A Pistol for Ringo Review

1965

Dir: Duccio Tessari

Cast: Giuliano Gemma, Fernando Sancho, Lorella de Luca, George Martin, Nieves Navarro, Antonio Casas, José Manuel Martin, Pajarito

Music: Ennio Morricone

In the first scene two people approach each other in the main street of a western town. Normally this means trouble, but A Pistol for Ringo is set in Christmas time, so in this case Christmas greetings are exchanged. The film even has a symbolic scene with Ringo waking up on Christmas Morning in a stable, but we're still in a spaghetti western, so this Christmas won't be a peaceful one. A gang of Mexicans have crossed the border and robbed the bank. While they try to get away, their leader, Sancho (played by Fernando), is hurt, and in an attempt to shake off their persecutors, they take refuge in a nearby ranch and take the occupants hostage. Sancho threatens to kill two hostages a day until he and his men are allowed to leave. The sheriff is reluctant to take action because his fiancée is among the hostages. The only one who can possibly help him, is the famous gunslinger Ringo, who shot four men out of self-defense but was arrested nevertheless and is now spending his Christmas in jail. The sheriff promises to set Ringo free if he is willing to infiltrate the gang and find a way out of the status quo ...

A Pistol for Ringo was one of the most successful films of the early stream of spaghetti westerns. Ringo is still, like No Name, a passer-by, a person who accidently gets involved in the drama, and not yet an avenger like Django, who comes to a place to get even with a murderous scoundrel. This is no surprise, since director Tessari was one of the co-authors of Leone's first western, A Fistful of dollars. But Ringo is not a No Name clone. Just look at the way the character is introduced: he's playing with a group of children while he is addressed by four guys. Before we know what is going on, he shoots all four of them. The wonderful scene says: I'm a cheerful fellow, but don't mess with me! From the beginning, A Pistol for Ringo was meant to be a lighter, less cynical version of the western Italian style, with Giuliano Gemma playing a character who is, so to speak, No Name’s more fashionable brother: he’s lethal, but also clean-shaven and cheerful, and instead of a poncho, he wears a suit (modeled after the clothes Gary Cooper was wearing in High Noon). His knickname would foever be Angel Face;

Tessari tells his story very effectively, with acute dialogue (you'll learn what made equally born men different) and interesting plot twists. The film even has a endearing and tragic love affair between a female member of the gang (the gorgeous Nieves Navarro), and the much older aristocratic ranch owner (Casas). Only the ending is a bit silly, with Gemma using a bell to deviate his bullet in order to shoot Sancho, who would otherwise be out of reach. Many critics thought Tessari's film was closer to Hollywood than Cinecittà , and indeed a Hollywood movie (albeit not a western) served as inspiration for the script: William Wyler's Desperate Hours (1955), a gangster movie with Humphrey Bogart, about three convicts terrorizing a family in an American suburb. The name Ringo, is of course of Hollywood origin too: both John Wayne (in Stagecoach) and Gregory Peck (in The Gunfighter) played a character with this name. Some have linked the name to the song Ringo, sung by Lorne 'Bonanza' Greene, that was translated in Italian for Adriano Celentano (one of the country's most popular artists) and a hit in Italy in both versions (1). Apparently Tessari had already proposed the name Ringo to Leone for A Fistful of Dollars, but Leone had rejected it, allegedly because he had read about the historical Johnny Ringo, a member of the Clanton gang (2).

The success of A Pistol for Ringo made a star out of former Italian stuntman Giuliano Gemma, and told the industry that a successful western could be made without importing an expensive American actor (Eastwood worked for little money on his first film, but soon learned how to squeeze Italian producers). It was a breakthrough movie for both Sancho (who had previously appeared in Corbucci's Minnesota Clay) and Navarro, resulting in a series of invitations for spaghetti westerns. Tessari had wanted Fernando Rey for the part of the old aristocrat, but when Rey turned out to be engaged, the Spanish co-producers pushed forward the name of Antonio Casas, a former soccer player for Atletico Madrid (and a notorious ladies' man). A Pistol for Ringo is not too violent, but the body count is pretty high and there’s at least one outrageous scene with Sancho executing Mexican peons, that would inspire Sergio Corbucci to a similar (if more sadistic) scene in Django. The film’s success led to a sequel, Return of Ringo, made by the same director and starring the same group of actors, but telling a quite different story (Italian sequels often are no sequels at all). The Spanish locations don’t look very American (never knew there were so many windmills in Texas) but they work in the film’s advantage; the lush photography is breathtaking and both the indoor and outdoor scenes are shot inventively. Tessari's use of the widescreen is impressive, but this means the film suffers severely when it's not shown in the right aspect ratio, like on most VHS tapes and some early DVD releases. Morricone's score is, needless to say, very fine. Maurizio Graf sings the title song (lyrics by Gino Paoli) Ringo had an Angel Face, but whenever Ringo loved, Ringo fought. However, some of the lyrics, seem more appropriate for the film's sequel Return of Ringo : and the woman who's waiting for his return. There's no woman waiting for Ringo to return in this one.

Note:

(1) For Lorne Greene's 'Ringo', see : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JscZUB9N3cQ

--By Scherpschutter