Une corde... un Colt...

Plot synopsis:
Will Rogers, the despotic patriarch of a wealthy cattle ranching family, forces the sheep farming Caine brothers - Ben, Thomas, and Eli - to sell off their land. In retaliation, the Caines steal a shipment of gold coins intended for the Rogers; during their escape, Ben is wounded. Thomas and Eli ride to their ranch, while Ben, upon returning to his home, is ambushed by the Rogers and lynched as his wife, Maria, is forced by Will's sons to watch. The Rogers then ride to Thomas and Eli's ranch and burn down their house. The brothers ride to Maria's home to find her burying her husband, give her a third-share of the stolen money, and suggest that they leave for Mexico.
Driven by revenge, Maria take the money to a ghost town surrounded by dunes, where she meets its lone inhabitant, Manuel. A gunfighter with a fetishistic habit of wearing a black leather glove in duels, Manuel had once shared a polyamorous relationship with Maria and Ben, but he left the pair to marry in order to suppress his violent nature. Maria asks him to avenge Ben on her behalf - although reluctant and sceptical, Manuel accepts her offer.
Manuel rides to a nearby town and stays at a hotel that Will's sons frequent. In the local saloon, vigilantes from the rival Vallee family confront and attack the Rogers brothers in an attempt to run them out of town. Manuel kills the Vallees, and is quickly arrested. The next morning, the Rogers brothers bribe the sheriff into releasing Manuel, and take him to their family's ranch. Thankful for saving his sons, Will provides Manuel a job as the ranch's foreman. That night, Manuel dines with the Rogers and their ranch hands, during which he opens a jar of mustard to find a jack-in-the-box, resulting in both dinner tables erupting with laughter as they accept him as their friend.
Later, Manuel opens the ranch's corral and frees the horses; during the commotion as the Rogers try to pursue their mounts, he kidnaps Diana, Will's teenage daughter, and takes her to the ghost town. To ensure that they exact their ultimate revenge on the Rogers, Thomas and Eli rape Diana, while Maria and Manuel, growing increasingly impassioned and uncomfortable with the situation that is transpiring, wait outside in the street. Maria rides to the Rogers ranch and demands that they re-bury Ben in the town cemetery in exchange for Diana's life. They begrudgingly accept, and provide Ben with a sizeable funeral procession and burial. Thomas and Eli, fearing that Maria's revenge scheme will result in disaster, attempt to convince Manuel to surrender Diana to them, but they are forced to leave when he threatens to kill them.
The Rogers capture the Caine brothers; in exchange for $2000, Thomas offers to return Diana to her family that night. His attempt to surprise Maria and Manuel fails, and they shoot him. Thomas' horse drags his dead body to the rendezvous point, where Eli confesses that Diana is in the ghost town. Upon learning this, Will has him dragged to death by a horse. Maria and Manuel leave the ghost town separately; Manuel takes Diana back to her family's ranch, while Maria returns to her home to wait for Manuel so that they can travel north and escape. However, the Rogers, believing that she and Manuel have killed Diana, are waiting for her. Manuel finds Maria mortally wounded; admitting that she had married Ben out of fear of not seeing Manuel again, she dies in his arms.
Manuel rides to the ghost town to see the Rogers waiting for him on one side of the street, and he guns them down in quick succession. Diana, on horseback and armed with a rifle, witnesses the duel. Manuel removes his "killing glove", disarms himself and confronts Diana, who shoots him and rides away as he dies in the sand.

Tags: western, revenge, murder

Review:
Une corde, un Colt (AKA: Cemetery Without Crosses) is directed by Robert Hossein, who also stars and co-writes the screenplay with Dario Argento and Claude Desailly.
Music is by Andre Hossein and cinematography by Henri Persin.After being forced to watch the lynching of her husband by the ruthless Rogers family, Maria Caine (Mercier) asks her inept brothers-in-law for help in retribution.
Getting no joy from the pair, she seeks outside help in the form of fast gun Manuel (Hossein), a loner living in solitude out at a ghost town...It's dedicated to Sergio Leone, who directs one of the best scenes in the film, contains the Argento factor, so it's not really a shock to proclaim that Leone's influence is all over Hossein's movie.
Dialogue is used sparingly, but not to the detriment of film's quality, and Hossein the director dallies in black and white staging, slow zooms and excellent usage of sound effects.Much like the dialogue, the violence is pared down, there's no Blunderbuss infused blood laden approach to the evil that men do here, it's all very controlled and in keeping with the tonal flows that Hossein favours.
The cliché's of the sub-genre are adhered to throughout, thankfully so, while the finale is suitably melancholic.Thoughtful, sombre and ripe with blurry ambiguity, Cemetery Without Crosses is comfortably recommended to the Euro Western fan.
