The Specialist (1969)

Johnny Hallyday plays Hud, a dressed all-in-black gunman extraordinaire who returns to the town of Blackstone to seek out the men responsible for the lynching of his brother.

Seems someone robbed the bank in Blackstone of every penny. His brother got the blame. The money is still missing.

But lots of people are looking for it, including a Mexican bandit named El Diablo (Mario Adorf), the businessmen of Blackstone who lost all of their savings, and Virginia Pollywood (Francoise Fabian), the lady bank owner who tells Hud no one trusts her anymore.

In truth, she’s using her feminine wiles to manipulate the most powerful men in town, including the sheriff. Meanwhile, he’s prohibited the carrying of guns in Blackstone in hopes of a peaceful resolution to the town’s problems.

As for Hud, he’s pretty much a loner with revenge on his mind, though he gets a helping hand from Sheba, his brother Charlie’s former girlfriend, and a saloon gal named Valencia.

Review:

The least well-known and least impressive of Corbucci’s last four serious Westerns, a collection that also include “Companeros,” “The Great Silence” and “The Mercenary.”

The plot seems a bit haphazard. There’s a bag of phony loot that doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. There are four dope-smoking hippie types hanging on the fringe of the action, until they step center stage for the final scene.

That said, you won’t find too many Spaghetti Westerns with the beautiful Alps setting featured in this film. Nor another where everyone in town is forced to strip naked and crawl down the street. Nor too many where the villain of the piece turns out to be the woman who was supposedly victimized.

And it’s miles better than the Western comedies to come from Corbucci.

Considering his background, Hallyday turns in a decent performance in the lead role. Spaghetti fans will also recognize Serge Marquand, who plays Boot, dad of Sheba and a henchman who does the bank owner’s bidding.

Directed by:
Sergio Corbucci

Cast:
Johnny Hallyday … Hud
Francoise Fabian … Virginia Pollywood
Sylvie Fennec … Sheba
Gastone Moscin … Sheriff
Mario Adorf … El Diablo
Serge Marquand … Boot
Angela Luce … Valencia
Mario Castellani … Judge Ham
Remo De Angelis … Romero
Riccardo Domenici … MacLane
Renato Pinciroli … Lord
Lucio Rosato … Deputy Cabot
Andres Jose Cruz Soublette … Rosencrantz
Gabriella Tavernese … Apache
Stefano Cattarossi … Kit

aka:
Gli specialist
Drop Them or I’ll Shoot
The Specialist

Score:
Angelo Francesco
Lavagnino

Runtime: 104 min.

Memorable lines:

Townsman: “Hud knows more ways to kill a man than God ever thought of. Hud doesn’t even need a gun.”

Hud: “Then you know who I am?”
Sheriff: “Everybody knows you. You ain’t even in town yet and you’d think Satan himself was here. ‘Hud’s coming. The great Hud.’”

Hud: “You’’ve changed, Virginia. You were pretty. Real pretty. But now you’re all dried out.”

Valencia, when the sheriff walks in at the end of a barroom fight: “Hud didn’t start it, sheriff. It was self-defense.”
Sheriff: “This ain’t self-defense; it’s a massacre.”

Hud: “You’re a fool, sheriff. You know that?”
Sheriff: “And you’re a side-winding, son-of-a-bitching bastard.”
Hud: “It’s true my ma worked in kind of a saloon in Dallas. But that don’t give you no lead to jump to conclusions.”

Hud: “Don’t worry, Sheba. No son-of-a-bitch can kill me. I’ll be alright.”

Trivia:

Johnny Hallyday was considered the French Elvis Presley, with more than 30 number one records. This marked his only Spaghetti Western.

The film features three ladies in prominent roles and two of them were also appearing in their only Spaghetti Western. That would include bank owner Francoise Fabian, who has a nude scene as she takes a bath in her room while talking to the sheriff, and Sylvie Fennec, making just her second screen appearance in the role of Sheba.

Angela Luce plays a saloon gal who soothes Hud’s wounds. She also appeared in the 1966 comedy Western “For a Few Dollars Less,” which was written by Sergio Corbucci and his brother, Bruno.