Shango (1970)

Anthony Steffen plays Shango, a “ranger” and guide for the Union Army who’s the sole survivor of an ambush and taken captive by Confederate Maj. Droster (Eduardo Fajardo) and his Mexican ally Martinez (Maurice Poli).

They keep Shango in a bamboo cage hung from a tree, hoping he’ll reveal the location of a Union payroll if he hangs there long enough.

Then the major gets disturbing news — at least it’s disturbing for someone determined to profit from the Civil War. That war is over; the Union has won. The major kills a telegraph operator to keep the word from spreading.

Then he allows Shango to escape to cover up the killing and blame it on him.

That turns out to be a bad move, because the villagers who have been under the thumb of the major and Martinez rally around this stranger with the fast gun.

Anthony Steffen as the Texas Ranger named Shango, freed from his bamboo cage in Shango (1970)

Eduardo Fajardo as Maj. Droster, the Confederate officer who doesn’t want the war to end, in Shango (1970)

Review:

OK, the plot’s a bit of a mess seeing as how our villain sets our hero free, then has dozens of his men gunned down trying to recapture him.

But if it’s action you’re looking for … well, the screen is filled with plenty of corpses.

And there are two imaginative torture scenes — the bird cage of sorts in which Shango is kept captive and a death by fire threat by Martinez. He has the ladies of the village buried to their necks in the town square. Then he has tunnels dug around them and filled with fire. The threat: Their blood will boil if the villagers don’t turn over Shango.

Attilio Dottesio as Fernandez, a leader of the peons in the village threatened by Maj. Droster in Shango (1970)

Giusva Fioravanti as Pedrito, the son of Fernandez and the young boy who finds the wounded ranger in Shango (1970)

Directed by:
Edoardo Mulargia
as Edward G. Muller

Cast:
Antonio De Teffe … Shango
as Anthony Steffen
Eduardo Fajardo … Maj. Droster
Maurice Poli … Martinez
Attilio Dottesio … Fernandez
Barbara Nelli … Consuelo
Giusva Fioravanti … Pedrito Fernandez
Gabriella Giorgelli … Pamela
Massimo Carocci … Sgt. Scott
Spartaco Conversi … Bragna
Liana Del Balzo … Tana
Angelo Dessy … Pedro
Adriana Giuffre … Rosario
Franco Pesce … Manuel

Other cast members: Mirella Pamphili, Andrea Scotti, Gilberto Galimberti, Renzo Pevarello, Pietro Torrisi, Claudio Ruffini, Angelo Susani, Franco Ukmar, Osiride Pevarello, Bruno Arie, Fortunato Arena, Paolo Figlia, Elio Angelucci

aka:
Shango, la pistola infallibile

Score: Gianfranco Di Stefano

Runtime: 87 min.

Barbara Nelli as Consuela, daughter of Fernandez and the young girl who helps nurse the ranger back to health in Shango (1970)

Maurice Poli as Martinez, the leader of the Mexican bandits aligned with the major in Shango (1970)

Memorable lines:

Shango to Maj. Droster: “Six of your men died today because of their stupidity. I’m sure you don’t want to follow their example.”

Shango: “The war is over now.
Fernandez: “Yeah, maybe it’s over for the North and for the South. But it’s not over in this god forsaken country.”

Martinez to Maj. Droster: “I tell you, I don’t like the looks of this, major. It’s always my men who are massacred.”

Martinez, prepared to carry out a threat: “Open your eyes. Watch them (the village women) burning. It will be a show you won’t soon forget.” He lights the fire pits. “And now, they’re blood will soon be boiling.”

Gabriella Giorgelli as Pamela, the female villager sent to deliver a threat to the men in Shango (1970)

Anthony Steffen as Shango, the ranger who helps the villagers stand up against Mexican bandits and a crooked Confederate officer in Shango (1970)

Trivia:

One of eight Spaghetti Westerns directed by Edoardo Mulargia, who also brought us “Cjamango” (1967) and “Blood at Sundown” (1965). The script was co-written by Anthony Steffen.

Shango opens this film kept in a bamboo cage that tied up in a tree. That ploy would be used again in the far less serious 1970 film “Dallas.” Steffen as the title character goes looking for stepbrother Pistachio (Fernando Sanchez) and finds him in a bamboo cage.

This marked the final role in a short film career for Barbara Nelli. She also had a supporting role in the fine “Gunmen of Ave Maria” (1969) and played one of the female leads in “Four Bullets for Joe” (1964).

Gabriella Giorgelli has a bit role here, as a pretty villager sent to deliver a threat to the men who have rallied around Shango. The same year, she co-starred with Klaus Kinski in another Spaghetti Western, “The Beast.”

Franco Pesce as the telegraph operator in Shango (1970)

Massimo Carocci as Sgt. Scott with his commander Maj. Droster (Eduardo Fajardo) looking for the ranger in Shango (1970)