La strada per Forte Alamo (1964)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Livia Contardi (writer)
Lorenzo Gicca Palli (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

10 July 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A lone rider comes across a dying soldier, the victim of an Indian attack, who gives him a paper authorizing the payment of $150,000 to the U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Native American Attack

Cast

Ken Clark	...	Bud Massedy / Lt. John Smith
Jany Clair	...	Janet
Michel Lemoine	...	Carson
Adreina Paul	...	Mrs. Collins
Alberto Cevenini	...	Slim / Sgt. Jim Kincaid (as Kirk Bert)
Antonio Gradoli	...	Capt. Hull
Gustavo De Nardo	...	Sgt. Warwick (as Dean Ardow)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gérard Herter	...	Mr. Silver (uncredited)
Claudio Ruffini	...	Sandy-haired gambler (uncredited)
Pietro Tordi	...	Bartender (uncredited)

Directed by
Mario Bava		(as John M. Old)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Livia Contardi		writer (as Jane Brisbane)
Lorenzo Gicca Palli		screenplay (as Vincent Thomas)
Lorenzo Gicca Palli		story (as Vincent Thomas)
Franco Prosperi		writer (as Charles Price)

Original Music by
Piero Umiliani

Cinematography by
Ubaldo Terzano		(as Bud Third)
Mario Bava		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Mario Serandrei		(as Wilson Dexter)

Art Direction by
Demofilo Fidani		(as Demos Philos)

Costume Design by
Mila Vitelli Valenza		(as Mila Vance)

Makeup Department
Marisa Laganga	....	hair stylist (as Mary Gang)
Emilio Trani	....	makeup artist (as Leo Travers)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Franco Prosperi	....	assistant director (as Charles Price)

Sound Department
Antonio Bramonti	....	sound
Corrado Volpicelli	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Claudio Ragona	....	camera operator (as Claud Raguse)

Other crew
Priscilla Contardi	....	script supervisor (as Priscilla Cooper)

Production Companies

• Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)
• Piazzi
• Protor Film S.r.l.

Distributors

• World Entertainment Corp. (1965) (USA) (dubbed)

Also Known As:

Arizona Bill (France)
The Road to Fort Alamo (USA)

Runtime:

90 min | France:88 min | USA:82 min | West Germany:78 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

USA:Unrated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)

Quotes:

[surrounded by Ozark Indians]
Bud Massedy: We've no hope at all.

La Strada per mal melodrama

I've only seen each of the 3 Bava spaghetti westerns once (neither among his best work or his preferred genre), but I disagree with many people who considered Nebraska Jim to be a better film. Strictly from an entertainment sense, Arizone Bill (La Strada per Fort Alamo) held my interest noticeably better (though admittedly the copy of Nebraska Jim that I saw had severely distraction issues with audio). While Nebraska Jim seemed like a mostly cookie cutter extended western TV show episode you'd expect to see on American TV, Arizona Bill was more like a 2nd rate Good Bad and Ugly wannabe with its stolen civil war funds plot line and a group of criminals that ranges from a couple of more 'decent' people who are criminals to outright despicable violent ones. It was just slightly different enough to make it more interesting to me and it felt more like a Bava film. Maybe if I rewatch these films a few more times I'll notice things I've overlooked which will explain others' preferences, but I'm a bit skeptical that that will happen.

It's not the greatest or most original film, but it kept me entertained and my biggest complaint is with regards to the 'romantic' subplot and its cheesy accompanying music (at least on the copy I saw, I'm not sure if it was or wasn't the original music used). Bava isn't always at his best when trying to provide romance/love interests to his films. Black Sunday (La Maschera del demonio) is IMHO the quintessential Italian Gothic horror film and a favorite of mine, but even his admirers have to admit that in that great film, the 'undying love' of the young Dr. Gorobec for Katia -- whom he has just met one day previous -- is a bit silly and one-dimensional and at times almost laughably overly melodramatic. I took off one point for the botched romance portions of Arizona Bill, though I did like it overall more than Nebraska which ended up with the same 5/10 score from me.

The copy of the film I saw was an English language widescreen version from an old somewhat glitchy videotape source with a runtime closer to the USA or German cuts. I'm not sure what was excised from the original 90 minute cut listed on IMDb and maybe when TL's big Bava book comes out it will tell us what is or isn't missing from the cut I saw, but I hope one of the cult DVD companies (like Image, Anchor Bay or Blue Underground) pick up both this title and "Nebraska Jim" sometime in the near future to provide Bava's fans with a good legitimate uncut DVD release with the best transfer possible considering whatever film elements exist. I'm sure the underrated director's fans would welcome quality releases of all his films, even the lesser known and hard to find ones where Mario took over directorial duties from a previous director leaving a project.