Four of the Apocalypse (1975) I quattro dell'apocalisse (original title)

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Ennio De Concini
Bret Harte (story)

Release Date:

12 August 1975 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Plot:

Four petty criminals, three men and a woman, wander through the trackless terrain of the Wild West Utah and are hounded by a sadistic bandit.

Plot Keywords:

Gambler | Revenge | Prostitute | Dying In Childbirth | Shot In The Chest

Cast

Fabio Testi	...	Stubby Preston
Lynne Frederick	...	Emanuelle 'Bunny' O'Neill
Michael J. Pollard	...	Clem
Harry Baird	...	Bud
Adolfo Lastretti	...	Rev. Sullivan
Bruno Corazzari	...	Lemmy
Giorgio Trestini	...	Saul
Donald O'Brien	...	Sheriff of Salt Flat
Tomas Milian	...	Chaco
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Borromel	...	Montana - Altaville Townsman (uncredited)
Edward Mannix	...	Narrator (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Salvatore Puntillo	...	Recovering Man (uncredited)
Lorenzo Robledo	...	Sheriff Being Tortured (uncredited)
Claudio Ruffini	...	First Shot Gunman (uncredited)
Goffredo Unger	...	Betting Man (uncredited)

Directed by
Lucio Fulci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ennio De Concini
Bret Harte		story (as Francis Brett Harte)

Produced by
Edmondo Amati	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Franco Bixio
Fabio Frizzi
Vince Tempera

Cinematography by
Sergio Salvati

Film Editing by
Ornella Micheli

Production Design by
Giovanni Natalucci

Costume Design by
Massimo Lentini

Makeup Department
Feliziano Ciraci	....	assistant makeup artist
Massimo De Rossi	....	makeup supervisor
Maggi	....	wig maker
Agnese Panarotto	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Ennio Di Meo	....	unit manager
Piero Donati	....	production manager
Roberto Sbarigia	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Claudio Bondi	....	assistant director
Joe Pollini	....	assistant director (as Giuseppe Pollini)

Art Department
Luigi Quintili	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Marco Donati	....	boom operator
Mario Ottavi	....	sound recordist

Stunts
Goffredo Unger	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Emilio Bestetti	....	assistant camera
Maurizio Lucchini	....	assistant camera
Leo Massa	....	still photographer: action stills
Enrico Sasso	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Bruno Micheli	....	assistant editor
Kathleen Stratton	....	assistant editor (as Rossana Landi)

Music Department
Massimo De Luca	....	musician: guitar
Ryan Di Lello	....	musician: harmonica
Michele Seffer	....	musician: bass
Vince Tempera	....	musician: keyboard

Other crew
Verena Baldeo	....	location manager
Roberto Giandalia	....	script supervisor
Julio Parra	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Coralta Cinematografica

Distributors

• AT International (????) (Japan) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)

Also Known As:

"I quattro dell'apocalisse" - Italy (original title)
"The Four of the Apocalypse..." - USA (DVD title)

Runtime:

Italy:104 min (uncut version) | USA:87 min | France:80 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technospes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | France:-12 | Finland:K-18 | Singapore:M18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:16 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Austria

Company:

Coralta Cinematografica

Goofs:

Continuity: While wandering through the cemetery, Bud reads a tombstone aloud: "Mary Donahue, died in childbirth, February 1884." However, the tombstone he is looking at clearly reads "Mrs. J. Camarray".

Quotes:

Chaco:Chaco is the name my friend, and I would be very happy to join your group.
Stubby Preston:Nobody invited you.
Chaco:But I did. I'm a damn good hunter you know. Wherever you go you'll have a piece of meat every day.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Oh, that was bitter.

Four lowly criminals that meet in jail; card shark Stubby, pregnant prostitute Bunny, a drunk Clem and the loony Bud manage to escape a vigilante slaughter of the town they were in and end up on a rugged journey in the open frontier. They soon encounter the Chaco, but after helping them out. He soon turns on them, with his sadistic habits coming through and they find themselves at the other end of it. After raping Bunny, Stubby's increasing feelings for her, makes him vow vengeance on Chaco.

Apocalyptic to-right! This cruel, sparse and bleakly nightmarish spaghetti western from Italian maestro Lucio Fulci is one uncompromising trek, where four unique individuals end up guiding us. The episodic screenplay pulls you along for one emotionally domineering and pain-filled excursion into the souls of four (very ordinary) characters longing to make something important from their lives, especially after what they've been through… together. This destiny-bound aspect and redemption angle takes over the odd story, where these rag-tag characters are flung around in manipulative sense and realistically drawn up with rich, quirky and sullen details. It tries to be a passionate and diverse character story, and this makes it one interesting and downright original crack at the flooded sub-genre. I see mentioned a bit, Why's apocalypse in the title? I see this as a reference towards the characters' and their final outcomes. Hope just seems to fade off their faces, after one degrading, macabre and tragic situation after another in a reprehensibly desolate land that can easily break you and take away the things you hold close. Everything that was significant is stripped away, which leaves only one thing on mind for one character… revenge. Tomas Milan's scummy character is the main tool of that torturous downfall.

Fulci is one never to shy away from something in your face, and this one has no boundaries to its depressing nature, relentless violence and unsparingly gritty landscape. His patiently accomplished and pastel direction can feel plodded, but he gracefully lenses it with gusto and the up-close and personal framing illustrates many moody sequences. He knows how to depict haunting images, rough landscape and brutal carnage to fit right in with the film's material and destination. Despite a pretty bumpy rhythm, Fulci keeps it tight and ominous for most part. The opening scenes set the appropriate tone of what's to come and even a slight sense of surrealism. It's technically, a good job. The open and breezy ballad folk soundtrack is a complete delight and gels into the presentation nicely. Performances from the main four are sensitively brought across with a compelling rapport. Fabio Testi's strong performance all round carriers the film. Lynne Frederick is beautifully touching. Michael J. Pollard's screwy town drunk amuses and Harry Baird is fine as the loony black slave. Competing with Testi's performance has got to be the memorably brooding performance of Tomas Milan. He chews up the scenery in what few sequences he does get, as the pitilessly striking bandit Chaco.

The sub-genre was coming to an end, and while Fulci's effort was very late to the fodder. He manages to craft Gothic-laced spaghetti western that has heart within its narrative and guts found in the visuals.