Go For Broke - Tutto per Tutto Review
The first of two spaghetti westerns directed by Umberto Lenzi, the other one being Pistola per cento bare, Una. Both films were part of a deal: Lenzi had offered the producers the script of a war movie, but they only wanted to finance the affair if he promised to direct two westerns for them (*1). Tutto per Tutto (*2) is a small but entertaining western of the treasure hunt type.
Mark Damon is Johnny Sweet, a cardsharp of sorts who has a way with women, John Ireland is an ageing gunman knick-named The Owl because of his solitary lifestyle and his habit to spy upon things from a safe distance. The Owl's horse is stolen by Johnny - who's not always so sweet - but when Johnny is fleeced at the card table, the Owl - who saw it all - tells him that the lovely blonde saloon girl was in league with one of his opponents. The two become unlikely partners in a treasure hunt when rumors start spreading that an Indian called Copper Face knows about a whereabouts of a stash of gold worth $200,000, stolen from the bank of El Paso. They team up - and have to deal - with two Mexican low-lives and also have to fight off a gang of Mexican cutthroats, lead by the terror-inspiring bandit Carranza ...
People who know their Leone will enjoy the references to the Dollar Movies: the famous 'two types of people' dichotomy is nicely alluded to by one of the Mexicans and there's also a pocket watch that means a lot to both the main villain and one of the two partners. The two leads are great (Damon could be a nuisance but he was excellent in these type of roles) and the film offers a true plethora of familiar spaghetti western faces - Sancho! Fajardo! Torres! Baldassare! - and they're all ideally cast. Monica Randall ads a very welcome female touch as a señorita who is as seductive as she is duplicitous.
Both the opening and the finale are fairly light-hearted but the middle part is a bit darker, not only in a metaphorical sense, but also literally: it's largely set at night, the various rivals and competitors out to double-cross and eliminate each other in a shadow game that might be a bit hard to follow if you're watching a not-so-marvelous copy (and none of the copies available seem to be in a pristine state). The movie was obviously made on a shoestring, but a good choice of locations - well captured by the lens of Alejandro Ulloa - and some nice work by maestro Carlo Simi occasionally give it the flair and look of a big budget production. It also has a lovely score (by Marcello Giombini) and particularly nice credit sequence.
Notes:
- (1) Marco Giusti, Dizionario del western all'italiana
- (2) The film is known under a variety of titles in the English speaking world such as All Out, One for All and Go for Broke, all referring to the original Italian title; it's also known as Copper Face, even though the character isn't that important and is also killed halfway through
Dir: Umberto Lenzi - Cast: John Ireland (Owl), Mark Damon (Johnny Sweet), Fernando Sancho (Carranza), Mónica Randall (Maria), José Torres (Copper Face), Eduardo Fajardo, Armando Calvo, Raf Baldassarre, Calisto Calisti - Music: Marcello Giombini