Shotgun (1968)

Tab Hunter is Durango, a sheriff who always gets his man, and leaves him behind dead if he resists arrest.

He returns home looking forward to his impending wedding with Lucy McLaine.

But when he goes to visit, he finds her and her family dead. His only clue: A watch he finds by one of the bodies.

And so he sets out in search of the killers, only to discover that they’re otherwise respectable men, including a doctor and a banker.

After they die at his hands without revealing their accomplices — one hung, one tied to a tree and left for the crows — their remaining partners decide to turn the tables.

Saloon girl Joanne (Erika Blanc) is willing to give Durango a place to hide and a pretty shoulder to cry on.

But businessman John Kildare (Piero Lulli) and rancher Jack Owen (Mimmo Palmara) can afford hired guns to keep the vengeance-seeking lawman at bay.

Tab Hunter as Durango, the lawman whose quest for revenge takes some surprising turns in Shotgun (1968)

Erika Blanc as Joanne, manager of the saloon in Laredo and a woman with a soft spot for Durango in Shotgun (1968)

Review:

Sure, the deaths are violent, but this film brings little new or fresh to the same ol’ revenge for murdered loved ones story. And given how Durango wound up on the trail of the first of his fiancee’s killers, the twist at the end makes no sense.

One of the more original scene comes when Piero Lulli’s character decides he needs to relieve some stress by playing guess-the-saloon-girl.

So, blindfolded, he begins feeling one up to see if he can guess her identity. When his partner shows up, he reluctantly joins in, trying to guess saloon girls by a glimpse of their leg, their behinds and, finally, their silhouettes.

Erika Blanc, a redhead in this outing, plays the saloon girl who has eyes for Durango and would prefer he remain a scoundrel than settle down with someone else. Of course, given the doozy of a song she sings for him, it’s understandable why he might head in another direction.

Daniele Vargas as Dr. Frank Decker, realizing he’s been recognized in Shotgun (1968)

Renato Romano as banker Fred Mulligan is confronted with a damning piece of evidence while his fiance (Dada Gallotti) looks on in Shotgun (1968)

Directed by:
Roberto Mauri

Cast:
Tab Hunter … Durango
Erika Blanc … Joanne
Piero Lulli … John Kildare
Mimmo Palmara … Jack Owen
Daniele Vargas … Dr. Frank Decker
Renato Romano … Fred Mulligan
Dada Gallotti … Mary, Mulligan’s fiance
Ugo Sasso … James McLaine
Alfredo Rizzo … Curly, piano player

Alos with: Solveyg D’Assunta as Maria D’Assunta Solvey, Bernardo Solitari, Guglielmo Bogliani, Franco Pasquetto, Elio Angelucci, Osiride Pevarello, Lina Franchi, Gaetano Scala, Gilberto Galimberti, Claudio Ruffini, Fortunato Arena, Bruno Arie, Marcello Bonini Olas, Neal Noorlag

aka:
La vendetta e il mio perdono
Vengeance is My Forgiveness

Score: Giancarlo Rizzi

Runtime: 86 min.

Piero Lulli as John Kildare, concerned that his cover has been blown in Shotgun (1968)

Mimmo Palmara as Jack Owen, upset over a planned robbery that didn’t go quite right in Shotgun (1968)

Memorable lines:

Durango: “I’ll be back this evening.”
Joanne: “Promise?”
Durango: “I give you the word of a scoundrel.”

Old man: “I remember many a day when the women had babies while the wagon’s were rolling.”
His son: “Yeah, I know. And there was probably a whole bunch of Indians attacking the wagons at the same time.”

Durango, tying up Decker in order to force him to divulge the names of his partners in crime: “The buzzards will come down and eat that rotten flesh right off of your bones.”

Durango to Decker: “I’d be doing you a favor if I killed you right away. You’re going to pay for it. You’re going to pay slowly.”

Kildare to his men: “We’ll have to wait for Owen. He’ll want to be in on the kill. So just mangle him up good. I’ll be back later.”

Tab Hunter as Duragno shows off his key piece of evidence in Shotgun (1968)

Piano player Curly (Alfredo Rizzo) and Joanne (Erika Blanc) treat saloon guests to a new song in Shotgun (1968)

Trivia:

Dubbed the “Sigh Guy” for his beefcake good looks early in his career, Tab Hunter came out as gay in his 2005 memoirs. This marked his only Spaghetti Western outing, though he followed it up with two other Italian films — “The Last Chance” (1968), a spy film; and “Bridge Over the Elbe” (1969), a World War II outing.

This marked yet another Spaghetti Western that became a Django film in Germany. The U.S. title is a bit of a mystery, since our hero uses a six-gun when he encounters each of the four men responsible for his lover’s death.

Ugo Sasso as McLaine, a rancher forced to turn over proceeds from selling his herd to bandits in Shotgun (1968)

ucy, the rancher’s daughter Duragno planned to marry in Shotgun (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Mrs. McLaine, Lucy’s mother, shocked at the vicious turn a robbery takes in Shotgun (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

The doctor’s girlfriend accepts an ominous message for her man in Shotgun (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Banker Fred Mulligan (Renato Romano) offers a tidy sum to kill Durango as his fiance (Dada Gallotti) looks on in Shotgun (1968)

Gaetano Scala as the stage passenger who accepts a tidy sum to kill Durango in Shotgun (1968)

Erika Blanc as saloon owner Joanne has Durango (Tab Hunter) right where she wants him in Shotgun (1968)

Tab Hunter as Durango, realizing the hunter has become the hunted in Shotgun (1968)