Review of Cjamango

Cjamango (1967)
5/10
Passable Spaghetti Western plenty of violence , crossfire and high body-count
3 November 2016
¨Ravioli¨ Western with two top-of -the-range ¨Maccaroni¨ players as Ivan Rassimov and Mickey Hargitay , as well as two illustrious secondaries : Livio Lorenzon , Piero Lulli . Italian production filled with action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . A good example of Latino western genre from Italy . For money, for pleasure , for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . Cjamango has won a bag of gold in a poker game , then he is shot by some hoodlums . Later on , Cjamango (Ivan Rassimov) becomes attached to a Mexican boy called Manuel (Coplan) , and to a gorgeous woman , Perla (an extremely wonderful Helena Chanel) . Cjamango is on the trail of some renegade outlaws who attempted to rape Perla and to retrieve his stolen gold . As he heals from the wounds caused by the assault when there shows up a suspicious stranger (Mickey Hargitay married to Jane Mansfield) whose purports are unclear . He learns the men who committed the theft , as two powerful as well as cruel bandits named Don Pablo (Livio Lorenzon) and Tiger (Piero Lulli) . Cjamango then heads for vendetta , as he goes out to catch his money , battling murderous and executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the robbing and killing .

This meaty Western contains an interesting but well known plot , violence , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , drama with exciting final . Ordinary Spaghetti Western follows the Sergio Leone wake and it is proceeded in violent style with some looks that say it all . The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Ivan Rassimov against the heartless Livio Lorenzon , Piero Lulli and his underlings . Ivan Rassimov is fine thanks to his strong , piercing eyes and striking look ; he ravages the screen , hits and runs and kills . This movie is a lot of fun to watch . It's an acceptable story with a touch of peculiarity , some particular characters, and an amazing music score . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stands out is its style . This is an exciting film, full of action , thrills , fights , gun-down and rocky outdoors from Lacio , Rome , and interiors in Cinecitta Studios . In the picture appears Spaghetti/Peplum habitual secondaries playing brief interventions such as Federico Boido as Rick Boyd , Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia and Pedro Sanchez or Ignacio Spalla playing similar roles to Fernando Sancho .

The notorious Spaghetti actor , Ivan Rassimov , is good in his usual tough role . The pic is well starred by Rassimov who began acting in a series of small roles , one of them being from the legendary director Mario Bava in the the cult Sci-Fi "Planet of the Vampires", later moving onto the Western genre , where he found his niche , such as : ¨The Southern Avenger" , "Don't Wait, Django... Shoot!" and this ¨Cjmango¨ in which imitates Clint Eastwood including when he wears a poncho . Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood , however , Ivan never became a top international box-office attraction . His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include well liked features as ¨Colt 38¨, ¨Inhibition¨ , "Atlantis Interceptors" , "The Devil Obsession" , "Assault with a Deadly Weapon" and he even played a psychiatrist in Mario Bava's last theatrical movie, ¨Shock¨ (1977). He was most often seen as a male stalwart of the Italian cannibal films in acting alongside Me Me Lai in three of them, most notably being ¨Jungle Holocaust¨ (1977), "Eaten Alive!" and Man from deep river¨ .

There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final gunfights and the customary showdown conclusion . The movie gets the usual Western issues, such as avenger antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies, soundtrack with Morricone influence , among them . The sense of pacing is such that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Acceptable production design creating an atmospheric scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty and rocky landscapes under a shinning sun and fine sets . Great musical score by Di Stefano , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif . This motion picture was professionally directed by Edoardo Mulargia though with no originality and it has some flaws and gaps . Edoardo Mulargia directed a lot of Spaghetti as ¨W Djianjo¨, ¨El Puro¨ , ¨Django Spara¨ Cjamngo¨ , ¨Shango¨ , ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨, most part starred by Ivan Rassimov , Robert Woods or Anthony Steffen . Rating : 5.5/10. Acceptable and passable Western that will appeal to Spaghetti fans .
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