REVIEWED
“A time to be born, and a time die...”
- Priest
[b&w title sequence breaking into colour]... The Rogers plan on ending their rivalry with Ben Caine once and for all, by hanging him in front of his wife Maria, then burning their ranch. Maria seeks help from friend Manuel, who kidnaps Rogers younger daughter Joanna. The story leads to a showdown when the Rogers sons pick up their sister. [fades to b&w and end credits]
Been really enjoying my run of westerns on Sunday afternoons for over a month now, so it was high time I hit up a spaghetti western (or three). Robert Hossein's 'Une corde, un Colt...' aka 'The Rope and the Colt' or 'Cemetery Without Crosses' , which Hossein directs & stars in the lead as Manuel. He also co-wrote it with Claude Desailly & Dario Argento (possibly). Director and Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox voted it his 12th favorite spag-western and it was voted SWDB's 16th most essential. Its a typical protecting womans honor/rip roaring revenge pot boiler with a killer showdown. Hossein doesn't make the standard hansom lead (least not in the Nero/Eastwood sense), but hes a great charismatic actor, and one thats effortlessly macho. Anne-Marie Balin as Joanna & Michèle Mercier as widow in black Maria are both equally fine as the moody women. Great scenery and great music (though I coulda killed that damn mandolin player during 2 early scenes), it features a great Scott Walker title tune that I'll have in my head for hours.
[Personal Reasons For Remembering]
Jack in a box mustard jar prank (Hossein claims was directed by Sergio Leone). Its saloon could have been used in an anti-smoking in public places campaign. I've always had a minor issue with the term Spaghetti Western (I'd favour EuroWestern personally) because it wasn't just Italy who had involvement with the genre, like this proves with it also being a Spanish/France production, plus Germany had envolvement with a fair few entries as well.
Originally taken from Letterboxd
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