Product: Boot Hill (1969)
Rating: 3.0
Boot Hill Spaghetti Western by Sergio Corbucci
Boot Hill is a Guiseppe Colizzi film and Colizzi also directed 'Ace High'. Spaghetti western fans will appreciate Boot Hill as an essential addition to their collections and Colizzi maintains the gritty realism throughout. Colizzi began experimenting with rapid action close-ups and handheld camera work in this film -- sometimes it works and sometimes doesn't. In the opening scene Colizzi manages to capture an 'art house' film effect which spaghetti western fans will love, but traditional western movie fans will probably deplore. Colizzi also introduces the idea of an Italian-style circus to a western town which is truly bizarre yet creative throughout. But the biggest problem with this movie - besides the technically poor rendering from film - is the lack of a cohesive plot structure. The story gets far ahead of itself early on and the viewer will wonder if 'Boot Hill' is really three separate films rolled into one. There is a midway point where a third character is introduced to effect a situation where the protagonist can explain things and even tell us what will happen next! To complicate matters further the roles of two characters are never made clear. Even after watching this movie several times it is not entirely understandable to most viewers that this movie is about a large mining company trying to defraud small prospectors from their claims, with a circus thrown in to create interest. Diehard spaghetti western fans love Colizzi's juxtaposed plot style and many of us watch these films over and over picking out new details every time. However if you like your movies straightforward and simple then forget this one! Pluses: Lionel Stander and Woody Strode. Minus: Poor media conversion and very confusing plot + Stander is killed in the end! 4 stars to diehard spaghetti western fans and 0 stars to traditional western fans.