Silbersattel (1978)

Silbersattel: Directed by Lucio Fulci. With Giuliano Gemma, Sven Valsecchi, Ettore Manni, Gianni De Luigi. A young boy who sees his father gunned down kills the assassin. Years later, he has grown up to be a successful bounty hunter who is feared by many. And then one day he discovers secrets to his past…

“Lucio Fulciu0026#39;s u0026quot;Sella Du0026#39;Argentou0026quot; aka u0026quot;Silver Saddleu0026quot; of 1978 is the last, and in my opinion the least interesting out of three Westerns directed by Fulci (not including his co-directing of Julio Buchsu0026#39; u0026quot;A Bullet For Sandovalu0026quot; of 1969). u0026quot;Silver Saddleu0026quot; is definitely not a bad or boring Spaghetti Western, it is actually a fairly good movie, and Giuliano Gemma plays the lead very good, but I personally expected a little more from a Fulci Western, particularly after great u0026quot;Tempo Di Massacrou0026quot; aka u0026quot;Massacre Timeu0026quot; of 1966 (with the great Franco Nero in the lead), and the moving though sadistic u0026quot;Quatro Dellu0026#39;Apocalisseu0026quot; aka. u0026quot;Four Of The Apocalypseu0026quot;, which was maybe no Spaghetti Western masterpiece, but which I personally liked a lot.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Silver Saddleu0026quot; starts out very good, when little Roy Blood witnesses the murder of his father by a henchman of the powerful Barrett Clan, and subsequently subsequently shoots the murderer and takes his saddle, which is adorned with silver. Grown up, Roy Blood (Giuliano Gemma) has become a deadly gunslinger, who still uses the silver saddle. After befriending a crook named Two Strike Snake (Geoffrey Lewis), Roy obtains an opportunity to kill the patriarch of the Barret Clan, and therefore ultimately avenge his fatheru0026#39;s death. When Roy hides where he suspects his arch enemy, however, a little boy shows up instead. Some thugs try to assassinate the kid and Roy keeps them from doing so by shooting them all…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e…and at this point things started to bother me. Cute little kids in bigger roles may work fine in many movies, but they do certainly not belong into a Spaghetti Western directed by Lucio Fulci. The little kid was probably intended to be u0026#39;cuteu0026#39; and/or u0026#39;funnyu0026#39;, but, Iu0026#39;m sorry to say this, I just found the little brat annoying as hell, and although he even admittedly is funny in some points of the film, the whole movie could have been a lot better without him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNevertheless, u0026quot;Silver Saddleu0026quot; is entertaining in most of its parts. A Spaghetti Western enthusiast, I have utmost respect for Giuliano Gemma for his performances in such films as u0026quot;Day Of Angeru0026quot; or u0026quot;The Price Of Poweru0026quot;, but I have never numbered Gemma among my favorite Spaghetti Western actors, since he hardly ever embodied the typical antihero, but was more of a typical u0026#39;good guyu0026#39; in most of his films. Nevertheless, Gemma fits perfectly in some roles, and one has to say that his performance in u0026quot;Sella Du0026#39;Argentou0026quot; is very good, and I could hardly imagine anybody else playing the role of Roy Blood. Geoffrey Lewis also delivers a very good, funny performance as Gemmau0026#39;s buddy Snake. The supporting cast furthermore contains two truly great Spaghetti Western regulars, Donal Ou0026#39;Brien, who only has a small role, and Aldo Sambrell, who once again plays a thuggish Mexican bandit. The locations are good, the score is OK, I especially liked Snakeu0026#39;s theme, the only parts I didnu0026#39;t like about the soundtrack were the parts with the singing. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll said, u0026quot;Silver Saddleu0026quot; has its flaws, they should especially have left the little kid out and there is a lot of other unnecessary and silly cheese throughout the film, but apart from that it is an enertaining if disappoining Spaghetti Western, with a fair amount of action and violence in it. As a Spaghetti Western enthusiast I found it to be an enjoyable time-waster, fans of Giuliano Gemma should give it a try. Donu0026#39;t expect too much though.”