A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Months in the mines have yielded a few hundred dollars for Harry (Mario Adorf), who dreams of using the money to fix up a ranch his uncle has left him near Jubilee Creek, Texas.

A new friend named Tim Hawkins (Giuliano Gemma) convinces Harry to deposit the money in a phony bank to finance his own get-quick-rich-scheme, a circus act featuring a phony mermaid. When he finds out, Harry destroys the mermaid tank and the tent that sheltered it.

But the bumbling friends have a bigger problem to worry about. Roger Pratt is on Tim’s trail, looking to settle an old score. And when he has trouble accomplishing the mission, his father, Samuel, shows up in person to make sure Tim pays for past misdeeds.

Meanwhile, Tim and Harry continue to try to outwit one another. But they’re also around to bail one another out of trouble when the need arises. And, to think, they only met because Harry took pity on Tim, who was trying to bury four victims of a stage holdup all by himself.

Giuliano Gemma as Tim in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Mario Adorf as Harry in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Review:

A comedy Western that isn’t very funny, though it’s far from the worst of the light-hearted buddy films that stemmed from the Spaghetti Western craze.

A couple of neat scenes: Harry loves to shoplift fancy teacups while Tim flirts with the shopkeeper’s daughter. Samuel tortures the phony mermaid into giving up our heroes whereabouts with a board full of nails. His son tests the sharpness of a dinner knife on a pretty barmaid’s arm, drawing blood. And Tim and Harry swindle residents of one town by setting up a phony telegraph line.

Still, this is a disappointment coming from the same director who brought us “Death Rides a Horse.”

Anthony Dawson as Samuel Pratt in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Franco Balducci as Brent in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Directed by:
Giulio Petroni

Cast:
Giuliano Gemma … Billy Boy/Tim Hawkins
Mario Adorf … Harry
Magda Konopka … Dorothy McDonald
Anthony Dawson … Samuel Pratt
Federico Boido … Roger Pratt
as Rick Boy
Julie Menard … Sirene / Donna
Sandro Dori … Sirene’s husband
Franco Balducci … Brent

aka …
e per tutto un cielo di stelle
Amigos

Score:
Ennio Morricone

Magda Konopka as Dorothy McDonald in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Federico Boido as Roger Pratt in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Memorable lines:

Harry, spying the mermaid for the first time: “But, tell me, how were they able to catch that?”
Tim, shrugging: “I don’t know: a line and a pole.”

Harry: “You don’t live long in these parts without a weapon. I might have shot you, and then what?”
Tim: “You would have murdered an unarmed man.”
Harry: “Yeah.”
Tim: “You ever heard of Jesse James, Fitch Hitchgold and Hank Asperry. I heard they were the most vicious in all the West. They all used guns. Murderers. And they all died before they reached 30. No, guns bring only problems. I prefer to do things clever. There’s much less danger.”
Harry: “OK, well start doing something clever about the gold.”

Tim, after seeing the dilapidated ranch Harry inherited from his uncle: “The only thing your uncle forgot in his will was a big stick of dynamite.”

Bandit, while Samuel Pratt is in a wagon torturing Sirene with nails: “Sounds like your father is having himself a really sweet time.”
Roger Pratt: “He always was a lady killer.”

Julie Menard as Sirene, the mermaid in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Sandro Dori as Sirene’s husband in A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Trivia:

This disappointing comedy Western came from Giulio Petroni, the same director who brought us “Death Rides a Horse” just one year earlier.

Anthony Dawson, who plays the snarling dad out for revenge, is best remembered for his role as Lesgate in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic “Dial M for Murder.”

Never heard of Mario Adorf. Well, his 200+ international film credits include roles in the first Winnetou film and as Sgt. Gomez in “Major Dundee.”