Uccidete Johnny Ringo (1966)

Director:

Gianfranco Baldanello

Writers:

Arpad DeRiso (screenplay)
Arpad DeRiso (story)

Release Date:

6 May 1966 (Italy)

Genre:

Western

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Brett Halsey	...	Johnny Ringo
Greta Polyn	...	Annie
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Sheriff Parker / Lee Mellin (as Lee Burton)
Nino Fuscagni	...	Ray Scott (as Ray Scott)
Angelo Dessy	...	Jackson (as James Harrison)
Barbara Loy	...	Christine Scott
Guglielmo Spoletini	...	José (as William Bogart)
Franco Gulà	...	Whiskey Pete (as Frank Gulas)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ugo Carboni
Franco Castellani
Federico Chentrens		(as Fred Schenntrenss)
Consalvo Dell'Arti
Agostino De Simone
Attilio Dottesio		(as William Burke)
Guy Galley
Gualtiero Isnenghi
Antonio Menna
Dick Randall
Faustone Signoretti		(as Fausto Signoretti)
Rod Smith
Amedeo Trilli		(as Mike Moore)

Also Known As:

Kill Johnny Ringo

Runtime:

Italy:95 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Norway:16 (1967)

Company:

La Cine Associati

Movie Connections:

Edited into Spaghetti Western Trailer Show (2007) (V)

Obscure western is watchable, but not life changing!

Texas Ranger Johnny Ringo (Brett Halsey) is sent to investigate and expose a counterfeiting ring in the town of Eagle Pass, following the theft of plates from the Federal Bank. The town is owned by Jackson (Dessy) who, along with his gang of hoods and other respected townsfolk, is responsible for this counterfeiting operation.

As well as owning the town, Jackson "owns" local performer Annie (Polyn), who has a secret relationship with one of the counterfeiters, Ray Scott (Fuscagni). Once Jackson becomes aware of this affair, he plans for Ray to be the man that swings on a noose for the crime. But Ray is also the key man in Ringo's investigation, and the link to identify the real culprits.

This is quite an obscure western that feels more American than European, although the soundtrack is clearly one of the Spaghetti Western genre (albeit, by no means with the class of Morricone). The cast play their roles quite competently, and in particular the relationship between Ray and both Annie (his lover) and his sister Christine (Loy) provides an effective and integral part of the story.

The film itself is fairly watchable, although letdown by some seriously bad editing (this may, of course, be restricted to the version I have seen). There are moments where I became quite hooked on the story, and throughout believed that some great excitement may be ahead. But in truth, it never really reached this pinnacle. In summary "Kill Johnny Ringo" is quite a passable way to spend a few hours, but is in no way going to mount a challenge for the best film you have seen (either ever, this year, or quite possibly this month!).