A PISTOL FOR RINGO/THE RETURN OF RINGO: A DOUBLE HELPING OF SPAGHETTI

 With the success of Sergio Leone’s A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS it seemed like the genre of spaghetti westerns was looking at huge success at the box office. Named so because they were produced by Italian companies featuring mostly Italian directors and stars, the movies made a splash and resulted in several becoming film classics in their own right.

Leone’s Man With No Name films were the most well know and popular but there were several other series to arrive as well. The Sabata films featured actors more familiar to American audiences in the lead role. The Django movies had a main character that began with one actor and later included several others in the lead. And then there were the Ringo movies.

Created by director and producer Duccio Tessari (who had helped write A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS), he had decided he could make one just as easily on his own. Thus the character was created and the film made. It was successful enough to garner a sequel. There were other movies released with the character’s name as well but the two found on this release from Arrow Video are the only official movies in the series.

A PISTOL FOR RINGO finds the character of Angel Face aka Ringo (Montgomery Wood aka Giuliano Gemma), in jail for shooting four men in self-defense. An easy going sort he takes things in stride and presents a slick character who can find his way out of any difficulty. When a group of bandits from across the border in Mexico come across the river and rob the bank, he negotiates with the sheriff his release and a portion of the money in return for bringing it all back and saving the Clyde family, both Major Clyde and his daughter, Ruby, the fiancé of the sheriff.

To do so he inserts himself into the middle of the robbers holed up in the Clyde ranch. Playing one side against the other Ringo makes sure that no matter what happens he’ll come out on top. Along the way he’s prone to some humorous moments, a trademark of the series that made it differ from others in the genre.

THE RETURN OF RINGO has nothing to do with the first film save for the title and most of the same cast. This time around Captain Montgomery Wood aka Ringo, returns home from the Civil War to a town that looks nothing like before he left. Gold was discovered nearby and a group of Mexican thugs took over the town inserting a weak willed sheriff and gunning down anyone who stands against them in the middle of the street.

Of particular interest to Ringo is the fate of Hally, the wife he left behind to go to war. In order to survive she’s allowed herself to be wooed by one of the two brothers, Paco. As Ringo plans to kill the man he sees her step down from a carriage that was carrying Paco as well as a blonde haired little girl, Ringo’s daughter.

With a motive to save the town and rescue his wife from this man he begins looking for a way to circumvent the bad guys and motivate the town to help. Some of these attempts result in more damage to himself than rescue, like a knife shoved through his gun hand, but he persists in making the attempt. Will he be able to roust the locals and take on the bad guys? Or is Hally and his daughter set to be the wife and child of Paco?

In both films Tessari takes the subject matter seriously enough but gives it a slight twist by adding that touch of humor in the characters and situations. A side character in each is played for full on comic relief by actor Manuel Muniz. In the first he’s a telegraph operator apparently running messages to the sheriff, the second a florist, both of which are good friends with Ringo. These moments lighten the mood of the film and make the character one that viewers come to love and laugh with.

The movies are shot well and the acting very good from all involved. If there is any shortcoming in the films it’s the fact that they feel too clean. By that I mean that the streets of the western town, the clothing that people wear and the inside of homes are all too spotless while the streets are dirt strewn without a sidewalk in sight. But that’s a minor thing to worry about when the action and all involved is entertaining in both films.

Arrow Video has done their usual bang up job here. If you’re tiring of hearing me say that get over it because I’ve yet to see them do a bad job. Both are offered here in 2k restorations from the original negatives. The options of dubbing or subtitles are available on both films. Extras include audio commentary tracks for both by Spaghetti western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke, THEY CALL HIM RINGO an archival featurette starring Gemma, A WESTERN GREEK TRAGEDY an archival featurette with actress and Tessari spouse Lorella de Luca and camera operator Sergio D’Offizi, the original trailers for the films, a gallery of original promotional images and a reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx.

Arrow Video has been releasing a number of what are considered classic examples of the spaghetti western and it’s incredibly enjoyable to be able to finally see these rather than just think the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone films were the only movies in the genre worth noting. One can only hope that they continue to offer more of these films along with the number of Italian Giallo films they’ve done such a marvelous job with. If they do so then film fans will reward them with numerous purchases and high praise.

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