Review of Cry, Onion

Cry, Onion (1975)
5/10
Goofy Spaghetti/Paella Western co-produced by Italy/Spain and shot in Almeria , as usual.
24 November 2015
Spoof and entertaining tongue-in-cheek spaghetti Western . Silly slapstick euro-western , Terence Hill-style . Funny but average film with action , struggles , and shootouts by expert Enzo G. Castell . This Spanish-Italian co-production deals with a likable countryside man (Franco Nero) called Onion Stark who arrives in a little town named ¨Paradise City¨ , where he attempts to start a new life . Stark buys a parcel of land from a family whose father (Antonio Pica) was recently killed . He assumes the land is worthless , attempting to grow an onion farm , he subsequently joins forces with a pair of orphan boys . After a while , Stark is chased by three bounty hunters (Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla , Massimo Vanni) going after him . Later on , Onion Stark to be aware that the parcel is actually worth a lot of money , he realizes what it has valuable petroleum . Meantime , a greedy landowner who has a strange mechanical hand , proprietary of a powerful oil company , called Petrus Lamb (Martin Balsam) , has robbed all the property around the town due to the vast oil reserves under the location . After that , Lamb and his band of fanatics hoodlums along with a corrupt sheriff (Leo Anchoriz) and deputies (Dan Van Husen) set out to take the precious lands from Stark and decided to steal lands at whatever cost . Onion is helped by a publishing editor called Pulitzer (Sterling Hayden) and his daughter (Emma Cohen) with whom falls in love . Finally , it revolves around the increasingly ridiculous tryings to take the lease out of Stark's possession . At the ending takes place an absurd duel between Onion and the nasty hoodlums .

This is a regular Faglioli-Spaghetti Western in Trinity and Bambino style and for that reason there is a cult to dirtiness with an appropriately goofy tone , customary issue in this sub-genre . It looks passable , have some pretty amusing characters , some bemusing pursuits in silent cinema style and a really catchy theme song . The movie made me laugh a few times , even though I insist that it has too much slapstick humor for its own good . The movie takes parts from Enzo Barboni movies such as ¨Trinity is my name¨ and ¨Trinity is still my name¨ . The film is plenty of action , fun , brawls , shootouts , surprise-filled entertainment , chases with cycle , motorcycles , pony , and including a horse with hat . The picture contains funny gun-play along with fist-fight very much in the Terence Hill/Bud Spencer territory . The violence isn't crude but suits the light-weight comedy fun and silly slapstick like the Trinity series . This film reaches its sidesplitting comedic highlights with a couple of wild anything-goes rough'n'tumble fist fight scenes . It certainly has an enthusiast cast , plenty of slapstick , some very impressive gymnastics , especially in the massive fight sequences . The movie was finely starred by habitual Spaghetti as Franco Nero . Here Franco steals the show with his gestures , faces and excesses , including some scenes eating onions ; furthermore , the silly final filled with modern motorcycles , cycles and embarrassing shoot'em up . The picture displays crazy characters with twists , thrills and being quite amusing . It does eventually outstay its welcome , and there are a surprising amount of fights and laughters . Moreover , the lively support cast play their broadly caricatured parts with tremendous lip-smacking enthusiasm . There appear usual secondaries as Italian players : Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla , Massimo Vanni , American players : Sterling Hayden , Martin Balsam , as Spanish actors : Leo Anchoriz , Daniel Martín , Antonio Pica , Charly Bravo , Mariano Vidal Molina , Manuel Zarzo , Xan Das Bolas , Jorge Rigaud .

A really catching and commercial score musical by Guido and Mauricio De Angelis who often work with Castellari . Atmospheric cinematography filmed by Alejandro Ulloa shot in Almeria , of course . Silly screenplay with ridiculous situations written by the usual Luciano Vincenzoni , Sergio Donati , both of them Sergio Leone' regulars and Miguel De Echarri , also producer . Enzo G Castell makes a nice camera work with usual zooms and clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , slow motion shootouts and bemusing scenes . Enzo relates the nutty story at a constant zippy pace and maintains an amiably silly tongue-in-cheek tone throughout . He made more Western as ¨ Johnny Hamlet¨ , ¨Kill them everybody and came back alone¨ , ¨Seven Winchester for a massacre¨, and in similar style ¨Tedeum¨ . His masterpiece is : ¨Keoma¨. Some of them are serious , others are goofy and plenty of slapstick and slapdash . This is a bewildering story , funny in lots of parts and it will appeal to Spaghetti Western fans . It's a mediocre film , but still better than a lot of the ulterior spaghetti western comedies to come .
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