The Four of the Apocalypse... (1975)

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.

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (adapted for the screen by), Bret Harte (stories) (as Francis Brett Harte, Brett Harte)

Stars:

Fabio Testi, Lynne Frederick, Michael J. Pollard

Cast

Cast overview:
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

Storyline

Follows the adventures and travels of four petty criminals in 1873 Utah whom include gambler and swindler Stubby Preston, pregnant prostitute Bunny O'Neal, drunkard Clem, and a mental disturbed man, named Bud, who's obsessed with the dead. The quartet travel aimlessly through the Utah Badlands looking for food, water and people to swindle, while they are harassed by a villanous Mexican bandit, named Chaco, whom Stubby vows revenge after the bandito sexually assaults Bunny.

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Plot Keywords:

topless female nudity | pregnant prostitute | revenge | gambler | prostitute | 

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

12 August 1975 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Four of the Apocalypse

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Coralta Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technospes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tomas Milian patterned his portrayal of Chaco on Charles Manson.

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Goofs

The opening narration states that the story is set in 1873. However, when Bud is wandering through the cemetery, reading tombstones aloud, he says, "Mary Donahue, died in childbirth, February 1884."

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Frizzi & Fulci (2016)

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Soundtracks

Let Us Pray
Music by Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, & Vince Tempera
Words by Rink Greenfield & Peter Cook
Sung by Greenfield & Cook and Benjamin Franklin Group

User Reviews

Visceral and Symbolic

Although by standard genre conventions, I Quattro dell'apocalisse (Four of the Apocalypse) is definitely a (spaghetti) western, in many ways it is just as terrifying as any of director Lucio Fulci's more famous horror flicks.

The story centers on four people who end up together by happenstance--they are all jailed in a small Utah town. After most of the town is massacred, the four are set free and try to make their way together to a city 200 miles distant. Although adapted from two Bret Harte stories, "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat", Fulci and screenwriter Ennio De Concini amped up the violence, added a character, Chaco (Tomas Milian) probably influenced by Charles Manson (and prescient of Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow portrayal in a way that must be more than happenstance), and embedded the Biblical "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" connection.

In the Bible, the four horsemen represent the destructive phenomena of pestilence, famine, war and death. Here, there's more of a "seven deadly sins" flavor, as the four main characters represent greed/gambling, prostitution, alcoholism and insanity. Adding Chaco to the mix flips traditional morality on its head, as the four protagonists must bond as they try to help each other survive.

The penultimate act is subtly mystical--it's almost as if the remaining protagonists have been temporarily transported to heaven, although the greatest tragedy occurs in this setting, too. Fulci slyly transforms the environment during this section, a change that actually begins to occur during the previous act, with a heavily symbolic downpour.