Acquasanta Joe (1971) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Lincoln Tate plays Acquasanta Joe, a bounty hunter for the U.S. Army near the end of the Civil War. His new assignment: help break up the Donovan gang, which is terrorizing the West after capturing a cannon from a Confederate troop tricked into thinking the war was over.

Acquasanta takes new interest in the job when the gang hits the bank where he deposits his hard-earned bounty money. Then comes a twist. He learns that gang leader Jeff Donovan (Ty Hardin) is also offering a tidy reward for the return of one of his men (Richard Harrison as Charlie Bennett), who has disappeared with all the loot.

So Acquasanta captures Charlie to collect a bounty from Donovan, all the time planning to free him again so he can turn him in to the Union army for a second bounty.

Of course, there are complications, including the search for the missing money, mutiny among Donovan’s men and the presence of a pretty lady named Estella (Silvia Monelli). And that mutiny will force Donovan and Acquasanta Joe into an uneasy alliance, at least temporarily.

Ty Hardin as Jeff Donovan in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Lincoln Tate as Acquasanta Joe in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Review:

Well, there’s a stylish opening scene in which Acquasanta stages a showdown with a wanted man over a roulette wheel. And there’s an unusual final showdown in which Joe, armed with just a bow and arrow, is forced to face off with a cannon.

In between, there’s lots of forced humor, a performance by Richard Harrison that certainly doesn’t rank among his most memorable and nothing else very memorable either. In fact, it’s a pretty darn mundane affair.

One neat trick: Donovan’s guide disguises the cannon by making it the back half of a covered wagon.

Richard Harrison as Charlie Logan in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Silvia Monelli as Estella in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Directed by:
Mario Gariazzo

Cast:
Ty Hardin … Jeff Donovan
Lincoln Tate … Acquasanta Joe
Richard Harrison … Charlie Logan
Silvia Monelli … Estella
Giulio Baraghini … Jim
as Lee Banner
Pietro Ceccarelli … Sgt. Butch
Tuccio Musumeci … The Sicilian
Alfredo Rizzo … U.S. Captain
Dante Maggio … The banker

Also with: Mario Novelli as Anthony Freeman, Fedele Gentile, Adriano Vitale, Virgilio Ponti, Pietro Rosella, Sergio Serafini, Rosita Toros, Enrico Casadei, Domenico Maggio, Giulio Mauroni, Gianclaudio Jabes, Giuseppe Tuminelli, Robert Fiz, Rick Boyd, Ferdinando Poggi, Fulvio Pellegrino, Gennarino Pappagalli, Lina Franchi, Gilberto Galimberti, Omero Capanna, Lorenzo Fineschi

aka:
Holy Water Joe
Los violentos de Texas

Score: Marcello Giombini

Pietro Ceccarelli as Sgt. Butch in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Giulio Baraghini as Jim, a Donovan man, in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Memorable lines:

Bennett: “I came to town to pay my last respects to my dear old mother.”
Aquasanta: “In a whorehouse?”
Bennett: “Poor ol’ mother. I guess I am a son-of-a-bitch.”

Jeff Donovan: “Nobody is his right mind would turn $3,000 for that (Bennett).”
Aquasanta: “Just think of me as crazy.”

Jeff Donovan to Acquasanta: “Bury his mother? I telling you that man ain’t got no mother. He was spawned on a rock and weaned on loco weed.”

Jefff Donovan: “Got any last requests, Mr. Acquasanta? Just don’t ask for a woman or a bandage over your eyes. Cause you already had the one and I’m plumb out of the other.”

Jeff Donovan: “Here, I wouldn’t want you to die without your hat on.”
Acquasanta Joe: “You’re a forgiving bastard, ain’t ya?”
Donovan: “Yeh, it’s amazing. The similarities between us.”

Donovan: “Pitty, ain’t it? There you are with a mountain of dollars of gold in your hand, and not a chance of being able to spend it in hell. It’s kinda ironical.”

Tuccio Musumeci as The Sicilian in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Dante Maggio as the banker in Acquasanta Joe (1971)

Trivia:

After the Spaghetti craze ended, Richard Harrison journeyed to Hong Kong and appeared in nearly 20 Ninja films, some unknowingly as his scenes from earlier movies were edited into new releases.

According to his bio on IMDb, Ty Hardin was the original choice to play Batman in the 1960s TV series but had to turn down the role because he was filming a Spaghetti Western.

Lincoln Tate has landed roles on about a half dozen TV shows before heading to Italy where he appeared in eight Spaghetti Westerns, taking the lead role in about half of those. The move to Italy did not do for him what it did for Clint Eastwood.