Get Mean (1975)

A wisecracking gunfighter is seemingly hurled through time and space as he escorts a Spanish Princess back to her homeland while contending with barbarians, Moors, evil spirits, a raging bull, and a maniacal Shakespeare-quoting hunchback.

Director:

Ferdinando Baldi

Writers:

Wolfe Lowenthal (screenplay), Lloyd Battista (screenplay)

Stars:

Tony Anthony, Lloyd Battista, Raf Baldassarre

Cast

Cast overview:
Tony Anthony	...	The Stranger
Lloyd Battista	...	Sombra
Raf Baldassarre	...	Diego
David Dreyer	...	Alfonso
Diana Lorys	...	Princess Elizabeth Maria de Burgos (as Diana Loris)
Mirta Miller	...	Morelia

Storyline

When an American cowboy stumbles upon a gypsy family in a wind-swept ghost town, they offer him a fortune to escort a princess back to her home in Spain. But this silent Stranger finds himself in over his head (and strung up by his feet) when he gets caught in the middle of an epic battle involving Vikings, the Moors, brutal barbarians, evil spirits, a raging bull, and a diabolical Shakespeare-quoting hunchback. Tired of their never-ending attempts to kill him, the cowboy arms himself to the teeth with guns, dynamite and a special surprise. Now it's the Stranger's turn to GET MEAN!

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Plot Keywords:

cannon | rescue | quoting shakespeare's richard iii | skeleton | shot to death | 

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Taglines:

The Stranger's thrilling final adventure!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Western

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

May 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beat a Dead Horse

Filming Locations:

Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Strange Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tony Anthony's then-girlfriend, Diane Dobronte, filmed some behind the scenes footage of the making of the film. Interest in the obscure production was revived when Dobronte made her footage available on the internet in 2007.

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Goofs

When the elderly gypsy woman in the tavern is confronted by the Barbarian's men, she screams and speaks without moving her mouth.

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Quotes

The Stranger: [preparing his weapons] Now, when things are even up... a man really should fight fair. But, oh, when they just keep puttin' it to ya, buddy, and they're stompin' on your ass... there's only one way to fight. GET MEAN!

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Connections

References Richard III (1955)

User Reviews

"The men are all women and the women are all men"

Here's a very strange one - A Western that barely takes place in America, seems to involve time-travel, ghosts and magic, and has a smart-ass, cowardly hero who sports a four-barreled shotgun. Somehow Ferdinando Baldi has bypassed the future trend of killing machine Eighties action stars like Arnie and Stallone and gone straight for the nineties-era non-action stars like Bruce Campbell. Nice one!

The Stranger, as he's called, is dragged into town by his horse while a silver orb looks on. After his horse suddenly dies, the Stranger finds the same orb held by a mystic woman who tells him he has to escort a princess back to Spain so she can prevent a war between Barbarians and Moors. Quite rightly demanding a cash reward and getting into a slapstick punch up with some Barbarians, The Stranger agrees to go.

Now, I'm not quite sure if time travel is involved, but The Stranger gets to Spain and witnesses a huge battle between the Barbarians and the Moors, resulting in a win for the Barbarians, the princess getting kidnapped, and The Stranger being hung upside down. We also get to meet our bad guys - the head Barbarian seems to thrive on violence and anger while his hunchbacked brother constantly quotes Shakespeare. Both are advised by an ultra-stereotypical gay guy.

The demented plot follows The Stranger as he seeks his payment and a hidden treasure, fights ghosts who make him howl like a dog and slap himself before turning him completely black from head to toe, fight various bad guys before getting tooled up for the explosive end of the film. There must have been quite a bit of budget behind this one too as there's a lot of good set design and huge crowds of extras.

I wasn't too sure about it when it started off (that being the slapstick fight) but I was one over by the general willingness for the film to weird and entertaining at the same time. Better than all those comedy westerns for sure.