Together with For a Fistful of Dollars, it was the film that launched the Italian western.
One of the very first Italian westerns, together with For a Fistful of Dollars. Like in the work of Sergio Leone, but taking a different path, the tradition of the classic American genre is betrayed and successfully reborn with a more violent and disillusioned feel to it. The hero is not only a tormented soul, but also disabled. Sergio Corbucci’s great invention was to make his gunslinger a man suffering from serious sight problems, which progressively worsen until he has to fight the final duel practically blind, trying to guess the moves of his enemies by sound alone. Just one of the notable inventive touches of a film with many strings to its bow, which still retains the power to amaze. Also worth mentioning are the screenplay by Claudio Simi (who then became a constant presence on the films of Leone) and the music of the great Piero Piccioni.
Unjustly sentenced to forced labour, Minnesota Clay escapes from prison and goes after the man who wronged him. The individual in question is to be found in a Mexican town, at the head of band of criminals that is locked in a power struggle with another band. Minnesota ends up in the middle of the war between the two factions and, despite losing his sight, manages to put them all to rest.
Together with For a Fistful of Dollars, it was the film that launched the Italian western.
One of the very first Italian westerns, together with For a Fistful of Dollars. Like in the work of Sergio Leone, but taking a different path, the tradition of the classic American genre is betrayed and successfully reborn with a more violent and disillusioned feel to it. The hero is not only a tormented soul, but also disabled. Sergio Corbucci’s great invention was to make his gunslinger a man suffering from serious sight problems, which progressively worsen until he has to fight the final duel practically blind, trying to guess the moves of his enemies by sound alone. Just one of the notable inventive touches of a film with many strings to its bow, which still retains the power to amaze. Also worth mentioning are the screenplay by Claudio Simi (who then became a constant presence on the films of Leone) and the music of the great Piero Piccioni.
Unjustly sentenced to forced labour, Minnesota Clay escapes from prison and goes after the man who wronged him. The individual in question is to be found in a Mexican town, at the head of band of criminals that is locked in a power struggle with another band. Minnesota ends up in the middle of the war between the two factions and, despite losing his sight, manages to put them all to rest.
