When a sadistic aristocrat named Ferguson (Mark Damon) has an entire Mexican village murdered to steal their land, one young boy survives and is rescued by a traveling preacher and his family.
Years later, with no recollection of the massacre, the young man (Lou Castel) sets off in search of his adopted sister Princy, who has run off with a traveling circus.
He finds her working in forced prostitution in a saloon managed by a gunman named Dean Light.
And who owns the saloon? Ferguson, of course. After all, he owns nearly everything else in San Antonio as well.
Requiescant — the name he’s given because of his habit of saying “rest in peace” every time he guns down a man — sets about freeing Princy.
In the process, he comes face to face with his past, and eventually sets out to right the long ago wrong committed by Ferguson and his henchmen.
Lou Castel as Requiescant, ordering two more funerals in Requiescant (1967)
Mark Damon as George Bellow Ferguson, watching his men torture Requiescant in Requiescant (1967)
Review:
Better than average Spaghetti with some truly memorable scenes. Like Ferguson and Requiescant participating in a drunken shooting duel, aiming at candles held by a frightened Mexican peasant.
Like Requiescant and Dean Light dueling while standing on stools with ropes around their necks, trying to shoot off the legs of the stools so the other man hangs. Like Requiescant finding refuge in a church bell when Ferguson and his men use dynamite to blow up his hideout. The final shootout is unique too.
Director Carlo Lizzani also adds a touch of the bizarre. When Princy gets angry with Dean Light, he forces her to take drugs so she’s more likely to comply with his lascivious demands.
And his sidekick, Burt, has this strange habit of rubbing a toy doll against his cheek. But most bizarre of all is Mark Damon’s obviously gay villain, who seems to grow paler and grayer as the film progresses.
Barbara Frey as a young Princy dreams of a more exciting life in Requiescant (1967)
Mirella Maravidi as Edith Ferguson, fearful of her husband for good reason in Requiescant (1967)
Director:
Carlo Lizzani
Cast:
Lou Castel … Requiescant
Mark Damon … Ferguson
Pier Paolo Pasolini … Juan
Barbara Frey … Princy
Franco Citti … Burt
Carlo Palmucci … Dean Light
Rossana Martini … Lupe
as Rossana Krisman
Mirella Maravidi … Edith
Luisa Baratto … Mexican servant
as Liz Barrett
Jacques Stany … Klein
Nino Musci … Mute
Ninetto Davoli … El nino
Anna Carrer … Lavinia
Lorenza Guerrieri … Marta
Ferrucio Viotti … Father John
Also with: Pier Annabale Danovi, Vittorio Duse, Ivan G. Scratuglia, Renato Terra, Massimo Scarchielli, Aldo Marianecci, Maruo Mannatrizio, America Castrighella, Spartaco Conversi, Corinne Fontaine
aka …
Kill and Pray
Let Them Rest
Score: Riz Ortolani
Runtime: 110 min.
Carlo Palmucci as Dean Light, Ferguson’s favorite fast gun in Requiescant (1967)
Franco Citti as Burt, one of George Ferguson’s top guns in Requiescant (1967)
Memorable lines:
Requiescant, trying to eat a piece of bread that Dean Light shoots out of his hand: “A pity to waste good bread.”
Dean: “More of a pity to waste good bullets.”
Dinner guest, watching Ferguson and Requiescant try to shoot out candles being held by a servant girl: “Don’t worry. Even if you shoot off two fingers, she’ll still have enough to scratch with.”
Ferguson: “I will not be beaten. I’m an aristocrat. Understand. An aristocrat.”
Ferguson to Edith: “You know Edith, one thing I always admired in you was your great dignity. Don’t disappoint me in death.”
Massimo Sarchielli as Leonardo Marquez, a revolutionary leader tricked into a massacre in Requiescant (1967)
Piero Paolo Pasolini as Juan, religious leader of the revolutionaries in Requiescant (1967)
Trivia:
Mark Damon calls this one of his favorite Spaghetti Western roles, even though he wasn’t playing the lead or the smirking hero, but a sadistic, somewhat gay, bitter ex-Confederate, convinced of his superiority as an aristocrat of Southern society.
This marked one of the final film roles for German-born actress Barbara Frey, who appeared in about two dozen films and also had a credited role in “Stranger in Sacramento.” She was briefly married to Mark Damon in the early 1970s. Her final film role was an uncredited part as a nurse in “Slaughterhouse Five” (1972).
In a 2013 interview, Castel said he found Westerns boring, but had fun putting little twists on the genre’s conventions. So you’ll see him urging his horse to go faster by smacking it on the rump with a flying pan. At one point while doing so, Castel’s hat flew off. Carlo Lizzani edited it to appear that Castel caught the hat in the frying pan and use the pan to place it back on his head. “I was trying to be a little big of (Charlie) Chaplin or whatever,” he said.
Piero Paolo Pasolini, a famous director at the time, plays the role of priest and leader of the Mexican people, the man who reluctantly recruits Requiescant to lead the Rebels because of his fast gun.
Luisa Baratto as a Mexican servant holding the target in a match between drunk marksmen in Requiescant (1967)
Nino Musco as the mute Mexican who befriends Requiescant in Requiescant (1967)
Rossana Martini (Rossana Krisman) as Lupe, a whore turned revoluntionary in Requiescant (1967)
Requiescant’s adoptive parents, including Ferruccio Viotti as Father John in Requiescant (1967)
Lou Castel as Requiescant tries to convince Princy (Barbara Frey) to start life anew in Requiescant (1967)
Barbara Frey as Princy, under duress and at the mercy of Ferguson’s top gun hands in Requiescant (1967)
Lou Castel as Requiescant, caught in a tight spots between Dean Light (Carlo Palmucci) and Burt (Franco Citti) in Requiescant (1967)
Mark Damon as George Bellow Ferguson, upset at an interfering wife in Requiescant (1967)
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