Heads or Tails (2025)

Nadia Tereskiewicz is Rosa, a lovely young woman married to Ercole Rupe, an Italian aristocrat rich enough to host a performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

Once the show ends, Rupe offers Buffalo Bill a wager: That his Italian ranch hands can beat the Wild West show’s cowboys in a rodeo style competition.

Buffalo Bill accept the challenge. Only Rupe then bets against his own cowboys and orders his chosen rider — Santino (Alessandro Borghi) — to throw the competiion.

Knowing his countrymen have bet that he’ll win, Santino can’t bring himself to fall from the horse as ordered. He winds up winning.

And when Rupe arrives at the stables later to confront him, he finds Rosa there, proclaims her a “whore” and starts beating her.

Tired of life with an abusive husband she never loved, Rosa kills her husband. Then, at Santino’s urging, she flees with him.

She eventually becomes his lover. She dreams of them traveling to America together. She’s sure it’s a place where she could reinventing herself.

But her dead husband’s father has placed a $1,000 bounty on the head of Santino for murder and kidnapping.

And Buffalo Bill is one of the men eager to collect.

After all, if Bill succeeds, Signor Rupe has promised him headlines all across Italy proclaiming him a hero for rescuing a damsel in distress.

Nadia Tereskiewicz as Rosa watching Santino compete against the American cowboys in Heads or Tails (2025)

Alessandro Borghi as Santino, getting his orders from Ercole Rupe in Heads or Tails (2025)

Review:

A beautifully shot Italian film that’s wonderfully different and well worth a watch for Western fans, even if the setting is on another continent.

Just be prepared for some annoying dubbing and some truly bizarre scenes, especially as the film progresses.

The plot is anything but predictable. At one point, Santino is shocked to discover he’s become a revolutionary heero.

After all, he killed an Italian oligarch and stole his wife. Santino embraces his newfound fame, much to Rosa’s dismay.

Viewers are also treated to a cameo by Gianni Garko. Yep, the guy who played Sartana in a number of Spaghetti Westerns in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He has the role of the father who puts a price on Santino’s head.

John C. Reilly as Buffalo Bill, sharing his own brand of frontier wisdom in Heads or Tails (2025)

Gianni Garko as Signor Rupe, the man who puts a bounty on Santino and his ‘whore’ in Heads or Tails (2025)

Directed by:
Alessio Rigo de Righi
Matteo Zoppis

Cast:
Nadia Tereskiewicz … Rosa
Alessandro Borghi … Santino
John C. Reilly … Buffalo Bill
Peter Lanzani … Capo ribelle
Mirko Artuso … Ercole Rupe
Gabriele Silli … Zecchino
Gianni Garko … Signor Rupe
Robert Alan Packard … Capu tribu
Giorgio Manenti … Johnny
Sadie LaPointe … Many Horses
Federico Accorroni … Buttero
Emanuela Ornaghi … Teresa
Bruno Di Giovanni … Cagnaccio
Severino Sperandio … Commissario Canepina
Domenico Chiozzi … Ribelle Brucetta
Viola Soldani … Viola
Claudio Castori … 30 Vizi

Runtime: 113 min.

aka: Testa o croce?

Gabriele Silli as Zecchino, springing into action when a train full of revolutionaries comes under attack in Heads or Tails (2025)

Peer Lanzani as the rebel leader, trying to convince Rosa to keep a secret in Heads or Tails (2025)

Memorable lines:

Rosa, upon meeting Buffao Bill and talking about violence in the Old West: “But is it glorious to win with blood?”
Buffalo Bill: “What an interesting question. You know miss, if you don’t mind my saying, I think you could be a star.”

Rose: “(My mother) always told me, ‘nun, whore or wife.’ She didn’t have any other choice. He was violent. I hated him. I married him. I made a mistake.”

Rosa: “Where are you taking me, cowboy?”
Santino: “Where do you want to go?”
Rosa: “To America .. There you can become whoever you want to be. You can start over from scratch. You can become famous, like Buffalo Bill.”

Buffalo Bill to Johnny, as they embark on the search for Santino and Rosa: “Mark my words, boy, this is gonna be quite a story. Hell, it might be the finest dime store novel ever written.”

30Vices to Rosa, intending to use her for his pleasure: “You know what they call me? 30Vices. But you’ll make 31.”

Mirko Artuso as Ercole Rupe, watching a competition that’s supposed to be fixed in his favor in Heads or Tails (2025)

Giorgio Manenti as Johnny, Buffalo Bill’s traveling companion, ready for a showdown if necessary in Heads or Tails (2025)

Alessandro Borghi as Santino, locked up and meeting a fellow inmate named Zecchino in Heads or Tails (2025)

Nadia Tereskiewicz as Rosa, finding she can breathe once out from under her husband’s abusive thumb in Heads or Tails (2025)