SHE DIED WITH HER BOOTS ON « Spectacular Optical. SHE DIED WITH HER BOOTS ON: THE WOMEN OF THE EURO- WESTERNKier- La Janisse————————–Please note in keeping with the terminology of the films, the word . But in this hyper- masculine genre, it was rare for women to function as anything beyond glittering accessories in an otherwise bleak terrain; compared to the sexual dismissiveness of the euro- western, the misogynistic spectacle of the giallo seems almost reverential. If she’s lucky, men might fight over her, giving her a catalystic role for the macho action that the western prefers. Barmaids, hostages and whores are the most common roles for women in the genre, and of the latter, the proverbial hooker- with- a- heart- of- gold (Claudia Cardinale’s Jill Mc. Bain in Once Upon a Time in the. Linda Veras in Sabata West, Lynne Frederick’s Bunny in Fulci’s Four of the Apocalypse, both inspired to some extent by Katy Jurado’s Helen Ramirez character in High Noon) and her opposite, the conniving gold- digger (Femi Benussi in Requiem for a Gringo, Linda Veras in Sabata, Nieves Navarro in the Ringo films) were coveted – if still questionable – roles for European B- movie actresses of the time. Claudia Cardinale in Once Upon a Time in the West (image from Kevin Grant’s book . In both films, the female leads prove to be stoic influences on the trajectories of their troubled gunfighters (Jean- Louis Trintignant and Robert Hossein, respectively); The Great Silence in particular sees Vonetta Mc. Gee hire the mute drifter Silence (Trintignant) to avenge her husband’s death and the two develop a tender romantic relationship (and an uncharacteristically interracial relationship at that) underscored by a strong mutual sense of integrity. Following a similar plotline, Cemetery Without Crosses (aka The Rope and the Colt, which is also the name of the Scott Walker- crooned theme song) sees Michele Mercier turn to an old family friend (Robert Hossein, who also directed) to avenge her husband’s death, knowing that he harbours a longtime love for her. Both of these films are among the most melancholic of the genre (due in part to their apocalyptically desolate settings), with their tentative romances doomed by the surrounding circumstances of death and revenge. Cemetery Without Crosses. But there are very few instances of a female equivalent to The Man with No Name – the squinting, morally- ambiguous but appealing anti- hero that lies at the centre of most eurowesterns. In the world of the frontier, it’s not uncommon for a woman to pick up a gun, but to be good at using it is another matter altogether. Below are some of the most memorable female characters I’ve encountered in the genre, but even they leave much to be desired as far as positive gender representation. Nicoletta Machiavelli in Navajo Joe. She never picks up a gun once in the film – this is a staged publicity still. Actress Nicoletta Machiavelli did her time in the euro- western with gusto, in addition to numerous roles in poliziotteschi (and even a turn for Zulawski in L’important c’est d’aimer in 1. After a breakout as the half- breed Indian servant girl who helps Burt Reynolds defeat a gang of racist marauders in Sergio Corbucci’s Navajo Joe (1. Gian Andrea Rocco’s Garter Colt (1. Her dialogue is limited in Navajo Joe, which is explained by an innate stoicism; her rebellion against the people who have spent years domesticating her is all in her eyes. But her third- billing (not to mention her stunning beauty) likely increased her marquee status, allowing for a rare star turn in a male- oriented genre with Garter Colt two years later (a project she initiated). That’s not to say that she isn’t presented as eye- candy and that the camera doesn’t linger on her ample bosom at every opportunity, but nothing can undermine her confidence and charisma here (although the circus- y score by Giovanni Fusco and Gianfranco Plenizio makes a valiant effort). Seen as “an homage to feminism”. She holds a neutral position in the revolution springing up around her, until she falls in love with Carlos, a French soldier who is disguised as a Mexican in order to infiltrate and halt a drug- smuggling trade. Of course, with Garter Colt. Garter Coltbeing our protagonist, she can’t just fall into his arms like a swooning maiden – her foreplay consists of shooting at him and seductively cheating at cards against him. When he is exposed as a Frenchman in disguise and captured by the Mexicans, it is Garter Colt who races to his rescue, in a fantastic sequence where her hair and clothes flow freely in the breeze behind her, perfectly framing the gun strapped to her thigh. Finally the two consummate their love in a surprisingly (and disappointingly) sexless scene, and Carlos tries to convince her to give up her roguish ways and settle down with him in a life of domestic tranquility. Edward Dmytryk; Born (1908-09-04) September 4, 1908 Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada: Died: July 1, 1999 (1999-07-01) (aged 90) Encino, Los Angeles, California, United States: Resting place: Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Edward Dmytryk devant la Commission des Activit. In this western adventure, Shalako (Sean Connery) leads a hunting expedition in the wilds of New Mexico. There they run across an Apache camp where the Countess Irina (Brigitte Bardot) is being held hostage. Luckily he’s killed soon after, allowing her to remain a hardened heroine. Unfortunately, as unshakable as Machiavelli is, her character is not fleshed out enough to be anything but a novelty act. The same can be said of Lola Falana’s role in Lola Colt (1. I had high hopes going into Sonny and Jed (1. Sergio Corbucci who gave us Navajo Joe (1. Django) and The Great Silence (1. Susan George. But assuming that her many annoying film roles were merely performed as they were meant to be based on their respective scripts, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, especially as she’s paired romantically here with the most hilarious over- actor of the Italian exploitation boom – Tomas Milian. Susan George in Sonny and Jed. George stars as Sonny, the granddaughter of the recently- departed grave- digger of a small western town. Seeing the limited fate of women in her world (marrying a rich slob or becoming a prostitute), Sonny wants desperately to be a boy, wearing her hair up in a hat and dressing in bulky men’s clothes that hide her girlish figure. Directed by: Edward Dmytryk: Produced by: Euan Lloyd: Written by: J.J. Griffith Hal Hopper: Starring: Sean Connery Brigitte Bardot Stephen Boyd Jack Hawkins Honor Blackman: Music by: Robert Farnon: Cinematography: Ted Moore. