E per tetto un cielo di stelle

Plot synopsis:
Roger Pratt and his band stop a stagecoach and kill the driver and the passengers, including a priest and a young woman, but the man he expected is not there so he also shoots his informant. Tim, who in fact is that man, arrives later by horse to the scene and starts digging graves. Harry watches him, approaches and gives help, and then rides off without saying a word.
Later Tim sees Harry among gold miners in a saloon, losing at poker, and expose the games as crooked – but he refuses to draw against the gambler, showing that he carries no gun. There is a brawl and they are beaten out. Harry tells Tim he has gold that he has mined hidden in his underwear and the latter suggests that he deposits it in the bank at Pueblo city. Next day Tim and some accomplishes manage to convince the gullible Harry that a shack in the deserted town of Pueblo city is a temporary bank office. When Harry loses his deposit slip and returns, all are gone.
Harry finds Tim at a market and attacks him. Tim says he has invested his share in the tent and water basin for a mermaid show. The upset Harry destroys the tent and basin and crying he tells Tim that he was to use the gold to buy cattle for a ranch that he inherited from his father. Tim promises to help him get the money back and leaves, waving to the "mermaid".
They try to make money running a fake telegraph service but have to escape from Pratt’s gang, joining a funeral procession. Tim eyes the beautiful widow and tells Harry that the dead man was a famous bank robber and that he will make the widow tell where the loot is hidden. By pretending to be a close friend of the dead husband he gets invited in for food, and to keep out the anxious Harry, who keeps knocking at the window, he tells him that the loot is buried under a tree. At night Harry digs a deep hole while Tim gets the widow into bed. When Harry learns the truth from some passers-bye he breaks into the house and starts a fight and the widow runs out in her underwear calling for the sheriff.
In jail Harry has money for bail, and Tim convinces him to pay for both, because Harry will need help to escape from the Pratt gang, who they see arrive. At night they slip out, but the gang finds them sleeping and beats them, before stringing up Harry in a tree. Tim then jump kicks the man holding him at gunpoint, takes the gun and shoots off the rope, and kills the five men, though Pratt escapes. He tells Harry that he tries to avoid using a gun, as it is the same as a calling card for him. Harry sees that the men are all shot in the forehead and learns that Tim really is the gunfighter Billy Boy, who had a run-in with Pratt’s father and killed two of Pratt's brothers who were sent against him.
They stop at a cantina and see a Wells Fargo wagon transporting gold from a mine. The waiter points out Frank Benton who is obsessed with the idea of robbing the wagon. Harry suggests that they join forces but Billy wants to avoid men with fixed ideas. He says that they shall paint a wagon like the Wells Fargo one and arrive to the mine earlier and pick up the gold – without any bloodshed. While Billy sleeps Harry goes with the plan to Benton and they paint the wagon and pick up the gold. However when they get a military escort to town Benton shoots them, and is about to shoot the protesting Harry when Billy drops him with a bullet in his head. The two have to escape from the posse though, without any gold.
They find the inherited ranch being a run-down shack. They start repairing it, and Billy charms the hardware owner’s wife into giving them credit while Harry ”fishes” cups from the shelf with a rod. They have no cattle but some rabbits, which has been Billy’s pet project earlier.
We see Pratt the older join with his son and a new gang. They attack the house but are driven back by Billy’s fire. They besiege the house and send out men with dynamite. One gets up at the roof but falls through (at a place where we earlier have seen Harry fall). Billy lets part of the dynamite explode while they take cover and then lets the rest explode when the gang enters the house. Harry disappears in the explosion when he tries to save the rabbits. When Billy searches for Harry, Pratt the older gets the drop on him. When Roger approaches with his knife Billy walks aside to make him walk into a trap (who he earlier has said never caught the fox it was meant for) and he uses the opportunity to draw and shoot them. Harry now emerges. Billy says that the house can be rebuilt by Harry but that he will leave as he has only been bad luck. Harry, however, gets on his horse and accompanies him.

Tags: western, revenge

Review:
fun, well-made spaghetti western.
This is a spaghetti western that is genuinely funny, but it also has its share of serious action which keeps it from being just another run-of-the-mill light-weight comedy.Adorf and Gemma are great as the protagonists of this film, and I find them much more believable than Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
Federico Boido and Anthony Dawson are even better as the over-the-top father-and-son villains who are hunting for Gemma.
The showdown at the end of the film is classic.The music score by Ennio Morricone is great, as always, even though its far from being one of his best.This is definitely a movie worth watching, especially for Euro-western fans..
Haunting Morricone Score is Highlight of Comedy Western.
This film opens with a classic sequence.
A stagecoach is attacked by a gang, with all the passengers brutally massacred.
Cue Morricone's haunting soundtrack as the camera focuses on the dead, and in particular the face of a blonde girl.
