A Man Called Amen (1968)

movie

(39)

Country: Italy
Genres: Mystery, Western
Release: 1968-07-05
Director: Guido Zurli
Writers: Franco Bucceri , Renato Izzo , Guido Zurli
Language: Italian
Stars: George Ardisson , George Ardisson , Akim Tamiroff , Akim Tamiroff , Isarco Ravaioli , Lorenza Guerrieri , Fred Coplan , Paolo Carlini , Mara Krupp , Calisto Calisti , Gippo Leone , Piero Del Papa
Runtime: 98 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: To ximeroma tis megalis sfagis (Greece) , Ou Tudo ou Nada (Brazil) , O tutto o niente , O tutto o niente (Italy) , Either All or None (United States of America) , Un hombre llamado amen (Mexico) , A Man Called Amen (United States of America)
Plot: This little-known Spaghetti Western turned out to be a routine effort all round, but one that is mildly enjoyable nevertheless. It features a nice score and is enlivened by the intermittent appearances of a 'phantom gunman' figure (curiously, also to be found in MATALO! [1970], which followed this viewing) and the numerous plot twists at the end. The most renowned actor in the cast is, of course, Akim Tamiroff - playing a tramp/town drunk called Pigsty (although his Italian moniker is literally "Stench"); actually, many of the characters have been given colorful names: Amen, Solitaire, Dean Light, Johnny Siringo, etc. Comedy relief is also present in the form of some over-the-top hard-boiled dialogue (one character is referred to as "mountain of filth", for instance) and the antics (usually subservient but, on occasion, assertive) of the chief villain's meek and long-suffering barber. The only other Zurli film I had watched was the admittedly dismal poliziottesco TARGET (1979); still, one effort of his I'd like to catch is the horror film THE MAD BUTCHER (1971) - starring Victor Buono.
IMDB:tt0198859