ARIZONA COLT

 

One of the best things about the Tubi streaming channel is that it has a great selection of Euro Westerns, and for the most part these films are presented uncut and in their original aspect ratio. One Spaghetti Western recently added to Tubi is the 1966 ARIZONA COLT, starring one of the genre's legends, Giuliano Gemma. 

Gemma plays the title character, a bounty hunter who causes all sorts of trouble for a Mexican bandit chief named Gordo (Fernando Sancho) and his gang. Arizona deals with Gordo almost as if he's playing a game, but things take a sharp turn when the bandit chief shoots Arizona in both of his legs and hands. The injured bounty hunter is given impetus to stop Gordo's rampaging of a frontier town by the attractive daughter of a saloon owner (Corinne Marchand) and a quirky former member of Gordo's gang (Roberto Camardiel). 

ARIZONA COLT is a more traditional type of story as opposed to the more wilder examples of the Euro Western. This fits Giuliano Gemma (the original Ringo) just fine, as he's not the usual Spaghetti Western leading man. Gemma's Arizona Colt isn't a taciturn cold-blooded superman--he's charismatic, engaging, and very talkative. Arizona is an expert shot, but he'd rather trick, disarm, or annoy his opponents. (When asked any sort of direct question, Arizona's usual reply is "I'll think about it.") 

Arizona, however, isn't a goody-goody--he cheats at cards, he's not above using someone else's misfortune for his own personal gain, and at the beginning of the film, he's locked up in a Mexican jail (though we are never told why). Despite the handsome Gemma's ability to woo Corinne Marchand's Jane, he still winds up riding off alone at the end. 

ARIZONA COLT (also known as THE MAN FROM NOWHERE) is rather long for this type of Western (the version I saw on Tubi runs for two hours). It also has an inconsistent tone--it jumps from playful to dark at the drop of a hat, and a lot of innocent people wind up getting killed. One of the victims is Jane's sexy sister Dolores, played by Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN). The seductive Neri, as usual, makes a huge impression, but sadly she's only onscreen a few minutes before she's bumped off. (It is a bit hard to believe, even for a Euro Western, that the blonde French Corinne Marchand and the dark-haired Italian Neri are sisters.) 

Fernando Sancho played dozens of Mexican bandits in Euro Westerns, but he's particularly bloodthirsty here. Roberto Camardiel gets the bulk of the comic relief as the scruffy Whisky, a member of Gordo's gang who is an explosives expert, and who also decides to change sides and join up with Arizona. Spaghetti Western fans will notice all sorts of familiar locations and faces among Gordo's gang, and there's a memorable "What the??" moment during the final shootout concerning the major way Arizona fools the villains. 

ARIZONA COLT was directed by Michele Lupo and co-written by Ernesto Gastaldi. I wouldn't call it a great Euro Western--it could have used some tighter editing--but it is entertaining, and Gemma is always watchable. This is another film that deserves an official North American home video release.  (I have to point out that Tubi's presentation of the film has an English dubbed voice track.)