Enviado por 190computer em 21/02/2012
THE STRANGER RETURNS
Western heroes usually appear with a variety of armament, capes, spurs and wide-brimmed hats. They don't usually ride into town sporting a pink parasol. But that's exactly what happens in The Stranger Returns (1968) though we'd advise keeping any giggles to yourself. As the ads promised, "Trap Him! Tease Him! Trample Him! - but watch out when the stranger gets mad!"
Let's backtrack a bit. As the movie opens, The Stranger (Tony Anthony) finds a postal inspector dead in the desert. Apparently having little else to do, The Stranger adopts the inspector's identity and heads to the local town. In short order he discovers that a gang of quite ruthless outlaws is planning an elaborate stagecoach robbery. The Stranger decides to foil the robbery or at least grab some loot for himself while enlisting a priest for assistance. But even The Stranger doesn't expect what happens next.
The Stranger Returns is more or less a sequel to A Stranger In Town (1966) though you certainly don't need to have seen the other film for this one to work. (Incidentally, the Italian title Un Uomo, un Cavallo, una Pistola translates as A Man, a Horse, a Gun though it was also released under the title Shoot First, Laugh Last.) There were a total of three Stranger films (the third was 1968's The Silent Stranger), all directed by Luigi Vanzi (or Vance Lewis as he's credited in an early version of the film that tried to hide its Italian origins). Though Vance did second-unit work on Antonioni's classic Il Grido (1957), his career was fairly brief with only a handful of credits.
Faring a little better was star Tony Anthony (yes, his real name as far as we can tell). A West Virginia native, Anthony appeared in several Italian films during this period besides the three Stranger films such as the cult favorite, Blindman (1971) with Ringo Starr. He also starred in the 3-D Comin' at Ya (1981) during the brief spurt of 3-D activity in the early 80s that also produced such never-to-be classics as Parasite (1982), Demi Moore's second film. Anthony provided the story for The Stranger Returns, though he would later write a couple of full screenplays.
MOVIE REVIEW
Un Uomo, un Cavallo, una Pistola (1967)
'The Stranger Returns'
AS the latest in the series of Westerns made by Americans and Italians in Italy and subsidized largely by Americans, "The Stranger Returns," which clattered into the DeMille and Loew's Orpheum yesterday, merely makes one wonder if sequels are necessary. As the offspring of "A Stranger in Town," seen here last April, this "Stranger" simply hews to the idea that incessant gunfire and gore and rudimentary dialogue constitute entertainment. The idea, unfortunately, add up to a noisy, ersatz West and ersatz moviemaking.
One must credit the producer and writers with vague attempts at tongue-in-cheek humor, which occasionally register against the background of arid, rocky landscapes captured in vivid color. Our hero, it turns out, is a postal inspector trailing dastards who are after $200,000 in gold that has been spirited away in a stagecoach that never could have rattled across any prairie. It's blood red in color, it actually is made of that gold, and is drawn by six white chargers.
Our taciturn inspector rides a black mare he affectionately calls "Pussy," he carries a tattered pink parasol, wears a serape and is adept with a four-barrelled shotgun and a machete.
"In this day and age," one of the principals remarks, "everyone is trying to be someone else."
.
As the "Stranger," Tony Anthony, and Dan Vadis, his snarling, villainous adversary, and others in the muscular cast, ahtletically try to be different to no valid purpose. There's no real reason for this "Stranger" to return.
THE STRANGER RETURNS, screenplay by Bob Ensescalle, Jr. and Jone Mang, based on an original story by Tony Anthony; directed by Vance Lewis; produced by Roberto Infascelli and Massimo Gauldi; an Allen Klein Production presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the DeMille Theater, Broadway and 47th Street, and Loew's Orpheum, 86th Street at Third Avenue. Running time: 96 minutes.
The Stranger. Tony Anthony
En Plein. Dan VadisGood Jim. Daniele Vargas
The Preacher. Marco Gugielmi
Caroline. Jill Banner.
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