Keoma

Keoma (Italy 1976, Director: Enzo G. Castellari)

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• Runtime: 101 min
• Release Date: 25.11.1976

Also known as

Django’s Great Return (U.S.A.) | Desperado (U.S.A.) | Keoma the Avenger (U.S.A.) | Keoma - Melodie des Sterbens (Germany) | Coolman Keoma (Germany) | Keoma - Ein Mann wie ein Tornado (Germany) | Keoma - Das Lied des Todes (Germany) | Mon nom est Keoma (France) | Keoma il vendicatore (Italy) | Med Satan i Halarna (Sweden) | Keoma – han kom för att hämnas (Sweden) | Caramba (Finland) | Caramba – paholainen kannoilla (Finland) | Django Rides Again | The Violent Breed

Cast and Crew

• Cast: Franco Nero (Keoma), Woody Strode (George), William Berger (William Shannon), Donald O'Brien (Caldwell), Olga Karlatos (Lisa), Orso Maria Guerrini (Butch Shannon), Gabriella Giacobbe (Witch), Antonio Marsina (Lenny Shannon), Gianni Loffredo (as John Loffredo)(Sam Shannon), Leon Lenor (doctor), Joshua Sinclair, Leonardo Scavino, Wolfango Soldati (soldier), Massimo Vanni (soldier), Victoria Zinny (brothel owner), Alfio Caltabiano, Giovanni Cianfriglia (as Ken Wood)(Shannon henchman), Domenico Cianfriglia (Shannon henchman), Roberto Dell'Acqua (Shannon henchman), Angelo Ragusa (Shannon henchman), Riccardo Pizzuti (gunmnan), Pierangelo Civera (plague victim)

• Story Luigi Montefiore
• Screenplay: Mino Roli, Nico Ducci, Luigi Montefiori, Enzo Girolami
• Cinematography: Aiace Parolin [Eastmancolor, Cinemascope 2,35:1]
• Music: Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
• Songs: “Keoma” sung by Susan Duncan Smith & Cesare De Natale (as Sybil & Guy), “In Front of My Desperation” sung by Cesare De Natale (as Guy)
• Producer: Manolo Bolognini

Synopsis

Franco Nero plays Keoma, a half-Indian, who returns home from the Civil War. He discovers that the town nearby is plague ridden and unscrupulous Donald O'Brian types are using this as an excuse to keep the town under their tyranical control. Keoma rescues a pregnant woman from being sent to the camp with all the plague victims, which makes him somewhat unpopular with the town's more evil elements. In addition, he comes into conflict with his brothers who are siding with the aforementioned evil elements.

Comment

Alternating between dullness and brilliance, between monstrously kitsch and deeper allegorical meaning, Keoma was the last hurrah of the SW at a point when the genre was already dead. With its twilight images and its apocalyptical themes, Keoma became the eponym of these so called twilight SWs (not to be confused with the American twilight westerns about the dying of the west), which marked the last desperate attempts to make a last serious SW when the rule of the day was the parody and the comedy. But even the success of Keoma couldn't retrieve the interest of the audience for more than this particular film. In parts fascinating, Keoma was the most ambitious and also the best of Castellari's SWs, which garnered a cult following up to today.

by Stanton

External Links

• Internet Movie Database
• Shobary Review
• Movie Review (Dutch)
• Review by 800 SW (Spain)