morrison-dylan-fan For the 1968 poll on ICM,I decided that I would watch a number of Italian films from the year. A fan of his since Spasmo introduced me to the Giallo genre,I was thrilled to find one of the two Spaghetti Westerns auteur Umberto Lenzi had made was in 1968,which led to me opening the 100 coffins.The plot:Prepared not to take sides during the Civil War, Jim Slade is sent to jail for two years. Just before he is freed,Slade learns that outlaws have killed his family. Picking up a pistol once out,Slade gets a list of the outlaws who killed his family. Tracking the first ones down easily,Slade discovers that the final outlaw wants to take a town he rules down with him.View on the film:Made just before his Giallo era,director Umberto Lenzi & cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa load up on elements which would dominate Lenzi's unique style,as ultra-stylised whip-pans are shot with a scatter-gun energy by Lenzi,with the camera riding on Slade's bullets of revenge. Toning down his usual liking of violence,Lenzi displays a sharp eye for "space",where the lone sound of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's light Jazzy score builds anticipating to Slade's shootout with an outlaw.Initially looking like an episodic revenge tale, Marco Leto/Eduardo Manzanos Brochero and Vittorio Salerno get Slade to put his revenge Western pistol down by getting him involved in the gritty local politics of the town,which along with giving the flick a neat line in gallows humour,also sets the town up to give Slade and the viewer an excellent twist of the gun. Joined by a stern John Ireland as town leader Douglas, Peter Lee Lawrence (who died of cancer just 30 years old in 1974) gives a wonderful performance as Slade,who masks Slade with an eerie look of false calm,which cracks as Slade opens the hundred coffins.

Wizard-8 Normally, because of my love for the spaghetti western genre, I can accept any shortcomings that can be found in the movies. But with "A Gun For One Hundred Graves", there were so many that at times I found the movie tough going. I saw the complete version, but even then there were times when linking footage and even entire scenes of explanation seemed to be missing! What makes it further odd is that there's material that could have easily been edited out without harming the narrative, from the band of lunatics to the hero's Jehovah Witness beliefs. The cast does its best with the material, with John Ireland giving the best performance. But the movie so feels like it was made up as it was going along, that I can only recommend this to die hard spaghetti western fans, and even they find the experience hard to sit through.

unbrokenmetal Jim Slade is sentenced to forced labor, since he refused to kill somebody in war (due to his religious conscience). After the war, he returns home and finds his parents murdered. He chases the murderers and kills most of them - and everything I told you now just happens in the first 15 minutes of the film! After this rushed beginning, the real story unfolds. Bandits are trying to rob a bank - but there is no money in that bank because a transport with 200,000 dollars did not arrive yet. So the bandits threaten to return soon... and the citizens are eager to find a new sheriff and prepare for the attack. John Ireland plays a priest who is suspiciously fast on the draw. Eduardo Fajardo has only a small appearance as one among a bunch of madmen breaking from their cage. Piero Lulli, though, is at his best in the role of the leader of the bandits. Peter Lee Lawrence plays Slade as good as possible under the circumstances - it is a hero poorly developed by the screenplay who makes him a pacifist in the beginning and a gunman later on, but for a man who's never touched a gun before, he seems to learn effortlessly how to become the most dangerous man in town within a day or two. Also he first was ready to go to prison for his religious belief - and then he kicks that over board without a single regret later on. It would have been possible to make Slade a character torn between duty and desire, but instead the makers of the movie simply settle for a fast gun. Thus, "Una pistola per cento bare" became just one average movie among many.

spider89119 This western is the type of movie you might see from Something Weird Video or on MST3K. That's not meant to be a put-down (if it was I'd be putting down 2/3 of my movie collection). I really enjoyed this film.The movie is directed by Umberto Lenzi, who is better known for his Euro-horror movies. The horror influence is clearly evident here when an escaped band of drooling lunatics runs around grunting and killing everyone in sight. It's a real hoot to see spaghetti western regular Eduardo Fajardo playing the part of a giggling homicidal idiot. This alone makes it worthwhile to seek out this film.John Ireland is great as the gunslinging preacher, and Piero Lulli makes a great villain as usual. The acting from the rest of the cast is not exactly top-notch, but that just adds to the flavor of this film. It's quite funny in parts (perhaps unintentionally but one can never be sure).There are also some really funny lines in the movie, which I will not spoil by mentioning here. The way everyone overreacts to the fact that the hero likes to drink water is especially hilarious.I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys both spaghetti westerns and strange, funny cult movies.