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. With Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame. A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. After a chance meeting with Jed Tregado (Milian) – a notorious Robin Hood- type who steals from rich white landowners to give back to the meek Mexican families that depend on him for protection – she decides that an outlaw’s life is the way to go if she expects any degree of freedom. But even when he realizes she’s a woman, Jed fails to look at her as anything other than a whiny, clumsy tagalong who – as an awkward virgin – isn’t even experienced enough to provide a handy sexual outlet for his brutish desires. She can’t fight, can’t shoot, and – as Jed eagerly points out – can’t even spit, and he is about to sell her to a whorehouse when she breaks down and confesses her love for him. This catches him off- guard, and he momentarily melts (“No one ever said that to me before”), and has a change of heart. After an impromptu wedding, the two hit the trails as a Bonnie and Clyde- type duo, robbing banks and holding up jewellery stores. But he still just looks upon her as an appendage that he can warm up next to at night, which becomes apparent when he spies a rich woman with big jugs and decides that she’s where it’s at, resulting in a sloppy romp in the hay. Sequences such as these and Jed’s routine vulgar verbal lashings at Sonny – which humiliate George’s character at every turn – are meant to be humourous, but are just one more example of how Susan George routinely plays the punching bag with the cutie- pie face. Recommended, no. Rosalba Neri in Johnny Yuma. Romolo Guerierri’s Johnny Yuma (1. Shalako (Alternativtitel: Man nennt mich Shalako; Originaltitel: Shalako) ist ein britisch-deutscher Western von Edward Dmytryk f Shalako is a 1968 British-German-Spanish western film. Directed by Edward Dmytryk from a novel by Louis L'Amour. Starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot. The following firearms can be seen in the film Shalako. Shalako est un western germano-britannique r Fernando Di Leo) takes the troubled hero of the TV western show The Rebel and transforms him spaghetti- style into a philandering anti- hero (played by Mark Damon) who is on his way to take over operations of his disabled uncle’s farm when he gets news that his uncle has been murdered. In an early role for screen siren Rosalba Neri, she plays Samantha Felton, the gold- digging widow who had her brother kill her husband and then framed her Mexican servant/lover for the crime, hoping to get her hands on her husband’s fortune. But when it is revealed that the estate has been left in full to his nephew Johnny Yuma, she calculates an elaborate plan to bump him off, roping in an ex- lover and expert gunfighter (Lawrence Dobkin, the narrating voice on TV’s Tales of the Naked City) to take care of business. She’s a double- crosser extraordinaire, and plays the various characters against each other so that she will be the last one standing with the piles of money her husband left behind. And she’s not against employing a weapon or two herself when the need arises, which gives the viewer ample fetishistic imagery of a sadistic villainess in action. While the manipulative woman is another of the genre’s stereotypes, Neri does it so capably that it does make her the center of the film, drawing attention away even from the eponymous protagonist. Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane in A Man Called Noon. Another publicity shot. Rosanna Schiaffino does not wear a wet shirt or a leggy skirt in this film. But even the image of Neri commanding Johnny Yuma’s corrupt plot can’t match what Patty Shepard does in less than ten minutes of screentime in Peter Collinson’s The Man Called Noon (1. Collinson’s previous foray into Italian culture came via his caper The Italian Job (1. Spain, Italy and the UK, with an American lead (Richard Crenna). With the help of cowboy J. B. Rimes (Stephen Boyd) he makes his way to the ranch of Fan Davidge (Rosanna Schiaffino of The Witch) who has been forced by Janish to turn her property into a hideout for his henchmen. But she’s far from a victim – she does what she has to do to survive, with no regret or self- pity. Not remembering his reputation for being merciless, Noon treats Fan with respect that gradually wins her affection. Patty Shepard as Peg. As Noon starts to get his memory back and realizes that he knows the location of a mountain of hidden gold, he starts to piece together the who- and- why of the attempts on his life. Im Kreuzfeuer (1. IMDb. Definitely a . Wonderful characterizations articulate the movie's powerful message about the dangers of racial and religious intolerance. It's difficult and almost unjust to single out any one, particular performance because there isn't a weak link in the entire company. But Robert Ryan as the hateful and violent white supremacist is truly spine chilling. Making this film in the 1. Now,all these years later, at a time when contemporary movies are dominated by a ridiculous over abundance of foul language, bare breasts, crummy acting and deafening soundtracks, it's refreshing to get back to the basics of quality film making with a viewing treat like.
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