In the Name of the Father (1969)

Paolo Villaggio is Eddy and Lino Toffolo plays Paul, two buddies who stumble upon the aftermath of a stage holdup.

The scene looks more like a massacre, but they find three men, all clad in black, who are still breathing.

Those men force Eddy and Paul to take them back to their hideout, along with a heavy chest marked West National Bank, Sante Fe.

The buddies treat the men’s wounds, tie them up with bandages, then make off with the chest. Which, of course, is stuffed with loot.

They don’t get far.

There was one survivor of the stage attack, who made it back to town. He dies of his wounds, but not before describing a black hat, adorned with a gold chain, worn by one of the bandits.

Guess what hat Eddy is wearing when he makes it back to town with Paul, the chest and Lazarro, a preacher who has convinced them he’d better join their party?

All three wind up in jail, where they share a cell with a handsome Mexican named Mambo.

Fiesty lady journalist Miss Baxter (Rosemarie Dexter) is plotting to break him out of prison. She hopes to turn him into a revolutionary hero.

The four men wind up breaking out of jail together.

But the Jacksons want their loot back, even if that means holding Lazarro’s sister captive until they get it.

Paolo Villaggio as Eddy, trying to halt a gunfight that’s gone awry in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Lino Toffolo as Paul, watching a roulette ruse work to perfection in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Review:

Here’s a case where Spaghetti fans might be more familiar with the soundtrack from Luis Bacalov than the movie.

Watch and listen, and you’ll understand.

The music is fun and whimsical. The movie, after a promising opening, heaps silliness upon silliness until a climatic full-cast brawl in a gambling hall.

Some of it works. You’re likely to smile when the outlaws regain consciousness after having their wounds “treated” to find themselves ensnarled in a spider’s web of bandages.

And there’s a showdown between Paul and Mambo in which one’s gun fails to work and the other winds up with a gunbelt around his ankles.

But too often, the humor stoops to Three Stooges level, with Eddy and Paul incapable of doing another without hurting themselves or someone standing nearby.

Enrico Montesano as Lazzaro, a preacher helping form a revolutionary strategy in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Oreste Lionello as Mambo, decked out in his revolutionary garb in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Directed by:
Ruggero Deodato

Cast:
Paolo Villaggio … Eddy
Lino Toffolo … Paul
Enrico Montesano … Lazzaro
Oreste Lionello … Mambo
Rosemarie Dexter … Miss Baxter
Mariangela Giordana … Margaret
Silvia Donati … Casino cashier
Enzo Fiermonte … Sheriff Jones
Salvatore Borgese … Jackson brother
Gaetano Scala … Jackson brother
Paolo Magalotti … Jackson brother
Fotunato Arena … Stagecoach guard

Also with: Gaetano Imbró, Mimmo Poli, Remo Capitani, Giglio Gigli, Franz Colangelo, Mirko Bajocchi, Fulvio Mingozzi, Emilio Messina, Franco Pasquetto, Fulvio Pellegrino

Runtime: 97 min.

Music: Luis Bacalov

Rosemarie Dexter as Miss Baxter, contemplating the quintet’s next move in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Mariangela Giordana as Margaret, Lazzaro’s sister, transforming in the company of outlaws in In the Name of the Father (1969)

Memorable lines:

Sorry, I watched a non-English version of this film.

Trivia:

* Given the mood of this film, one might find it surprising that diretor Ruggero Deodato later gained notoriety and controversy for the graphic violence in a 1980 film called “Cannibal Holocaust,” a movie that spawned a number of imitators.

* This marked the only Western from Deodato, but he served as an assistant director on a trio of Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Westerns — “Django” (1966), “Navajo Joe” (1966) and “The Hellbenders” (1967).

* Pretty Rosemary Dexter appeared in more than 30 films and two other Spaghettis. She’s the reason Col. Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) is seeking revenge in “For a Few Dollars More” (1965), appearing in a flashback sequence. She has a much larger role as the caretaker for a blind man in “The Dirty Outlaws” (1967).

The outlaw’s hat that lands Eddy and his friends in a heap of trouble in In the Name of the Father (1969)

The Jackson brothers, played by Sal Borgese, Gaetano Scala and Paolo Magalotti, looking for their loot in In the Name of the Father (1969)