero (José Manuel Martín).
A wary bank clerk, Bill Ross, grabs a rifle and tries to thwart the masked
“Mexican” bandits, but Jefferson takes the gun and shoots his own employee in
the back, whereupon the bandits - really rogue cattlemen in disguise - are
forced to eliminate all other witnesses. For welching on his part of the deal,
Jefferson is subsequently injured by a knife-throwing bandit, and the supposed
Mexicans are revealed to in actuality be gringos
in disguise working for Jefferson. Enter lightning-swift gunslinger Stan Ross
(Richard Harrison), who arrives in town to avenge his brother Bill and at the
same time find out who is to blame for the bank robbery, which has since been
pinned on Espartero. Stan and the fiery bandit leader forge a pact to recover
the stolen gold. Discovering that Jefferson and his right-hand man are jointly
responsible for both brother Bill’s murder and masterminding the robbery, Stan
comes for them. Ambush and counter-attack lead to the razing of Espartero’s
camp. Stan is made prisoner and beaten, but feigns death and escapes to plot
revenge. One after the other, Stan kills off Jefferson’s nine accomplices then
at last faces Jefferson with a single bullet and suffers a knife in his back
from the head villain’s wounded yesman, Glen. Jefferson takes the gun and is
about to kill Stan, who reaches behind him, pulls the knife from his shoulder
and hurls it into the evil banker’s heart.
ONE
AFTER THE OTHER ranks as one
of director Nick Nostro’s finest western forays (he was credited as “Nick
Howard” for the gig, and also directed the first of only two entries in the
short-lived Superargo franchise, for
which seasoned, super-ripped spaghetti stuntman “Ken Wood”/Giovanni Cianfriglia
was briefly elevated to leading man status as the masked and spandex-clad title
superhero). Harrison plays a more offbeat role here than he was usually
offered, as the well-dressed, smooth-cheeked, bespectacled gunman you better
not call “Four-Eyes”. When Sal Borgese lookalike Paolo Gozlino as Bodalo’s
fawning flunky is foolish enough to confiscate our hero’s rectangular
wire-frame specs, Harrison produces a new pair from a reserve supply stashed
inside his coat and proves that an optical handicap don’t detract none from a
man’s shootin’. When Gozlino later removes Harrison’s glasses for a second
time, he is careful to grind them under his boot (which still doesn’t prevent
Harrison from tossing a lighted cigar stump right on the money to ignite a
handy barrel of gunpowder). This ‘short-sighted deadeye’ concept is a
refreshing change of pace, and might be considered more feasible than a completely
sightless shootist (as in Ferdinando Baldi’s BLINDMAN [1971]). This provides food for
thought regarding Clint’s famous squint. (Could it be he simply needed a good
pair of bifocals...?) And speaking of needing an appointment with the
optometrist, following the opening robbery a dozen or more gunmen at close
range somehow manage not to even graze - let alone actually kill! - a single
fleeing bandit.
Rather
than a liability (as in “Anthony Green”/Mario Sabatini’s execrable THE
SHERIFF OF ROCKSPRINGS [1971] and “Hal
Brady”/Emilio P. Miraglia’s almost-as-bad-but-not-quite SHOOT JOE, AND SHOOT
AGAIN [1972]), Harrison’s minimalist acting style here actually complements
his Stan Ross character, whose stilted air invests him with an enigmatic
quality, as well as giving him a tougher exterior. When shot, he graphically
operates on himself, using his Bowie knife as a scalpel, then biting the head
off a bullet and cauterizing the wound with gunpowder. A standard ‘macho’
detail of many a western - spaghetti or otherwise - this self-surgery scene,
shot largely in scarlet closeup, would almost certainly have been cut from
English-language prints if they exist (the print reviewed here was the ’80s
Japanese home videotape version; which as I recall [?] came English-dubbed,
with native subs). Other moments of violence, including a pleading woman shot
dead at point-blank range, might likewise have been censorable. Most lurid
scene comes when a trussed-up man is blasted to pieces by dynamite. An old
undertaker wearing a crucifix then appears from out of nowhere. Disgruntled at
what little of him is left to bury, he picks up and examines the man’s
blown-off lower legs (complete with partial pants and boots!), then tosses them
aside in disgust! This scene - played for grim humor - once again reiterates
how in the Spaghetti Western cosmos, life isn’t just cheap, it’s pretty much worthless other than as a commodity to
be exploited for capital gain (by both a movie’s protagonists and its
producers!).
As
the pulchritudinous Sabine, true to her cheesecake roots Pamela Tudor (née Green, the famous English glamour
model sometimes referred to as “The British Betty Page”) does a sudsy bath
scene and tantalizes Harrison with her soap-streaked limbs (she also appeared
in Riccardo Freda’s just so-so DEATH AT OWELL ROCK [1967], among
others). All niggly nitpicking aside, the present film is a very decent,
well-made western. The conclusion in the wind-swept town amid airborne strands
of hay is reminiscent of that to Romolo Guerrieri née Romolo Girolami’s slick Gianni Garko faux Django vehicle 10,000
DOLLARS BLOOD MONEY, by way of the one-bullet-in-the-gun idea from Alfonso
Balcázar’s lesser-known but solid THREE GUN SHOWDOWN (1968), co-starring
the formidable triple threat of George Martin, Gilbert Roland and Jack Elam.
Notes: Quite inexplicably, one quick selection is
heard here from Benedetto Ghiglia’s score for “Vance Lewis”/Luigi Vanzi’s A
STRANGER IN TOWN (1966), starring Tony Anthony. Although ONE AFTER THE OTHER’s early German
shooting title - 9 Sarge für MacGregor / “9 Coffins for the MacGregors” -
name-dropped “Frank G. Field”/Franco Giraldi’s SEVEN GUNS FOR THE MacGREGORS
(1966), the finished film was actually released in Germany as still another
faux “Django” entry. Attesting to the once-worldwide popularity of spaghetti
westerns, it was also released in Japan, and even Thailand. A French
photo-comics adaptation, entitled “Adiós caballero,” ran
in Ciné-Périodiques of Paris’ Star-Ciné
Bravoure magazine (circa the early-’70s).
DVD
addendum: In April of 2004, this was released in Japan as a Region 2 DVD
courtesy of SPO Entertainment as part as their “Macaroni Western Bible” series
dedicated to Italian westerns. It was in
English with removable Japanese subtitles, and although presented in its
original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the transfer was not enhanced for 16x9
televisions. It is now out of print.
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