Testa t'ammazzo, croce... sei morto... Mi chiamano Alleluja (1971)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Giuliano Carnimeo

Writer:

Tito Carpi (writer)

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Western

Tagline:

BLAZING ACTION! Enough Laughs To Knock You Out of Your Saddle!

Plot Keywords:

Spaghetti Western

Cast

George Hilton	...	Allelujah
Charles Southwood	...	Alexi
Agata Flori	...	Sister Anna Lee
Roberto Camardiel	...	Gen. Emiliano Ramirez
Federico Boido	...	Duke Slocum (as Rick Boyd)
Paolo Gozlino	...	Fortune
Andrea Bosic	...	Mr. Krantz
Aldo Barberito	...	The priest
Franco Pesce	...	Ebeneezer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ugo Adinolfi	...	Pablito
Fortunato Arena	...	Sheriff
John Bartha	...	Dead body in cupboard
Aldo Berti
Lino Coletta
Rocco Lerro	...	Blond, long-haired Krantz' henchman
Paolo Magalotti	...	Krantz' henchman
Furio Meniconi	...	Glock
Luciano Rossi	...	Blond, deliriously laughing bounder, wanting to ravish Sister Anna
Claudio Ruffini	...	Krantz' henchman #2
Gaetano Scala
Linda Sini	...	Gertrude
Goffredo Unger	...	Slim

Also Known As:

A Fistful of Lead
Deep West (USA)
Guns for Dollars
Heads I Kill You, Tails You're Dead! They Call Me Hallalujah (Europe: English title) (dubbed version)
Heads You Die... Tails I Kill You
They Call Me Hallelujah

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-15 (2007) (TV rating) | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Company:

Colosseo Artistica

Trivia:

Import DVD has a Super-8 Version, as a special feature on the disc.

"If a Yankee and a Russkie played hound dog together, they would have the world up a tree"

This is a splendid comic adventure; it is also a 1971 spaghetti western that coming at the tail end of an era was not much seen.

While the cast is uniformly good, it is the script that excels. Tino Carpi's writing provides good lines for almost everybody, whether it is the lead HALLELUJAH, his aristocratic rival in arms ALEXEI, or the two parties, trying to cheat them, the Mexican bandit revolutionary RAMIREZ or the American spy disguised as a nun (AGATA FLORI); even the ruthless arms dealer KRANTZ who engineer the theft of the jewels that everyone chases after a motley crew that becomes recognizable, because they are given not only names but personalities (eg. Cookie and his comments about outlaws, going back to Utah; Fortune, and so forth).

Uruguay born GEORGE HILTON comes across as a blend of TERENCE HILL; JAMES COBURN, especially when he wears motorcycle goggles in an early sequence, and even HUMPHREY BOGART! The actor credited as CHARLES SOUTHWOOD is an engaging fellow, especially when he does his Cossack schtik.

The music by STELVIO CIPRIANI is almost non-stop and adds to the atmosphere.

This is a film that will remind you of many other spaghetti westerns, even if those were made later than this: I was reminded of the SABATA films; the TRINITY films especially the second that deals with rogue monks and their monastery; other Mexican revolutionary films all the way back to VIVA ZAPATA; VERA CRUZ (Emperor Maximilian again) and COMPANEROS/MERCENARY, plus the two Leone westerns DUCK YOU SUCKER and then MY NAME IS NOBODY with the shaving sequence. And those are some that come off the top of my head.

I watched the video distributed by ACADEMY and could almost believe it was STEREO HIFI as cited on their box, but for the fact that no one was doing that back in 1971. In fact I watched this full frame video on a widescreen TV, in the widescreen mode, and was quite satisfied with the picture quality, confirming the original photography was excellent to begin with.

It remains a western that should be seen, therefore be made more available; how nice it would be to see the film on DVD letter boxed, even if it were only in mono!