Il giustiziere di Dio (1973) Poster

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3/10
This is a disjointed and embarrasing Pasta Western with the ordinary antihero who seeks justice and vengeance.
ma-cortes17 March 2024
The movie deals with a gang of the three aces (George Wang, Donald O'Brien and an unnamed fat guy with a beard) carry ing out a massacre to discover the loot they hid at a few boxes of gold 15 years ago. The bandits of the three aces are easily recognizable by diamonds, aces, and spades painted in colored pencil on their neckerchiefs. The gold chests of the three aces are hidden in a mission, as the bandits blow it up, with all the children inside. Father Tony Lang (William Berger) was once a notorious gunslinger, but after the accidental death of his child, he joined the Church. Father Anthony arrives by carriage and is pre-warned by a large guy wearing a Yankee outfit, Goliath (Victor Stocchi) about the church itself surrounded by the "Three Ace Gang" and their men. Later on , the former gunman turned priest seeks vengeance on three bandits who are masquerading as decent law-abiding citizens, living in Ranger City, Waco, and they are apparently lucky in their secondary activities. But there is a long and desolate way to go.

Filmmaker Franco Lattanzi also took over the script, editing and allegedly the bad camera work is also on his activity, but there's a lack of talent in all areas. Deeming Lattanzi also made the equally ridiculous but at least more fun, Tiger from the River Kwai, it shouldn't surprise anyone how lousy this is. This dismal attempt at film making deals with a silly story conveyed as follows: people drive back and forth on carriages, dialogues don't explain to the viewer what happens. The camera repeatedly lingers on scenes in which the dialogues have long since been spoken and nothing more occurs. A lot of things are also explained various times and with no interest. Furthermore, Lattanzi sprinkles a few comedy interludes in the later part of the film, if they are not fun. The main issue is a revengeful priest who swears to the gang that he will hunt them down and see them all hanging in front of the ruins of his mission. Film has a kinda attractive final but otherwise there wasn't much to get excited about. It's a really absurd film, a total waste of William Berger's talent. Fair-haired Austrian leading man Berger appeared in many Spaghetti westerns between 1966 and 1987 such as ¨La Grande Notte di Ringo¨, "They Call Him Cemetery" , "Fast hand" , ¨Noose for Django¨, "Jaider's Gang" , among others . He also played several Western as a secondary actor as he had got fame and fortune with his unforgettable co-starring in ¨Sabata¨ as the banjo man , ¨Face to face¨, ¨Keoma¨ , ¨California¨ and ¨Tex¨. He had a reputation for being a rebel and a vociferous anti-establishment figure. Eventually, Berger's career was also at times interrupted by drug abuse .

This lousy and ridiculously made Pasta Western in short budget falls into the territory of "The Ed Wood of Spaghetti Westerns": Luigi Batzella/Gianni Crea/José María Zabalza/Merighi/Demofilo Fidani or Miles Deem. Writer/director Franco Lattanzi It displays a passable musical score by Piero Piccioni who composed many Spaghetti westerns and Giallos . As well as atmospheric cinematography with inappropriate exteriors, shot on location in Lacio , Rome and De Paolis Studios, Roma, Italy. This appalling motion picture was embarrassedly directed by Franco Lattanzi . The latter was a dreadful director who only made three films , all of them Spaghetti Westerns starred by regular actors as William Berger , Robert Woods , Luigi Montefiori , these were the undistinguished following ones : "The Executioner of God" , "Six Bounty Killers for a Massacre" , "The Tiger from Kwai" . Rating : 2.5/10 , an abysmal , terrible production. A bottom of the barrel movie and inferior category Spaghetti.
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2/10
Amateur hour in the Italian west
haskel-7295125 September 2019
Bottom of the barrel spaghetti western with William Berger and Donald O'Brien slumming it. Laughable dialogue, amateurish direction, edited with a meat cleaver. I haven't seen many worse.
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1/10
One of the worst Spaghetti Westerns ever made
jordondave-2808514 August 2023
(1973) The Executioner of God/ Il giustiziere di Dio DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Edited, written and directed by Franco Lattanzi that has the "Three Ace Gang" of John Darnell (Ivan Grreeve), Frank Bridge (Donald O'Brien) and Ramon Orea (George Wang) and their men attempting to prevent a hanging of a member of their own group. And when one of the onlookers shoots the man sentenced to be hanged anyway they first kill the shooter, and before their friend dies, he tells them where he hid three trunk loads of gold bullion, which happens to be underneath a missionary church. And it is during then the star of the movie, Father Anthony arrives by carriage and is pre-warned by a large guy wearing a Yankee outfit, Goliath (Victor Stocchi) about the church itself surrounded by the "Three Ace Gang" and their men. And since they were not getting the right answers from the pastor, they would then string him up over a well, dunking him so that he would tell them what he knows, at the same time threatening to ignite explosives set around the monastery since people are guarding it and are having a shootout with 'Three Ace Gang" and their men. When they finally ignite the explosives killing almost everybody, they would then make their move to remove the hidden bullion, figuring out how and when to cash the gold bricks. And just as soon as they leave assuming that they had killed the pastor, Father Anthony who is really a professional gunfighter Tony Lanza (William Berger) saved and pulled out by Goliath, they would then plot and intercept the gold from them. There are also other characters as well, that appear to pop out of nowhere, such as Ringo (Tony Di Mitri) the only living survivor of the explosion who seeks help from Ola, and bar runner Tim and hostess, Carol.

If anyone were to look at the poster of this movie thinking that the star of this movie pastor Tony Lanza is going to pick up a hand gun and use it against the the three Ace Gang and their men will be gravely disappointed, as the longest time he holds one is if one were to stare him holding one while looking at the poster, for near the end of the movie, he almost uses one but instead of holding a colt, he is holding a rifle. It's one of the worst spaghetti Westerns ever made as the poster itself can be described as false advertising.
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