A hand brushes the dust from her face,and the camera pans up to show the sorrowful face of Billy (Giuliano Gemma).
A truly moving scene, but made particularly so because of Morricone's music.In a way, this opening sequence is quite out of place with the remainder of the movie.
The rest is a light-hearted affair, based around the partnership of Billy and Larry (Mario Adorf).
This is a perfect foil for Billy, who is a convincing conman and successful in getting the better out of his gullible partner throughout the film (including robbing him of his entire life savings).The action really hots up when the character of Roger Pratt (Federico Boido) is introduced properly (until this stage, he is purely the face of the gang leader from the opening ambush).
He is a brutal man, tracking down Billy on behalf of his father Samual Pratt (Anthony Dawson).
The second half of the movie concentrates on this pursuit, with Samual also arriving on the scene and proving to be as barbaric as his short-fused offspring.Director Giulio Petroni (of "Death Rides a Horse" fame) adopts a similar style to the one used in his later Milian cast "Life is Tough, Right Providence?".
Anyone that has read my other reviews will probably have noticed that I do not generally like the more light-hearted westerns.
However, I did very much enjoy most of this particular film (the same could not be said of "Providence" incidentally).Gemma does not look as comfortable with the more comedic role as he does to that of an angel-faced gunman.
But he still looks and acts the part - as likable in this film as ever.
Adorf meanwhile is suitably oafish (in a role that would have been perfect for Bud Spencer), as Boido and Dawson are villainous.A particular highlight of the film is a superb scene as Billy cons his way into the house of a beautiful Widow (played by the frankly gorgeous Magda Konopka).
Another very beautiful Spaghetti Western actress, part sorrowful and part sexually teasing.As my review closes, I must dwell further on that opening sequence.
The background to this massacre is never fully explained - perhaps those killed have been unfortunate acquaintances of Billy, and suitably punished by the Pratt gang.
And, in its serious nature, it perhaps feels like a scene that doesn't really belong in this film.
if you watch it for no other reason, then watch it for this powerful prologue (even close your eyes just to hear Morricone's score).
I am also quite confident as you sit through the whole film that you will find other scenes that you will enjoy..
Sympathetic and hilarious but mediocre Spaghetti comedy Western shot in Almeria , Spain , as usual.
This Pasta Western displays noisy action , thrills , stirring adventures , shoot'em up , brawls , and results to be pretty bemusing .
It stars Giuliano Gemma and Mario Adorf , both of whom are top-notch as likable freewheeling rogues , meanwhile taking on two ominous villains , the ruthless father pistolero : Anthony Dawson and and his son , the really villainous Rick Boyd .
This is an acceptable S.W. full of action , shootouts , fist-play and some touches of humor in charge of Giuliano Gemma as Billy Boy aka Tim Hawkins and Mario Adorf as Harry .
Outlaw Roger Pratt (Federico Boido) pursues drifter Tim (Giuliano Gemma) , that's why he thinks of being responsable the death of his children .
Later on , the stagecoach is attacked by the gang led by Pratt , with all the passengers (Chris Huerta) cruelly massacred.
There arrive two hobos , a swindler drifter named Tom (Gemma) and a burly innocent vagrant called Harry (Mario Adorf who is still playing) and soon become travelling companions .
But one of them, Tim , is being chased by a crazed killer and his group of gunmen to settle an old score .
At the beginning Tim swindles Harry , but a bit later on , both of whom befriend themselves .While they are fighting and hating each other , eventually , the two manage to live together for a time .
They are chased through the west , encountering scrape after scrape until the murderers catch up and the score is settled for good.
The roguish friends have their hands in everything , but especially on a beautiful widow called Dorothy McDonald (Magda Konopka) and a wonderful girl (Julie Menard) who works at a show as a mermaid or sirene .
Later on , the duo being relentlessly pursued , but they attempt to carry out a hold-up , assault Wells Fargo , and , finally face off their ruthless enemy , Pratt , and his cruel father (Anthony Dawson who acted in Death rides a horse) who at the end he arrives by train at the station.This entertaining engaging movie is crammed with crossfire , fist-fights, kicks , punches , overwhelming stunt work and lots of humor .
Gemma and Adorf are pretty good as two army men robbing and taking on a bunch of bandits and both of whom make their own stunts , as usual .
At the ending takes place the violent confrontation, a thrilling duel in Spaghetti style and under splendid musical score background .This Ravioli Western has Western action , shootouts, fights and brawls in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style .
It is an entertaining and amusing Pasta Western with the attractive actors , the Italian Giuliano Gemma and the German Mario Adorf forming an odd as well as funny couple.
This release has some cool and hilarious moments ; however, the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies are much better.
This is an acceptable S.W. full of action , shootouts , fist-play , some touches of humor in charge of Giuliano Gemma/Mario Adorf characters and enjoyable musical score by the great maestro composer Ennio Morricone .
