Arizona Colt Hired Gun (1970)

Anthony Steffen plays Arizona Colt, a fast gun offered protection money by Alvero Gonzalez Moreno.

He wants protection for his family and his gold because a Mexican bandit named Chico (Aldo Sambrell) is back in the territory.

Arizona isn’t sure he wants to take Moreno up on his offer. You see, he’s met a pretty young beauty named Sheila (Marcella Michelangeli) in the Blackstone Hill saloon.

If he wants to make babies with her, he can’t go around putting his life in danger, Sheila says.

But Arizona changes his mind when Chico and his gang capture his sidekick Two-Bottle Willy (Roberto Camardiel).

Now Arizona has two people to free from Chico’s grasp — his friend and Moreno’s pretty daughter Paloma (Rosalba Neri), who was kidnapped during a raid on the Moreno ranch.

Review:

So, is the focus on making a comedy or a serious Spaghetti?

For a while, the answer isn’t apparent, and a light-hearted little theme song doesn’t help clear things up. Once the film turns more serious, it also gets better, though the dubbing for Steffen is pretty bad.

But Paloma and a Chico henchman named Buzzard are at the center of a couple of neat plot twists. And, as a sequel, this is a whole lot more faithful to the original than most.

Camardiel is back in essentially the same role he played alongside Guliano Gemma four years earlier. The town (Blackstone Hill) is the same. And Arizona is still a gunman who likes to take his time making decisions … until he locks eyes on Sheila.

Directed by:
Sergio Martino

Cast:
Antonio De Teffe … Arizona Colt
as Anthony Steffen
Rosalba Neri … Paloma Moreno
Aldo Sambrell … Chico
Roberto Camardiel … 2 Bottle Willy
Marcella Michelangeli … Sheila
Jose Manuel Martin … Alvero Gonzalez Moreno
Raf Baldassarre … Bigley
Luis Barboo … Scarface
Emilio Delle Piane … Marshal
Gildo Di Marco … Buzzard

Also with: Florentino Alonso, Silvio Bagolini, Enrico Marciani, Brizio Montinaro, Fernando Bilbao, Joaquín Parra, Carlos Romero Marchent, José Luis Chinchilla, Dan van Husen, Fortunato Arena, Elio Angelucci

aka:
Arizona si scatenò… e li fece fuori tutti
Arizona
Arizona Colt Returns
Arizona Lets Fly and Kills Everybody
If You Gotta Shoot Someone … Bang! Bang!

Score: Bruno Nicolai
Song: “Arizona Gun” by I Cantori Moderni

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Double whiskey, helping a bounty hunter out of his pants at Arizona’s command: “You better hurry up. Arizona only speaks once. Second time, he shoots.”

Sheila: “Look, mister, I’m glad I don’t have you on my conscious. But if you only came back to make a fool of me, you’re gonna get it again.”
Arizona: “Not so loud, little lady. You and me are gonna make some children. I decided that right away.”
After a long kiss.
Arizona: “Let’s make the first six boys.”

Chico: “If there was a dung heap around here, I’d dunk you all in it. Head down!”

Arizona, as the final gun battle begins: “Don’t promise gold, Chico. Promise burial.”

Trivia:

This marks the film directing debut for Sergio Martino, who went on to make 67 movies and documentaries as of 2012. He was also responsible for the late Spaghetti entry “A Man Called Blade” (1977) (aka “Mannaja”). His father ws also a director.

According to IMDb, Aldo Sambrell made his film debut in an uncredited role as a Jewish rebel in 1961’s biblical epic, “King of Kings.” He would go on to appear in more than 100 films.

This marked one of two Western roles for Marcella Michelangeli, a pageant queen and pop singer before starting a film career. She also has a prominent role in “And God Said to Cain,” starring Klaus Kinski.