Four Candles for Garringo (1971)

Town boss Oswald (Cris Huerta) and his men have successfully robbed a $300,000 gold shipment bound for the capitol.

But Farley, one of the gang’s leaders, decides he wants out. He’s tired of Oswald stashing away a portion of each man’s cut of the loot. He’s tired of being teased about an unfaithful wife who’s sleeping with another gang member named Rogers.

So he robs Oswald, making off with a lion’s share of the loot. By the end of the night, Farley’s dead. But the money’s no where to be found.

Oswald suspects Rogers. The widow Farley (Maria Martin) is hoping he has the money so they can run off together. Farley’s part-Indian daughter Elaine (Olga Omar), who can’t stand her step-mother, just wants to get revenge against the man who killed her father.

Into this mess strides a short-tempered sheriff named Frank Garringo (Robert Woods). The badge on his chest is pretty new, but he’s determined to use it “to legalize this town right here and right now.”

And he doesn’t really care whether that means uses his fists or using his guns.

Review:

Director Ignaco F. Iquino and company had to be making a tongue-in-cheek Spaghetti Western, right? I mean, how else do you explain the hyperactive, zig-zag nature of this film.

For the first 28 minutes, our sheriff slaps, punches or screams at nearly everyone he meets. The script serves up near constant action and includes double crosses, a hidden fortune, a conniving widow, a spirited catfight, a graveyard fight in which a cross is used as a weapon and a gravedigger who sleeps and drinks in a coffin near the cemetery.

The cavalry shows up. Out of the blue. So does Oswald’s black serving girl, complete with her tray of drinks, after Oswald’s men have tracked the sheriff down to his remote home.

Anyway, if the goal was a tongue-in-cheek Spaghetti, Iquino succeeded. If that wasn’t the goal, he still succeeded in making a tongue in cheek Spaghetti that’s entertaining as long as you don’t take it the least bit seriously.

Hey, and if my rating for this one seems a bit high, here’s my excuse: I watched it after a string of several Demofilo Fidani Westerns.

Directed by:
Ignacio F. Iquino
as Steve McCoy

Cast:
Robert Woods … Sheriff Frank Garringo
Olga Omar … Elaine Farley
Mariano Vidal Molina … Rogers
Cris Huerta … Oswald
Maria Martin … Velda Farley
as Mary Martin
Luis Ciges … Jim
Antonio Molino Rojo … Farley
Gasper Gonzalez … Deputy Gonzalez
Angel Lombarte … Osward employee
Fernando Rubio … Mulligan
Irene D’Astrea … Fanny

Runtime: 95 min.

aka …
La Mia Colt ti cerca… 4 ceri ti aspettano
My Colt, Not Yours
Four Candles for My Colt

Score: Enrique Escobar

Memorable lines:

Whore: “You got a lot of fresh money?”
Farley: “You’re full of virtues, according to Oswald. You know what I think you are — filthy garbage … You can get dressed now”
Whore: “Oh, I’m so glad. Now I’ll be able to sleep. At last.”

Oswald’s man: “Sheriff, you could have been busy running after the men robbed that safe last night.”
Sheriff Garringo: “Somebody else was busy killing some of my men last night., and I was busy burying ’em.”

Sheriff Garringo to Oswald: “I haven’t had this star too long, but I tell you I aim to use it to legalize this town right here and right now.”

Sheriff Garringo to his deputies: “I’m really sorry about this temper of mine, but the one thing I want to do is nab Oswald and put tha bastard in the pokey.”

Sheriff Garringo: “Do you know if he (the recently deceased Farley) had any enemies?”
Elaine, his daughter: “Sure, we all do. You know what my step-mother said? That she could kill me. Thinks I’m mad.”

Elaine Farley: “It’d be nice to live with the Indians again. They don’t become prostitutes at least.”

Sheriff Garringo, after repeatedly smacking one of Oswald’s men alongside the head: “Next time, I’m just going to put you in jail cause you’re head is damn hard on my hand.”

Garringo to Elaine Farley: “Good morning. At least you’re not shooting at me today. You’re making progress.”

Oswald, to Mrs. Farley and her step-daughter after their catfight: “You’re both the kind of women Oswald likes. I love hot-tempered women. And you two are the kind I’d like to keep in a nice cage in my garden. It’d be a spectacular show.”

Trivia:

This was the last of nine Western films for Maria Martin, who made her film debut in 1942 and would have been around 47 when this movie was made. Spaghetti fans will remember her best as the pretend widow of a pretend Confederate office in Sergio Corbucci’s “The Hellbenders.”

According to IMDb, Olga Omar appeared in just 11 films and this marked her only Spaghetti Western.

The four candles in the title might be a reference to funeral candles. The Italian title of the film translates to: “My colt is looking for you … four candles await you.”