94 min
4.9
1969
Italy
Johnny was mentally traumatised when he witnessed as a child the killing of his father (a deserter) by a group of soldiers. As an adult he randomly kills every soldier he gets hold of, so that the army sends out the brutish Lieutenant Garringo to stop Johnny.
Overview
Reviews
John Chard wrote:Under a blood red sky!
Garringo is directed by Rafael Romero Marchent and Marchent co- writes the screenplay with Giovanni Scolaro. It stars Anthony Steffen, Peter Lee Lawrence, Solvi Stubbing, Jose Bodalo and Raf Baldassarre. Music is by Marcello Giombini and cinematography by Aldo Ricci.
Johnny as a very young boy witnesses the murder of his father by a soldier, he grows up to be a double life leading killer of soldiers. Enter a man to hunt him down, Lieutenant Garringo.
This Is Bells City - You Better Return If You Don't Hear It.
A most interesting Pasta Western because although the narrative doesn't have ambitions to expand thematically, there's psychological depth to the principal bad boy. He's scarred by the murder of his father and has become a twisted callous killer, yet he's still capable of hiding his dark half so as to exude as a dandy caring type. That said, pic is more interested in the straight forward conventions of a driven hunter hunting down his prey, to which we have a cool Steffen and a schizophrenic Lawrence acting accordingly.
Sincerely Johnny.
Production crams in genre staples, both traditional American and Spaghetti, so we get camera shenanigans involving canted angles, zooms, close-ups et al. Plenty of violence resides, though some is done down by poor choreography (could the punches be any further from the targets?), and action is in no short supply (great hold-ups and the usual shoot-outs). The locations are most pleasing, which in turn are backed by a nifty musical score that's big on jaunty woodwinds and menacing strings.
A maniac who has to have a gun to be a man!
With both leading characters showing dexterity to marry up with their respective killing traits, it's a film underpinned by both, ensuring this is worth a watch. Hardly a genre classic, mind, but enough here to have a good time with. 6.5/10