Protagonists are very fine , they ravage the screen , they jump , bounds , hit and run ; plus , lots of jokes , laughs , they are a complete show , delivering a nice chemical .
Starred by Giuliano Gemma , in the beginning, he worked as stunt-man, and in small roles in big productions such as "Ben Hur" where his role was uncredited.
The director, Duccio Tessari, gave him the first role as protagonist in the film "Arrivano i Titani".
This was followed by important roles in "Angelica", by the French director Bernard Borderie, where Gemma has a leading role; and the first spaghetti western films where he was credited as Montgomery Wood.
He played several films of all kinds of genres as ¨Master touch¨ with Kirk Douglas , ¨Stay away¨ with Amidou , as well as ¨Africa Express¨ and ¨Safari Express¨co-starred by Ursula Andress and with similar artist and technician team , but especially Westerns such as ¨Una pistola per Ringo", "Il ritorno di Ringo" and "Un dollaro bucato" are among his greatest successes .
In the last years Gemma worked mostly for Italian television until his death by car accident .
This Italian/French coproduction release titled E per tetto un cielo di stelle (Italy) , or A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (United States) or Ciel de plomb (France) has some cool moments and a great number of hilarious scenes , adding a thrilling finale .
The film isn't always good , sometimes is fresh and diverting and on a couple of memorable occasions , it's frankly delicious .
In this very mild entertainment picture appears usual secondaries seen in several Spaghetti/Tortilla Westerns , many of them uncredited in brief appearances , such as Spanish players : Chris Huerta , Victor Israel, as Italian people such as : John Bartha ,Riccardo Pizzuti as Poker player in saloon , Benito Stefanelli, Ivan Scratuglia .Nice cinematography filmed on location in Spain : Poblado Tabernas, Almeria, Andalucia, Spain.
Very good musical score by Ennio Morricone style and full of catching sounds and haunting environment .
Morricone displays a sensitive musical leitmotif and he composed lots of Spaghetti Western scores .
This Italian writer/filmmaker so consistently mixed the good with the mediocre that it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next .
He wrote some Westerns and filmed a classic Italian Western as ¨Death rides a horse¨ with Lee Van Cleef and John Philip Law , though also shot other inferior but acceptable Spaghettis such as ¨Night of serpent¨ and this ¨A sky full of stars for a roof¨ in which he takes a similar style to the one used in his later Thomas Milian cast "Life is Tough, Right Providence?¨.
Director Giulio Petroni (of "Death Rides a Horse" fame) made is a passable entertaining juvenile that will appeal to Italian comedy western buffs .
Average , only for Giuliano Gemma and worthwhile seeing for Spaghetti Western fans..
Okay Character-Driven Spaghetti Western.
Mario Adorf hunts down con-man Giuliano Gemma, who swindled him out of six-hundred dollars worth of gold, only to partner up with him for a series of crooked money-making schemes and a few encounters with a psychotic gunman from Gemma's past.This lightly comedic western is likable enough, though a little too loosely plotted.
However, the climax is definitely worth hanging around for.The entire film hangs solely on the charisma of it's two stars, who don't disappoint.
The score by Ennio Morricone is pretty good too..
A SKY FULL OF STARS FOR A ROOF (Giulio Petroni, 1968) ***.
The first time I watched this I rated it only **1/2; among the first to send up the Spaghetti Western genre, I tended to overlook it in favor of the director's more sobering DEATH RIDES A HORSE and TEPEPA (both 1968).
Still, it's such an engaging, consistently entertaining and often uproariously funny film that rating it any lower than *** would suggest that it's less than good, which certainly isn't the case!
The film's rambling narrative revolves yet again around the buddy-buddy formula in an obviously broader vein; even so, the film has its serious side since it opens with a stagecoach massacre and a similar fate befalls a couple of traveling circus performers towards the end - the perpetrators are a gang of criminals hotly in pursuit of ex-comrade and sharpshooter Giuliano Gemma who wants out (he doesn't even carry a gun anymore), preferring to make his living as a confidence-trickster (which, as it turns out, is no less precarious or law-abiding than being a bandit!).His companion, more often dupe, is Mario Adorf turning in an inspired performance as the gullible and gruff yet amiable would-be rancher (whom Gemma embroils in many a scheme - fake telegraph service, circus acts involving a siren and Adorf himself fitted with a loincloth and breathing fire - to fleece the unsuspecting townsfolk).
At one point, Adorf himself is made to invest all his savings in an inexistent bank and, later, falls for his partner's ruse that a funeral procession they meet up with is for a famous bandit who has a fortune buried in his back-yard (only to learn, after having dug a hole "all the way down to Hell", that he had been wheelchair-bound since childhood) just so Gemma could make out with the deceased's luscious young wife - the dinner-table scene between Gemma and Magda Konopka here is highly reminiscent of the celebrated one featured in TOM JONES (1963).