As a gunslinger (Robert Hossein) saves the damsel in distress who is also his former flame (Michelle Mercier) and at the same time she is seeking revenge for death her husband .
Later on , there takes place kidnapping , killings , street shootouts at a ghost town and tragic events .This classic Western titled ¨Une Corde, Un Colt..." or "Cemetery Without Crosses" or "The Rope and the Colt" contains slow and deliberating filming , elaborate shoot-outs , and portentous close-ups of grime-encrustred faces with heinous bloodbaths included .
Special mention to Michele Mercier as attractive as well as vengeful widow .This is a well-made French/Italian production , in spite of , there appears usual Spanish secondary players from Paella/Ravioli Western , mostly uncredited , such as Simón Arriaga , José Canalejas , Álvaro De Luna , Charly Bravo , Cris Huerta , Lorenzo Robledo and Angel Alvarez as a Barman likeness to his role in Django .
Unforgettable and terrific original music by André Hossein , in Ennio Morricone style , including a catching leitmotif , one of the best of Spaghetti .
This stylish , violent , laconic Western was very well shot by Robert Hossein and is dedicated to Sergio Leone , who made one of the more important scenes .
Director Robert Hossein claims that Dario Argento was not involved in writing the screenplay with perhaps not more than two dozen lines of dialog ; Dario Argento is listed in the credits on the Italian and German versions but not on the French version .
Robert Hossein said that the dinner scene at the Rogers house was directed by Sergio Leone.
The film has a feeling of loneliness as much of it takes place in a deserted ghost town which has apparently become the home of the protagonist.The movie is populated with bitter characters that are primarily motivated by revenge.
This is because we are left to wonder what their history is until close to the end of the film when it is finally revealed.The music score is excellent.
It all works wonderfully with the film.This is a high-quality spaghetti western that is riveting and entertaining.
And, although the story itself probably has little to set it apart from many other films within the Euro Western genre, it more than makes up for it with its effective use of camera work and great character portrayal.
Having witnessed her husband Ben (a brief but welcome appearance by Benito Stefanelli) executed by the Rogers family, Maria (played by stunning french actress Michèle Mercier) seeks revenge on the killers.
Unable to rely on her two oafish brothers-in-law to assist, she seeks help from Ben's best friend (and, as we find out, Maria's former lover) Manuel (Robert Hossein).Manuel enlists himself as a member of the Rogers gang, enabling him to capture the only daughter.
With the scene now set, the bloodshed and twists to the story soon commence.The character of Manuel is quite unlike any other main western lead that I have seen.
Hossein, who both played the part of Manuel and directed the movie, plays this solemn and complex character superbly.Hossein's direction is really eye catching too, with the camera work demonstrating more than a little nod in the direction of a certain Mr Leone (to whom there is a suitable credit in the end title sequence).
Well worth the wait...a film that stands up extremely well against the better non-Leone spaghetti westerns (Great Silence, Big Gundown, Bullet for the General, Day of Anger,Face to Face, etc) and at least as well against a Fistful of Dollars.
The qualities inherent in this Spaghetti Western have more to do with its uniqueness rather than for any outstanding merit: the film, in fact, is a French-Italian co-production (albeit co-scripted by none other than Dario Argento!).
Also unusual is the fact that the movie was helmed by its own leading man  incidentally, the two stars (Hossein and Michele Mercier) had just finished the 5-picture "Angelique" series, which is currently being re-proposed on Italian TV (I've recorded four of them so far but have yet to watch any).
Of the remaining cast members, I was mainly familiar with Michel Lemoine (perhaps best-known for playing the Mephistophelean figure in Jess Franco's SUCCUBUS [1967] and who would himself graduate to direction with the likes of SEVEN WOMEN FOR Satan [1974]); though his character isn't given any distinguishing features, the actor's odd looks are enough to give an offbeat tone to the traditional Western garb and settings.The plot  a running feud between two factions, with each of whom the laid-back and detached ex-gunfighter Hossein becomes involved  is quite typical and straightforward; actually, the hero had been Mercier's flame but the latter eventually married another man, who turned out to be no goodthough she's determined that the perpetrators of his death be punished, which is why she now turns once more to Hossein (living a hermitic existence in a nearby ghost town!).
In direct opposition to the "Angelique" films mentioned above  where the sensuality of Mercier, one of the loveliest starlets of her time, was given center-stage  here, she deliberately chose to be deglamorized (not only forced to bury her husband all by herself but being physically manhandled by the villains at the end).
