A Pistol for Ringo (1965) • The Return of Ringo (1965) • Blu-ray [Arrow Video]

A double-bill of Spaghetti Western classics from Duccio Tessari…

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written by Remy Dean.

If Hammer had been Italian and made cowboy films, in Spain, they would’ve looked something like these two magnificent examples of the spaghetti western! I only wish I’d seen them at the impressionable age when I first saw Sergio Leone’s Dollar trilogy. I’ve grown up revering the striking visuals, memorable music, and mythic grandeur of those films featuring Clint Eastwood’s poncho-wearing man with no name. I assumed their iconic reputation was unassailable. Then I saw Duccio Tessari’s Ringo films.

Both of these Ringo films were made back-to-back with the same cast and crew. But it’s a bit weird watching them that way. We see the same set of actors playing very different roles in each film. George Martin, for example, plays Ben the clean-cut, clean-shaven sheriff in A Pistol for Ringo (1965). The kind of role that could’ve been played by Gary Cooper or James Stewart. In The Return of Ringo (1965) he’s Paco Fuentes, the suave but sadistic Mexican interloper in a small border town, his all too precisely trimmed beard indicating his overblown vanity.