(504) MATALO! (1971) Cesare Canevari's Surreal Spaghetti Western
4461DVD
original Italian title: MATALO!
director:
Cesare Canevari (as Cesare Canavari)
starring: Lou Castell · Corrado Pani · Claudia Cravy · Luis Davila · Diana
Sorel · Anna Maria Noe
Cesare
Canavari's unconventional, surreal Spaghetti Western defies classification.
It lives in that gray area between blatant machismo and psychedelia, similar
to DJANGO
KILL: IF YOU LIVE, SHOOT, DEAD
MEN DON'T MAKE SHADOWS, BURN
BABY BURN, EL
TOPO and KEOMA.
For this story, a gang of gringos, disguised as Mexicans, rob a stage.
During the holdup, one of the bandits, Bart is shot. The three remaining
dump his body in the river and stash the loot. Wells Fargo hires bounty
hunter Ray Matalo to find the outlaws and the stolen gold. Matalo joins
the gang during a botched lynching and they all take refuge in a mysterious
ghost town. Indeed, something very weird is happening there, punctuated
by a strange old woman and a sexy younger one.
This
is one of two Spaghetti Westerns by renown sleazemeister Cesare Canevari,
sometimes operating under the alias Berwary Ross or D. Brownson, preceded by TO DIE FOR A DOLLAR IN TUCSON. He would
helm 10 motion pictures during Italy's Golden Period (1965-85). Just prior
to this one, he made IO
EMANUELLE with Erik Blanc. He will always be remembered for delivering
KILLING
OF THE FLESH, Ajita Wilson's NUDE
PRINCESS, and the over-the-top Nazi atrocity film LAST
ORGY OF THE THIRD REICH. Mr Canevari died from natural causes
in October 2012 at age 85.
An
Italian film in English language; widescreen uncut (90 min.)
NTSC DVD format, encoded for ALL REGION,
playable on any American DVD machine. Extras include original trailer.
