And Now They Call Him Sacramento (1972)

Michael Forest is Sacramento; Fernando Bilbao his strong-arm sidekick Jim. They rob a train, just as it’s being robbed by another gang of outlaws.

Turns out those outlaws are working for Mr. Cray, banker of a nearby town.

Their goal: Steal the money the settlers plan to use to pay off the loans on their land. Cray, you see, wants that land.

When Sacramento meets pretty Jenny McKinley (Malisa Longo), a leader among the settlers, he starts thinking about turning the money back over to her.

Jim disagrees. But that matters little, because their “father” Tequila (Luigi Bonos) has swiped the loot; then had it swiped from him in turn by the original bandits.

Review:

A comedy Western in the Terence Hill-Bud Spencer mold, notable only for the fact that just about the entire town set is destroyed in the final showdown.

It starts out with a neat gimmick. Like oh, so many Spaghetti Western heroes, Forest as Sacramento walks into a saloon and orders milk instead of whiskey.

He’s made fun of, of course. What the other patrons don’t know is that the milk is for his horse. Returning back inside, Sacramento proves his love of a real man’s drink.

But it’s downhill from there, with large parts of the film playing out like a Roadrunner cartoon … a not very entertaining Roadrunner cartoon. Especially the prolonged final “showdown,” complete with mid-fight stunts that are more likely to make you shake your head than smile.

Directed by:
Alfonso Balcazar

Cast:
Michael Forest … Sacramento
Fernando Bilbao … Jim
as Fred Harrison
Luigi Bonos … Tequila
Malisa Longo … Jenny McKinley
Antonio Molino Rojo … Mr. Cray
Antonio Almoros … Sheriff
Gasper Gonzalez … Jack, Cray henchman
Juan Farre … Tony, Cray henchman
as Johnny Fairen
Juan Torres … Blinky, bartender

Also with: Fernando Rubio, Manuel Muñiz as “Pajarito”, Raúl Aparici, Sergio Aparici, Cesar Ojinaga, Bruno Arié, Roberto Messina, Luigi Antonio Guerra, Manuel Bronchud, Bruno Ukmar, Giovanni Ukmar, Mario Del Vago, Irene D’Astrea, Fabio Garriba

aka
I bandoleros della dodicesima ora
Now They Call Him Amen
Sacramento
Desperado

Score: Willy Brezza
Song: “Sundown Son” sung by Dream Bags

Runtime: 90 min.

Memorable lines:

Bar patron to bartender after Sacramento has blown up the saloon with a stick of dynamite: “Blinky, I told you that whiskey is dynamite.”

Sacramento to Tequila: “Don’t wear your brains out. That ain’t your business.”

Sacramento, as he rides into a camp of women: “Do you see what I see?”
Jim: “I don’t see anything. I’m hungry.”

Trivia:

Standing 6-foot-3, Michael Forest appeared in a number of Roger Cormon films in the late 1950s and 1960s, like “The Sage of the Viking Woman and Their Voyage to the Water of the Great Sea Serpent.” He also appeared on stage in productions befitting his real name, Gerald Michael Charlebois.

Luigui Bonos who plays Jim’s father and Sacramento’s adopted father in this film had roles in “My Name is Trinity” and “Trinity Is Still My Name,” comedy Spaghettis in the same vein.

Michael Forest as Sacramento, catching Tequila trying to sneak off with some of the loot in And Now They Call Him Sacramento (1972)

Fernando Bilbao (Fred Harrison) as Jim, pretending to be far more pious than he is in And Now They Call Him Sacramento (1972)

Luigi Bonos as Tequila, surprised that Sacramento and Jim won’t trust him with the stolen loot in And Now They Call Him Sacramento (1972)

Malisa Longo as Jenny McKinley lets banker Cray know what she thinks of his business practices in And Now They Call Him Sacramento (1972)