ARIZONA COLT RETURNS

 

I assumed ARIZONA COLT RETURNS (1970) was one of those Euro Westerns which took advantage of a character's name from another Euro Western, but this movie does have a rough continuity with the original ARIZONA COLT. Ernesto Gastaldi, who was one of the writers of the original film, provides the story here, and actor Roberto Camardiel returns as Arizona's whiskey-swilling comic relief sidekick. (The movie also goes by a number of alternate titles, including the one on the European poster shown above.) 

The main difference between this Arizona Colt movie and the first one is how the title role is portrayed. The original Arizona Colt was played by Giuliano Gemma, a fresh-faced charismatic actor who had a sense of crafty humor about him. ARIZONA COLT RETURNS has Euro Western veteran Anthony Steffen as the main character, and his bounty hunter is scruffy, beady-eyed, and poker faced. 

Steffen is so taciturn and emotionless that one gets the feeling he's poking fun at the typical Spaghetti Western protagonist. In fact, the first part of ARIZONA COLT RETURNS feels like a spoof, with some goofy hi-jinks and a very lighthearted score by Bruno Nicolai. As the story heads toward the end, things become darker and more brutal. 

The main plot concerns Arizona's battle against a fearsome bandit (Aldo Sambrell) who has attacked the spread of a wealthy rancher, while also stealing his gold and kidnapping his daughter (Rosalba Neri). Arizona is hired to bring back the gold and the girl, and he and what few friends his has are made to suffer for it. 

Aldo Sambrell (another Spaghetti Western veteran) and the exquisite Rosalba Neri wind up being more interesting than Anthony Steffen, who looks and acts more like a villain than a hero. Sambrell appeared in dozens of Euro Westerns, and his part here happens to be one of his best in this genre. Neri doesn't get nearly enough screen time in the small but crucial role as the rancher's daughter. 

ARIZONA COLT RETURNS was directed by Sergio Martino, who is best known now for being a Giallo stalwart. As one would expect, the darker parts of this film flow much better. There's nothing all that extraordinary about ARIZONA COLT RETURNS, except perhaps how it goes from an almost Trinity vibe to a story where no characters are safe. I watched this on Tubi, which presented it in a very nice-looking widescreen print, and an English-dubbed dialogue track that could have used more vitality.