This should get more, but I can't go past 5/10. The basic structure of the movie is 'inspired' by more famous classics, notably Sergio Leone's 1.ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (remember how Charles Bronson's character is gradually introduced via short flashbacks, so in the end we learn he's come to exact revenge on Henry Fonda's character who had once killed his brother ).
2. PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIU' (Lee Van Cleef's character hunts down Gian Maria Volontè's character...only in the end we learn he seeks revenge because his sister had been raped and murdered ). Remember how the link is a carillion watch the bad guy amuses himself with, which in the end we learn belonged to the departed sister?
3. The mass rape as punishment for adultery also came in REVENGE with Anthony Quinn (and the old nobleman/husband IS portrayed as another "Tiburon" ).
This movie basically mixes'n'matches the above plots...we get a necklace instead of a carillion watch, the flashback device and all the rest to a T with the notable exception of the medieval angle.
Movies like French SECRET DEFENSE do a better job at being more cryptic. This one here aims higher than its class should allow. Historical reconstruction is good, scenes are also good, but the whole lacks something important...maybe because Leone's masterpieces sprung to my attention immediately.
Of course you also get bits&pieces of NAME OF THE ROSE (=the enigma of the words on the corpses ) , MASK OF RED DEATH etc etc...again...give you the feeling of having seen all devices in an overall better product.
The storyline is at times inconsequential...instead of feeling guilty for the punishment -however excessive- of a crime, people could have easily killed the 'mesmerizing stranger without a name'...but I realize that we'd have a ten minutes movie, then.
Maybe the botched state of the movie explains why it was released 3 years after being produced, as some say.
Won't watch it twice.
2. PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIU' (Lee Van Cleef's character hunts down Gian Maria Volontè's character...only in the end we learn he seeks revenge because his sister had been raped and murdered ). Remember how the link is a carillion watch the bad guy amuses himself with, which in the end we learn belonged to the departed sister?
3. The mass rape as punishment for adultery also came in REVENGE with Anthony Quinn (and the old nobleman/husband IS portrayed as another "Tiburon" ).
This movie basically mixes'n'matches the above plots...we get a necklace instead of a carillion watch, the flashback device and all the rest to a T with the notable exception of the medieval angle.
Movies like French SECRET DEFENSE do a better job at being more cryptic. This one here aims higher than its class should allow. Historical reconstruction is good, scenes are also good, but the whole lacks something important...maybe because Leone's masterpieces sprung to my attention immediately.
Of course you also get bits&pieces of NAME OF THE ROSE (=the enigma of the words on the corpses ) , MASK OF RED DEATH etc etc...again...give you the feeling of having seen all devices in an overall better product.
The storyline is at times inconsequential...instead of feeling guilty for the punishment -however excessive- of a crime, people could have easily killed the 'mesmerizing stranger without a name'...but I realize that we'd have a ten minutes movie, then.
Maybe the botched state of the movie explains why it was released 3 years after being produced, as some say.
Won't watch it twice.