Rita Pavone plays Little Rita, the toughest woman and one of the fastest guns in the West.
If there’s gold in your possession, watch out. Rita might be on your heels, because she wants that gold.
Why? Because she and Indian Chief Silly Bull (Gordon Mitchell) have a theory. Gold, they think, is behind all of the white man’s evil ways. Get rid of all the gold, and there might be peace in the West.
Rita is the gold collector. And if that means going up against Spaghetti Western legends like Ringo and Django, so be it.
But she’s blind-sided when she falls for the handsome cowboy Black Stan (Terence Hill).
He saves her life, then turns on her by trying to steal all the gold Silly Bull and his tribe have stashed in a cave, planning to blow it up.
And that could cost Black Stan his life.
Rita Pavone as Little Rita gets fiesty in Rita of the West (1967)
Terence Hill as Black Stan confesses his guilt in Rita of the West (1967)
Review:
The clever opening credits let you know this is far from a serious affair, but you might not realize you’re in store for a comedy-musical Western until Rita and her sidekick Fritz break out into song and dance after the Glock City gang is gunned down in the film’s opening scene.
And Little Rita continues to sing during some of the most inappropriate times during one of the campiest Spaghetti Westerns you’ll ever find.
There are some truly funny moments, like the spoof on Django, the choreographed dancing by the Indian braves, Mexican bandits who break out into wild celebration every time they hear their leader’s name, and Silly Bull walking around camp with a skull and a golf club, pondering how Black Stan should die.
Unfortunately, just as the what-the-hell-am-I-watching absurdity of the film begins to wear off, the script turns a bit more serious and never really recovers.
Among the more clever Spaghetti gimmicks: Ringo unfurls a saddlebag full of gimmicky weapons and begins shooting at our hero. Rita promptly unfurls a saddlebag of golden grenades she can fire with her shiny golden pistol.
Lucia Dallas as Fritz Frankfurter Grotz, Little Rita’s sidekick, in Rita of the West (1967)
Gordon Mitchell as Chief Silly Bull in Rita of the West (1967)
Directed by:
Ferdinando Baldi
Cast
Rita Pavone … Little Rita
Terence Hill … Black Stan
Gordon Mitchell … Chief Silly Bull
Lucia Dalla … Fritz “Frankfurter” Grotz
Kirk Morris … Ringo
Enzo di Natale … Django
Fernando Sancho … Sancho
Teddy Reno … Sheriff
Gino Pernice … Judge
Nina Larker … Angel, the orphan
Romano Puppo … Soto
Franco Gula … Lawyer
Pinuccio Ardia … Jesse, the bartender
Nini Rosso … Mexican trumpet player
Other cast members: Livio Lorenzon, Flavio Bennati, Gianni Brezza, Vincenzo Cesiro, Renato De Montis, Renato Greco, Umberto Pergola, Piero Pulci, Mirella Pompili, Isarco Ravaioli
aka:
Little Rita nel West
The Crazy Westerners
Little Rita
Score:
Robby Poitevin
Teddy Reno as the sheriff in Rita of the West (1967)
Fernando Sancho as Sancho, the Mexican bandit leader in Rita of the West (1967)
Memorable lines:
Little Rita: “I still need Ringo’s gold and Django’s.”
Silly Bull: “They will kill you. Their pistols scream like hyenas, and shoot faster than the whip. Many have tried to kill those two vultures. And their bodies now lie in all the cemeteries of the West. You are taking a risk far too big. And this bugs me.”
Ringo: “We’ll be meetin’ up again.”
Little Rita: “When you get tired of living, friend, give a call. I’ll come a runnin’.
Django: “They were sure right when they said you’re the biggest little pain in the West.”
Enzo di Natale as Django, still lugging his coffin in Rita of the West (1967)
Silly Bull: “Do you like gold?”
Black Stan: “Shucks, no.”
Silly Bull: “That’s fine. Anyone who can still say shucks is a friend of ours.”
Little Rita, to a band of outlaws: “Drop ’em.”
Outlaw, thinking she might mean their pants: “We’ve got knobby knees, lady.”
Little Rita: “I mean your gun belts, dummies. Is that supposed to be frontier humor?”
Little Rita: “That’s the end of the Glock City gang.”
Fritz: “Good riddance. And may they all rest in pieces.”
Gino Pernice as the judge in Rita of the West (1967)
Livio Lorenzon as a wounded bandit who says a song and dance by Little Rita is the best way to depart life on earth in Rita of the West (1967)
Trivia:
Once the Trinity series became popular in France, this film was re-released there with the musical numbers cut out.
Rita Pavone was launched to stardom after winning a singing competition in Italy in 1962. She scored a U.S. hit with “Remember Me,” was a guest star on The Ed Sullivan show and once recorded a duet with Barbra Streisand.
Teddy Reno plays the slightly unhinged sheriff in this film. He organized the singing competition Rita won in 1962 and later married her in Switzerland in 1969. That caused a scandal since he had already been married in Italy and the country had no divorce law at the time. They remained married and have two sons.
In 1967, Rita and Terence Hill would reunite for a second film, The Crazy Kids of War, set during World War II. Again, it’s a musical comedy.
Terence Hill as Black Stan, freeing Little Rita from a jam in Rita of the West (1967)
Rita Pavone as Little Rita takes aim at Ringo with one of her golden grenades in Rita of the West (1967)
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