Any Gun Can Play

Most moviegoers will agree, Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is the most well-known, and depending on how you ask, best spaghetti western around. With its huge success came a flurry of westerns with similar storylines, including one, 1967's Any Gun Can Play, that is almost an exact duplicate except played more for laughs. Lack of originality aside, director Enzo Castellari's action-heavy western is a good one.

A heavily guarded train carrying $300,000 is attacked by a group of bandits led by the infamous Monetero (Gilbert Roland). But in the aftermath of the robbery, one of Monetero's men doublecrosses him and makes off with all the money. He's tracked down, but before he is shot and killed, the bandit gives a clue to Monetero, a medallion with the location of the gold hidden somewhere in its meaning. Joining the hunt for the gold coins is Clayton (Edd Byrnes), a representative from the bank hoping to get his money back, and a mysterious bounty hunter, known simply as the Stranger (George Hilton). What follows is a series of uneasy alliances with more double-crosses than I could keep track of.

Director Castellari adds some nice touches to his take on GBU without any epic touches that Leone's classic had. For one, the opening is great, check it out here. Three gunslingers dressed as the Man With No Name, Django, and Col. Mortimer ride into a town, passing an undertaker moving three coffins with a lone man, the Stranger, walking behind. They stop to ask who died, the man answering by reading off 3 names, their names. He guns them down in a flash and collects the bounty. Call it a myth/legend, but Leone supposedly wanted to film the opening to Once Upon a Time in the West with Bronson gunning down Eastwood, Wallach, and Van Cleef, similar to the opening here. It's a nice touch by Castellari and sets the tone immediately for the rest of the movie.

Throughout his career, Castellari was the master of action, especially over-the-top action like in the original Inglorious Bastards or Franco Nero movies Street Law and Keoma. This movie never goes too long without a fistfight or a gun battle which keeps the pace going at a breakneck speed. This was also one of the first spaghettis to have acrobatic fights, like Sabata, with stunt men jumping from heights, hitting a trampoline and flipping across a street. Is it ridiculous and completely unnecessary to the movie? Of course, but it's fun to watch.

Three scenes jump out, one the finale in a rundown mission where our three anti-heroes have traced the gold to with the former members of Monetero's gang also showing up, and two and three, extended fistfights between Clayton, the Stranger, and a group of nameless henchmen there to get beaten up. Both fights almost outstay their welcome, but with the right mix of acrobatics, punches, and henchmen flying through the air, they hit the right note.

While the cast may not have the name recognition of GBU, the three leads are perfect for the jokey, over-the-top feel of the movie. With Byrnes as Clayton, you just know the character isn't exactly what he's letting on to be because, well, it's Edd Byrnes and every character he ever played seemed to have some ulterior motives. George Hilton adds a bit of a humorous edge to the Stranger, a mix of any number of Eastwood and Nero characters. When it comes down to it though, the Stranger can shoot with the best of them. And late in his career when he made a handful of spaghettis, 62-year old Gilbert Roland has the Tuco-role except with a little more extravagance. The three find a good mix and stick with it.

There's a fair share of recognizable faces in the supporting cast, including Ignazio Spalla as Pajondo, Monetero's double-crossing gangmember who was in all three Sabata movies, and Gerard Herter as Blackman, the insurance investigator trying to figure everything out as everyone tries to get their hands on $300,000 in gold. Not as polished as some of the better spaghettis, but definitely worth a watch for fans of the genre. If you're just getting into spaghetti westerns, I'd recommend starting with the Leone Dollars trilogy first.

The VCI Entertainment DVD has some issues, but nothing that should stop you from purchasing it if interested. The movie is shown in widescreen, but it seems at times to be a pan-n-scan version pushed down for the widescreen bars. It's also a grainy feature, but compared to a lot of the low-budget, cheapie DVDs released of spaghetti westerns, it's a godsend. The picture's good but not great, and the sound comes through clear at all times. Special features include a trailer, and a trailer for A Bullet for Sandoval, which I reviewed in April.

Any Gun Can Play (1967): ***/****