As Good As It Gets

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Chorizo/Spaghetti Western with two top-of -the range players as Anthony Steffen and Jose Calvo . A Spanish-Italian co-production full of action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . A good example of Latino western genre mostly filmed in Spain . This is a co-production Spanish-Italian with a varied cast formed by actors of diverse countries . This meaty Western contains acceptable plot , violence , shoot'em up and is quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , drama with exciting final . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . McDougall (Anthony Steffen) hears his father was murdered by the baron land chair-wheel bounded Lopez ( Jose Calvo , formerly famous as Silvanito in ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ ) and henchmen . Then Steve McDougall arrives in a little town called dominated by villain Lopez and his son (Hugo Blanco) and underlings (Jose Torres , Frank Oliveras, Ivan Scratuglia and Ignacio Sabata or Pedro Sanchez of ¨Sabata trilogy)¨) . The townspeople implore help , to protect them from the nasty hoodlums . While the Lopez' hoodlums kill , mistreat and harass townspeople . Knowning his dad has been killed he heads to encounter his assassins . Steve goes out to avenge his daddy battling murderous and executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots, ravages and kills each person involved in the killing . As Steve seeks vendetta against Lopez and is only helped by the undertaker (Franco Pesce as usual role as man-in-black) and by Pilar (Gemma Cuervo) who is the Lopez's daughter. Meanwhile his uncle Andy (Guarnieri) is murdered and his sister (Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli) is caught by the bandits. Later on ,Gringo (Aldo Berti) kidnaps Judy and McDougall sets out in pursuit .Ordinary Chorizo-Spaghetti Western co-produced by Spain and Italy and follows the Sergio Leone wake and it is proceeded in violent style . 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 Anthony Steffen against the heartless Jose Calvo and his underlings . Anthony Steffen is fine, he ravages the screen , hit and run 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 by Di Stefano including a catching and repetitive leitmotif . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge, as a man returns home , a border little town and looks for vendetta against the dad's killers. The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare, but what makes this movie stand out is its style . This is an exciting film, plenty action , thrills, fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors from Spain and interiors in Elios Studios. The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is good in his usual tough role .The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom. 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 Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others.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 . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty and rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets . Lousy cinematography by Hans Burman , because of the copy is worn-out and discolored , being necessary a nice remastering . Interior scenes filmed in Spluges De Llobregat , Barcelona outskirts and outdoor sequences with barren exteriors filmed in Spanish places located on Fraga (Huesca) , replacing Almeria . ¨Fraga¨ resulted to be the location where were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar , J.J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma , Juan Bosch, Ignacio F. Iquino and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . This motion picture is well produced by Alfonso Balcazar , originally written by and professionally directed by Jose Antonio De La Loma and Edoardo Mulargia though with no originality. Both of them are expert on Western genre , as Juan Antonio De La Loma had a long career including titles as writer as ¨Professional for a massacre¨ ,¨Texas Kid¨ ,¨Clint the solitary¨ , ¨Return of Clint¨, ¨The last Mohican¨, ¨Seven pistols for Timothy¨ , ¨Viva Carrancho¨, and director as ¨The Boldest job in the West¨, and ¨Blood at sundown¨or ¨Porque Seguir Matando¨ . Edoardo Mulargia directed a lot of Spaghetti as ¨W Djianjo¨, ¨El Puro¨ , ¨Django Spara¨ Cjamngo¨ , ¨Shango¨ , ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨, most part starred by Robert Woods or Anthony Steffen . Rating : 5. Acceptable and passable Western that will appeal to Spaghetti fans .