In a Mexican
border town, the officials working for Emperor Maximillian line up a
number of suspects for execution, including the self proclaimed
revolutionary Gen. Emiliano
Ramirez, however they are saved from the army's bullets by the machine
gun toting Allelujah (George Hilton). After sucessfully liberating the
town of Maximillian's men, Ramirez dispatches Allelujah to intercept a
coachload of the Emperor's men, carrying jewels to a gun dealer in the
United States to trade for machine guns - Ramirez wants the jewels so
he can buy the guns for himself. However, when the emperor's men are
tricked and killed off by another gang, Halleluja has to liberate the jewel bag from
them. Finding only fakes inside, head is lead into a long search to find
the originals, but he is not alone in wanting them, and some people are not what they seem...
By
the 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns were increasingly turning to comedy;
although the genre had often been lighthearted, it was films like Lo Chiamavano Trinità
(1970) that saw pure comic Westerns coming to the table, often
forfeiting storyline and characterisation for cheap laughs. Fortunately
They Call me Halleluja doesn't
descent too far into simple slapstick territory, but does suffer from a
rather mixed up storyline - the various groups of bandits spend most of
the film tricking and holding each other up, with various other
characters, including a Nun and a Cossack, cropping up later on to
confuse matters further. It is genuinely funny throughout but
unfortunately the rather piecemeal plot gets quite tedious after a
while, and the film starts to drag after the hour mark. The conclusion
sees a typically big gunfight, but like many genre entries, it is goes
on a little too long after the climax.
Director
Anthony Ascott (Giuliano Carnimeo) was one of the more talented genre
directors, and shows off some very good camera work here, with
point-of-view shots, interesting angles and smart use of the zoom lens,
that combined with the solid production design, makes the film look
superb. Occasional genre composer Stelvio Cipriani provides a solid soundtrack.
George Hilton is best known for his Giallo
films, but made twenty-one Spaghetti Westerns and in the 1970s played a
variety of comedy characters. He gives a fitting performance here,
considering the script, a rather absurdly cocky and always unpeterbed
figure. General Ramirez is played by Spanish character actor Roberto
Camardiel who played in a variety of genre films (including Django Kill... If you Live Shoot (1967)), while the mysterious Cossack is played with style by the little known American actor Charles Southwood (the titular Winchester Jack in Mario Bava's 1973 Euro-Western). There is a long list of familiar faces in the rest of the cast and good acting all round.
Needing some fine tuning on the script and editing fronts, They Call me Hallelujah remains
an enjoyable genre entry, thanks to a great performance from George
Hilton, and some solid direction throughout. Partly recommended to all
genre fans, and certainly of interest to those who enjoy George Hilton,
or the more comic Spaghetti Westerns.
In brief:
Anyone famous in it?
George Hilton - a popular euro-cult star who starred in the early Euro-Western Tempo di Massacro (1966)
Directed by anyone interesting?
Giuliano Carnimeo - better known as Anthony Ascott who directed a number of Spaghetti Westerns, including Sono Sartana, il vostro Becchino (1969) and the popular giallo The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)
Any gore/violence?
Lots of Western violence, nothing very bloody.
Any sex?
No
Who is it for?
One for the fans of George Hilton, or the more comic Spaghetti Westerns.
Good soundtrack?
An effective score from Stelvio Cipriani (included on the soundtrack DVD in this boxset)
The DVD
Visuals
Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1. Anamorphically Enhanced. Colour The
picture quality is decent with noticable grain and some print damage (a
few scenes also look quite soft), but generally strong and more than
watchable.
Audio
Original German and Italian mono tracks, both sound strong but there are occasional moments of lower quality.
Subtitles
German (for the Italian track). English (translates the Italian) - good, with only a few minor spelling errors.
Extras
The disc features:
8mm
print of the film - German language and running to 35 minutes - it is
an interesting chance to see how films were watched before home video.
The source print is, as expected, of very low quality, but no worse
than some PD DVDs
Original Italian and German theatrical trailers, both in anamorphic widescreen. 3 minutes each.
A lengthy manually scrolling poster, lobby card, press booklet and stills gallery.
Note:
A documentary about director Anthony Ascott including an interview with
George Hilton is available on another disc in the boxset. The
soundtrack to this film is available on the audio-CD included in the
set.
Also available on a Japanese disc with English audio, but not an anamorphic print.
Cuts?
Believed to be fully uncut. Print used is Italian language.
Summary
Good direction and acting don't quite hide a rather mixed up script, but the film remains enjoyable. Partly recommended.
Strong A/V and an interesting
selection of extra features (a documentary interview with the director
and star of this film is on another disc in the boxset). Lack of
English dub may annoy some, but the subtitles are good and easy to
read. Unlikely
to be bettered.
