Dead Aim (1975)
"Arde baby, arde" (original title)

A traveling gravedigger during an (unspecified) war adopts a orphan he finds alone in the desert. After the war with the orphan grown and business slow, the orphan begins to generate ... See full summary »

Director:

José Bolaños

Writers:

José Bolaños, Pedro F. Miret,

Stars:

Glen Lee, Venetia Vianello, James Westerfield

Cast

Cast overview:
Glen Lee	...	Johnny
Venetia Vianello	...	Kelly
James Westerfield	...	John Applebee
Virgil Frye	...	Poggin
Evaristo Márquez	...	Lucius
Sonny Vandeusen	...	Sonny (as Granville van Deusen)
Barbara Angely	...	Sara
Carlos East	...	Deek
Jorge Russek	...	District Commisioner (as George Russek)
Tony Monaco	...	Prison Wagon Driver
Billy Joe Rouck	...	Prisoner (as Billy Joe Roucke)
Eduardo Bonada	...	Townsman

Storyline

A traveling gravedigger during an (unspecified) war adopts a orphan he finds alone in the desert. After the war with the orphan grown and business slow, the orphan begins to generate business himself by shooting people. The orphan wants to make one big score by robbing a bank but the gravedigger resists. Their dream is to open a fancy funeral parlor and cemetery. The orphan becomes obsessed with a prostitute he saw who was later abandoned by her outlaw partner after a robbery attempt on a gold wagon goes bad. He eventually leaves the gravedigger to find her.

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Plot Keywords:

outlaw | desert | cowboy hat | blood | undertaker | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Thriller | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Mexico

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 1975 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Lucky Johnny: Born in America

Filming Locations:

Cañon de Viesca, Coahuíla, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Producciones Jaguar S.A. de C.V.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final film of James Westerfield.

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Goofs

The man whom finds the baby almost bite by a rattler, says he has to give his mom a proper burial since she's dead, but when it cuts to him burying her with a shovel, you can clearly see she's still breathing, as the actress' breath is raising the sand up and down with her chest.

User Reviews

cool movie -pointless but interesting

This is the first spaghetti western that I have seen that does not have an Italian director. It is actually an Italian/Mexican co-production, and I am assuming that the director is Mexican or Spanish by his last name. I'm guessing that being partly Italian, and having a decidedly Euro-western flavor makes this a spaghetti western.

The movie has a couple of slightly macabre touches. The main character is the adopted son of an undertaker and even bears a coincidental resemblance to the wrestler called "The Undertaker." At one point he starts picking fights to give himself an excuse to shoot people. He does this to drum up business. There's another part where he and the old man find a mountain of dead bodies. The elder undertaker calls them "beautiful" and says "we've found gold." Pretty cool stuff.

The biggest problem with this movie is that the plot (actually I should say plots, because there are several) meanders off into so many directions that there ends up being no point at all to the film. It's part Burke and Hare, part haunting love story, part revenge tale, part racial struggle, etcetera. But if you don't think about it too much, it's really quite enjoyable to watch. It's actually very beautiful and stylish in parts.

I think the music score could have been better. Some parts of the score were good, and I really liked the rattler sound during the gunfights just before the shooting, but some of the music sounded too much like something you would hear in the background of a 1970's TV show.

Overall, I found it very interesting, but it's definitely not for everyone.