Happy Cinco de Mayo!
A different kind of Spaghetti Western based on Japanese blind swordsmen movies and filled with nudity and violence.
Im not the biggest western movie fan, but I do like spaghetti.
In 1964, Sergio Leone left behind the historical epics he had been making to go west.
Baldi didnt make traditional films in the genre.
Ringo gives a good gun slinging performance.
Stelvio Cipriani provides the Spaghetti Western soundscape with a minimum of cheese.
They were stolen from him by an outlaw gang.
The Blindman is a western anti-hero.
Hes not saving the women for their sake.
He has a contract and wont get paid until he delivers.
To have no eyes is to be half a man.
To have no eyes and no money, thats a bitch.
Blindman follows the gangs hijinks and learns that they are going to sell the women to the Mexican army.
All but the young Pilar, who was picked out for his own by the pig, Candy.
The sightless cowpoke announces his arrival in town by ringing the church bells with gunshots.
He shotguns Candys crew and heads to the town that the outlaws have taken over.
Damn, thats a delicate thing.
All you have to do is breathe on it.
Even though Domingo doesnt speak with an accent, he has clipped English.
His sister is mistress of the house.
She keeps the accounts, shes an expert, shes learning from the priest.
Magda Konopka, who plays Sweet Mama, came from Polish nobility.
Her father had many horses.
She had done the youth serum horror flickSatanikin 1968.
Agneta Eckemyr plays Pilar, the bride that Candy snags as his woman.
Baldi gives the film some low-budget epic moments, the crowd scenes are magnificently down-to-earth and dynamite explodes often.
They dont kill the General, though, because a general is worth 2 million pesos.
A sum they could have spent filling some holes in the action.
Blindmanhas more nudity than most westerns of the time and liberally doles out violence.
Candy devises a pretty cool torture.
If you dont tell me where she is Ill break every bone in your body.
The women are scattered, shattered, shot and raped by Domingos returning posse.
Domingo insists his brother is alive.
That he is a healthy man, who loves to dance, loves his women and loves his drink.
Ultimately, the Mexican Federales take it all, as was a subgenre cliche.
Blindmanis a departure in the Spaghetti Western genre.
Its plotting and pacing is relaxed and improvisational.
European filmmakers are more comfortable in the surrealistic revising of the western film canon than directors from the states.
This isnt the west of John Ford.
It is raw as a saddle sore and loose as a holster.
AndGoogle+, if thats your thing!
Rating:
2.5 out of 5
