Mannaja

Mannaja (Italy 1977 / Director: Sergio Martino)

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• Available BluRays
• Soundtrack
• Pictures
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• Film Review (Korano)
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• Runtime: 95 min
• Release Date: 13.8.1977
• Filming Locations: Rome

Also known as

A Man Called Blade (U.S.A.) | Mannaja - das Beil des Todes (Germany) | Der letzte der Bounty Killer (Germany) | Mannaja - L'homme à la hache (France) | El Valle De La Muerte (Spain) | Cego por vingança (Brasil)| Mannaja - mannen med köttyxan (Sweden) | Cego por vinganca (Brazil) | Manaja (Yugoslavian)

Cast and Crew

• Cast: Maurizio Merli ("Mannaja" / "Blade"), John Steiner (Theo Waller), Sonja Jeannine (Deborah McGowan), Donald O'Brien (Burt Craven), Salvatore Puntillo (Johnny Johnny), Antonio Casale [as Nino Casale](Dahlman, bandit chief), Enzo Fiermonte (Treasury agent), Rik Battaglia (Gerard Merton), Aldo Rendine (older stage passenger), Enzo Maggio (Shorty, old timer), Sergio Tardioli (bartender), Sophia Lombardo (Lucy Merton), Philippe Leroy (Edward M. McGowan), Martine Brochard (Angela)
• Also with: Nello Pazzafini (Waller henchman), Riccardo Petrazzi (Dahlman bandit), Claudio Ruffini (McGowan henchman), Arnaldo Dell'Acqua (Waller henchman), Domenico Cianfriglia (Waller henchman), Franco Ukmar (Waller henchman), Rinaldo Zamperla (Waller henchman), Virgilio Ponti (Waller henchman), Giancarlo Ukmar (Waller henchman), Bruno Di Luia (stage outrider), Lucia Righi (older woman stage passenger), Mimmo Maggio (poker room player), Giuseppe Cardone (suspicious poker player), Jose Yepes, Elio Angelucci (miner)

• Story: Sergio Martino
• Screenplay: Sergio Martino, Sauro Scavolini
• Cinematography: Federico Zanni (Eastmancolor - Cinemascope 2,35:1)
• Second Unit Director of Photography: Nino Celeste
• Music: Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
• Songs: "Wolf" + "Snake" sung by Dandylion
• Producer: Luciano Martino

Synopsis

Blade gets involved with an unscrupulous mine owner, his daughter and his henchman, a wanted outlaw, and a saloon girl in the town of Suttonville.

Comment

Despite coming along fairly late in the cycle, this spaghetti western is one of the genre's best. Maurizio Merli plays Blade, a bounty hunter who captures outlaw Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) by throwing his hatchet and chopping off Craven's hand. In the nearby town of Suttonstead, Blade wins a poker game against Waller (Caligula's John Steiner), and -- because he can't get a reward for Craven -- frees his captive. Later, Waller ambushes Blade in the wilderness, burying him up to his neck and sewing his eyelids open so his eyes will be burnt out by the sun. Craven discovers Blade and repays his freedom by saving the now-blinded gunman, who learns to shoot by sound rather than sight. Director Sergio Martino is best known for stylish thrillers and uses his considerable visual style to give this violent, grandiose film an almost mythical resonance. Fans of gritty realism in spaghetti westerns may not relate to Martino's flamboyant style, but most Euro-devotees will find it immensely appealing. Martine Brochard, Rik Battaglia, and Philippe Leroy co-star.

External Links

• Internet Movie Database
• Review at Fistful of Pasta
• Schnittbericht zwischen FSK 18 DVD - FSK 18 VPS auf Schnittberichte.com
• Schnittbericht zwischen FSK 18 VPS - FSK 18 DVD auf Schnittberichte.com
• Review by Shobary
• Review I by 800 SW (Spain)
• Review II by 800 SW (Spain
• Argentinian VHS @ RaroVHS
• Review at mondo esoterica
• Review at eccentric-cinema.com
• Review by Por um punhado de euros (Portuguese)