Much of what's admirable in the genre at its best is evident here as well: laconic dialogue, good action (ominously donning a glove before engaging in shoot-outs, Hossein's gunplay is so quick as to border on the invisible!), terrific score (by the director's father Andre'!) and an evocatively grubby look (the opening and closing moments, then, are given an added dimension by being presented in sepia); interestingly, Hossein dedicated the film to his friend (and undisputed master of the genre) Sergio Leone!.
Ever since I saw Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) as a child after burrowing into my brother's VHS collection, I've loved spaghetti westerns.
With her livelihood destroyed and Ben's brothers Thomas (Guido Lollobrigida) and Eli (Michel Lemoine) opting to flee across the border, Maria turns to old friend Manuel (Robert Hossein), a brooding gunslinger residing in a nearby ghost town, for help.
Manuel soon infiltrates the Rogers family and joins them on their ranch, where he sets Maria's revenge in motion.Though more of a homage to spaghetti westerns, Cemetery Without Crosses certainly looks and feels like it was born and reared in Italy.
But the plot is wafer-thin, so the camera is often left lingering while the characters do little or nothing at all, and the dialogue is especially sparse, even for a spaghetti western.
After finally seeing this in a very good print I believe it to be one of the best of the non Leone Spaghettis.
Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) *** (out of 4)Manuel (Robert Hossein) is asked by his former lover (Michele Mercier) to seek out the men who murdered her husband.
The gunslinger agrees to take the job so he gets some help and heads out to take the gang down.CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES was a French/Italian co-production that has gained much popularity over the years because it's basically a love letter to the style of Sergio Leone and the film is even dedicated to the legendary filmmaker.
This often time leads to a nice surprise with one of the best examples being a scene at the diner table.You're watching a group of men eat and we hear the sound of them chomping and then out of nowhere there's a little surprise that really works well.
cemetery without crosses(aka the rope and the colt) is one of the best spaghetti westerns out there.
one of the few spag westerns that actually feels like a Leone film(though a poor mans Leone).
the only thing wrong with the film is one scene where the main character is sitting at a dinner table and everybody starts looking at him.
Robert Hossein (who also co-wrote and directed) is a brooding, ghost town dwelling sharpshooter who, for either love or money, seeks vengeance against the family who apparently stole stole an ex-friend's livestock (or were they already stolen?) and hung him for trying to get them back.One of the most cynical and grim of the Euro-westerns, this is fairly stylish, told with a minimum of dialog.
However, the film owes a bit more in terms of storytelling to it's French half.As far as the movie goes, Cemetery Without Crosses was offbeat and definitely worth watching, though I didn't find it as brilliant as others make it out to be.Really puzzling is the writing credit issued to Dario Argento.
Unusual spaguetti western made by Robert Hossein in a beautiful Almeria landscape in Spain,a sort of a homage to Sergio Leone who actually directed a single dinner scene only,Hossein playing a quiet guy who wear a black glove every time he needs use a gun, a wise trademark for a gunman,and Michele Mercier as black widow for first time didn't use your sex appeal,on a serious acting,well made french-Italian production,finally something new for this genre!!!This movie just come out in box-set with four movie in spaguetti kind all them remastered with original audio!!those movie already available in brazilian maket on single has a bad image on dubbed version,mostly has a fake english audio!!Resume:First watch: 2018 /How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25.
I'm certainly the first one not to join the incredible chorus of praises.But seriously folks !Robert Hossein's forte has always been the thriller,the film noir, and several of his efforts are really worthwhile ,particularly " Toi Le Venin" "Le Jeu De La Vérité" and "La Mort D'Un Tueur";westerns are a different matter.Just before this spaghetti-western (it's rather a French fries western ,by the way) ,he and his star Michèle Mercier hit the big time with the five "Angélique Marquise Des Anges" movies ."Une Corde Un Colt" is a bad idea gone wrong;in France it got unanimous thumbs down .The cast is essentially French and (for a French),it's impossible to believe in their "characters" .The production is the poorest of all Hossein movies ,being thin and lacking any real positive (or negative) energy.A "visual " western it may be (with a dozen of lines),and they even hire "Angélique"'s cameraman ,Henri Persin,but there's nothing really visually beautiful to film.André Hossein,Robert's brother ,provides the score,as usual,and it's rather nice,although a bit anachronistic ,sounding late fifties/early sixties.
What may interest a number of viewers about this spaghetti western is that Dario Argento is given credit as one of the writers, though reports state that he actually had nothing to do with this movie.
If you are a spaghetti western fan of great patience, the movie does have some rewards, but even then you'll see that it could have been a lot better..
