When Enzo G. Castellari and Franco Nero made "Keoma" in 1976, the Spaghetti Western genre was already well passed its glory days, and yet it was a fantastic film; - perhaps one of the best in its kind. When Castellari and Nero got back together in 1995 for "Jonathan and the Bears", the Spaghetti Western genre was even completely extinct, and they still delivered a great film! Speaking of which, I remember seeing this film in my local video store in the 90s and it had the title "Keoma II". It's not a sequel, although there are quite a few similarities. The director and lead star, obviously, but both films also have a distinct and dedicated soundtrack, and they both revolve a lone warrior fighting against injustice.
As a cherubic blond boy, Jonathan witnesses the brutal execution of his parents. Alone in the woods, he befriends a bear cub and eventually finds a home in an Indian tribe. As an adult, he helps to protect the Indian village against the white men coming to drill for oil. Because the white man comes to kill. The white man ALWAYS comes to kill.
"Jonathan of the Bears" is a great and action-packed western, with the right balance of sentiment versus cruel violence. Franco Nero is a fabulous hero, but this story particularly features a long list of awesome villains! Of all the stone-cold and merciless scoundrels John Saxon depicted in his career, and they are plenty, his character here is definitely one of the evilest. He's also surrounded by unhinged henchmen (like a religious freak) and random psychopaths, like David Hess and Rodrigo Obregon.
The film is almost half a musical as well, with a lot of great anthems sung by an actual bard on the screen (Clive Riche), which is a very original aspect in "Jonathan of the Bears". Castellari also experiments with unique camera angles, the sequences with the bears are deeply impressive, and really a lot of people spectacularly fall dead in the mud. Awesome, awesome film...shamefully undervalued!
As a cherubic blond boy, Jonathan witnesses the brutal execution of his parents. Alone in the woods, he befriends a bear cub and eventually finds a home in an Indian tribe. As an adult, he helps to protect the Indian village against the white men coming to drill for oil. Because the white man comes to kill. The white man ALWAYS comes to kill.
"Jonathan of the Bears" is a great and action-packed western, with the right balance of sentiment versus cruel violence. Franco Nero is a fabulous hero, but this story particularly features a long list of awesome villains! Of all the stone-cold and merciless scoundrels John Saxon depicted in his career, and they are plenty, his character here is definitely one of the evilest. He's also surrounded by unhinged henchmen (like a religious freak) and random psychopaths, like David Hess and Rodrigo Obregon.
The film is almost half a musical as well, with a lot of great anthems sung by an actual bard on the screen (Clive Riche), which is a very original aspect in "Jonathan of the Bears". Castellari also experiments with unique camera angles, the sequences with the bears are deeply impressive, and really a lot of people spectacularly fall dead in the mud. Awesome, awesome film...shamefully undervalued!