Forsaking Gemma for a visionary drunk, Adorf manages to rob a gold shipment by posing as a Wells Fargo employee - though his partner in this venture turns out to be a bloodthirsty maniac who mows down an entire Army platoon which sets out in pursuit of them!
Anthony Dawson turns up at the climax as the sadistic chief villain; having taken refuge in Adorf's dilapidated ranch (which they leisurely restore), our heroes then see their dreamhouse literally go up in smoke when they are forced to blow the place up with Dawson's gang still inside!
The tireless Ennio Morricone provides yet another exemplary score; the wistful main theme is especially striking..
Mixed signals from this film.
A psychotic gunman is hunting for a man called Billy.
Another stranger turns up and together the bury the corpses to the haunting, melancholic tune of Ennio Morricone's soundtrack.
What follows is a...comedy?This is the most bi-polar Western I've ever seen.
Morricone's soundtrack is heart wrenching and beautiful.
Mood swings?One stranger is Giuliano Gemma and he's the guy on the run from the psycho.
The other guy is Mario Adorf and he's a miner with a bit of gold but not a lot of brains.
Gemma is at first out to con Adorf which does over and over again, but then Adorf is so kind and big hearted the two of them just bond.
However, there's still that crazy guy and is family to worry about.It's kind of a road movie as the two characters head for Adorf's ranch and encounter various characters, like the fake Mermaid lady or the bank robbers.
None of it should work but it all kind of does anyway as the man behind the camera is the guy who made Death Rides A Horse.
Kind of weird to take though as people are still gunned down brutally ala a Spaghetti Western from 1968, but has huge bar fights and punch ups like a 1972 Spaghetti Western.I was curious to watch it as I'd never seen Mario Adorf in a Spaghetti Western before.
Gemma is the usual goofy charmer and a ladies man..
A really odd spaghetti western.
The most interesting thing about this odd spaghetti western is that you can see that it probably was an influence on the wildly successful comic spaghetti western "They Call Me Trinity" that came out two years later.
Among other things, the two leads here have some of the trademarks Terence Hill and Bud Spencer sported in the later movie.
However, Hill and Spencer's comedies didn't sport some scenes of harsh violence as this film does, which doesn't fit at all with the otherwise lighthearted spirit.
Also, the comedy in this movie really isn't all that funny, being mostly simple-minded slapstick and silliness you will have seen in other comedies before.
And under the direction of Giulio Petroni, the movie unfolds at a really slow pace.
There is some merit to be found here and there, particularly a fine musical score by the ever reliable Ennio Morricone, but as a whole the movie is a really tired and uninspired effort..
Low Key Buddy Spaghetti-Western.
After a violent opening - a stagecoach assault - this buddy western delivers little of the usual violence and action which pertain to the Spaghetti Western subgenre.
Slow witted Harry (played in a comedic style by Mario Adorf) seems to have waited for the assault to come sitting right next to his packed mule.
As the movie goes on the two small time con men are going through various episodic adventures.
Those who look for tough heroes or serious characters should abstain from this film but if you like to pay little attention to a story this one could be a recommendation.Very unusual score from E.
Morricone which underlines the low key mood of the story and good but not outstanding cinematography.4 / 10.
Two drifters, a confidence trickster named Billy who believes in doing things "clever" and the dim-witted Harry who dreams of owning a ranch, journey across the wilderness after Billy has conned Harry out of some gold.
However, a bloodthirsty band of killers are after Billy which means that both men's lives are in danger...Guilio Petroni brings us the peculiarly titled ...And For A Roof, A Sky Full Of Stars.
The plot is almost nonexistent and doesn't become clear until nearly halfway through the film.
It's very much a Jekyll-and-Hyde effort, the film begins and ends like most Spaghetti westerns but it's really a lighthearted buddy adventure.
It just doesn't know what it wants to be, the segments of wisecracking comic relief are punctuated by familiar scenes of brutality that one expects from the genre.
Giuliano Gemma and Mario Adorf are our protagonists who give above par performances, the chemistry between them is decent and the movie itself plods along at a reasonable pace.
The action scenes are sparse here, we've seen them all before and there is nothing spectacular where they're concerned.
Morricone delivers a rousing score which will be instantly recognised by Spaghetti fans.
The sequence in which Billy seduces a stunning looking young widow(played by the gorgeous Magda Konopka) who's just buried her husband is definitely the film's highlight, as a matter of fact it's probably the only reason that it is worth another viewing.
It is here that the film is at it's funniest and the entire sequence is truly sublime, I was mesmerised watching Billy and the widow eat Turkey as they stare lustfully at each other....And For A Roof, A Sky Full Of Stars is an above average effort that is far from great, but it's entertaining and will put a smile on your face.