Having seen all of Leone's work, most of Corbucci's, and a decent amount of lesser-known spaghetti westerns, I went into this one not expecting a lot.
It has a great opening scene and is obviously well-written (Thanks Dario.) The main theme is a little different than other Italian westerns.
A downbeat ending was somewhat of a surprise, but overall "Cemetery Without Crosses" must be considered as nothing more than a slightly better than average "spaghetti".
After the worldwide success of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), Robert Hossein, an honorable French actor and director which had a previous Western "The Taste of Violence" (1961) in his credits, is trying one more time his luck in the same genre.
Many other elements of Leone's movies are present in this Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) too, Michèle Mercier is dressed and even resembles Marianne Koch from A Fistful of Dollars but, however, despite the charm of the two main actors, Hossein and Mercier (they have been together also in the successful "Angélique" series), the film is a total failure.
This is one for fans of the genre and for those who just love a good old western – not made in the West obviously, but not lacking in any way because of it – seriously recommended..
Listerning to the very good commentary on the Blue Underground edition of Dario Argento's directing debut,I was surprise to learn that Argento had originally started out as a screenwriter.Attempting "a mix and match" of Argento-written films that I would be able to purchase fairly easily,I was happy to discover,that whilst Argento's most famous screen writing credit is on Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West,I was very pleased to find a forgotten 1969 Spaghetti western that Argento had co-written with Claude Desailly and Robert Hossein (who also directed and starred in the film,along with his dad doing the movies score!)called Cemetery Without Crosses.And with hand holding a cowboy hat,and the other holding a pair of Giallo black gloves,I felt that I had a great opportunity to take a look around the cemetery with no crosses.The plot:After being forced to watch her husband get brutally murdered by a gang of outlaws,Marie Caine's day is not made any better when,whilst burring her husband two friends rush to tell her the bad news that almost all of the livestock that she and her husband owned has been killed.Desperate to show the outlaws that she wont go down without a fight,Marie gets hold of a horse and heads for the nearest town,where she eventually finds a mutual called Manuel.
Initially turning down Marie's pleas to help avenge the death of her husband,due to Manuel (who seems to have a strange obsession with wearing black leather gloves)feeling that "You believe in revenge,I don't."Manuel has a temporally laps from his written in stone rules of staying out of "other peoples business" and takes a quick look around his town,where he discovers all of the outlaws beating the residents up and beginning to act like the "law" of the town.Whilst still fearing about kicking off a cycle of revenge,Manuel begins to feel that if he does not help Marie to avenge the death of her husband and his (former) best friend,then the outlaws are defiantly gonna make sure that their "cycle of terror" never leaves the town,until they have complete control.View on the film:The first main thing that I have to say about this wonderful film,is that if you are a fan of dialogue-heavy movies,then prepare yourself to see something completely different,with this movie having only around 30 lines of dialogue for the whole of its 90 minute running time.Impressively screenwriters Robert Hossein,Dario Argento and Claude Desailly show that sometimes less really is more,with the chosen moments of dialogue being placed at perfect points in the films running time,thanks to it either helping to develop the films plot,or to push the mood of the movie into grimmer territory.Along with the film being one which can be easily enjoyed in its own right,the movie is also very interesting to look at in seeing the start of some themes that co-screenwriter Argento would expand upon in the future,with Manuel wearing black leather gloves,and the presence of a very prominent female lead character being two of the main things that Dario would carry on with later on.Although I have read quite a few times in magazines and online people saying that a scene in a film "could be put on a wall as a work of art",this has been one of the few films I have seen where it looks like the camera is filming actually works of art!.For his stunningly elegant directing,Robert Hossein shows himself to be a master of the wide shot,with the beautiful,wilderness natural locations being allowed to shine to their fullest,As Manuel goes around the increasingly dangerous wilderness of the town to help Marie avenge the death of her husband.Along with the stunning wide shots,Hossein gives the film a great "grim" look,which allows the wonderful performances from himself and the fantastic Michele Mercier (who had both starred in the 1964 film Angelique)to go from an attempt to find hope,to falling into dying despair.
Final view on the film:A wonderful,elegantly sparse Spaghetti Western with great performances and beautiful directing from actor,co-screenwriter and director Hossein..
Yes, `Une corde, un colt' is very stylish, just like the other great French western from 1968 (co-produced with Italy), `Le Grand Silence'.
It was much more than just a job for Robert Hossein, who co-produced, directed and co-scripted the movie and also played the main character, gunfighter Manuel.
Interesting note: Dario Argento contributed to the screenplay, and he worked on another film with a revenge story the same year: Once Upon A Time In the West!.
Cemetery Without Crosses is a spaghetti western probably most famous for being co-written by Dario Argento.