# God's Gun

God's Gun, also known as Diamante Lobo, is a 1976 Italian-Israeli Spaghetti Western cowritten and directed by Gianfranco Parolini (credited as Frank Kramer) and starring Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance, Leif Garrett, Richard Boone and Sybil Danning. Palance plays the head of a malicious group of bandits and Van Cleef plays a double-role of brothers: a priest and a reformed gunfighter. Leif Garrett plays the main character in the film as Johnny, a fatherless kid who brings the reformed gunfighter to town to avenge his brother's murder.
Instead of being filmed in Italy or Spain as most Spaghetti Westerns were, God's Gun was filmed in Israel and produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, two years before they bought Cannon films. The main cast's dialogue was dubbed: at least in the case of Lee Van Cleef and Richard Boone (who walked out of the film before the production was finished) it has been claimed in several reviews that both actors did not dub themselves in post-production, and the same thing has been said of Jack Palance's voice.

## Synopsis

One day Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) and his gang arrive in the small town of Juno City, where Father John (Lee Van Cleef) is the priest of the local church. The gang wreaks havoc in town, raping a woman and knifing a man in the back. They leave town, only to be caught by the fearless but unarmed Father John. After that, the gang member responsible for the murder is broken out of jail by Clayton and his gang. Vowing revenge, the gang ambushes and guns Father John down on the steps of his church, and then the outlaws take over the town while waiting for the arrival of the next stagecoach with money. However, Johnny O'Hara (Leif Garrett), a local boy, manages to escape town with a couple of their horses and rides off to Mexico in the hope of finding the priest's gunfighter twin brother Lewis (also Van Cleef). After the two meet they set off back across the border to clean up Juno and avenge Father John's murder. Meanwhile, Sam Clayton discovers that he is Johnny's father and it is revealed that some fifteen years earlier, during the American Civil War, Jenny O'Hara (Sybil Danning) had been one of Clayton's victims, adding to the mystery of Johnny's paternity.

## Cast

* Lee Van Cleef as Father John / Lewis
* Jack Palance as Sam Clayton
* Richard Boone as The Sheriff
* Sybil Danning as Jenny
* Leif Garrett as Johnny
* Robert Lipton as Jess Clayton
* Cody Palance as Zeke Clayton
* Ian Sander as "Red" Clayton
* Pnina Rosenblum as Chester "Chesty"
* Zila Carni as Juanita Lewis
* Heinz Bernard as Judge Barrett
* Didi Lukov as "Rip"
* Ricardo David as George "Angel George"
* Chin Chin as Willy
* Rafi Ben Ami as Mortimer

## Production

Leif Garrett and Lee Van Cleef starred together in two Westerns, Kid Vengeance (1976) and God's Gun, which were both filmed in 1975 in Israel. Both films would be the last of Van Cleef's Westerns. Although Kid Vengeance was filmed and completed before God's Gun, the latter movie was actually released before Kid Vengeance: God's Gun was released on March 1977, while Kid Vengeance was released on August 1977. Chronologically speaking, God's Gun was Van Cleef's last Western film.
After finishing God's Gun, Van Cleef and Garrett stayed in Israel and filmed another Western Kid Vengeance Filmed before Lee Van Cleef's final western Diamante Lobo (1976), but released afterwards.
Richard Boone walked off the film before it was completed, leaving his role to be dubbed by another actor. In an interview with Cleveland Amory in Israel in May 1976, Boone told Amory: "I'm starring in the worst picture ever made. The producer is an Israeli and the director is Italian, and they don't speak. Fortunately it doesn't matter, because the director is deaf in both ears."

## Home media

God's Gun was released on Blu-ray Disc in the Region A format by Kino Lorber on February 8, 2022.
A prior VHS release carried the title A Bullet from God.