Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970) Online

Silly and funny Western about two drifters carry out several adventures , saloon brawls and resolve conflicts among nasty robbers that want to take a treasure . This is a serviceable comic spaghetti western which doesn't take itself too seriously . This good natured comic spaghetti packs diverting elements , tongue-in-cheek , thrills , shootouts , fighting , explosions , and results to be quite entertaining but middling . It is set California, the 1870s . Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are outlaws and although they are good friends , they cannot get along peacefully . Meantime , a beautiful Indian (Marilú Tolo) helps both drifters and plays both sides against each other . They take on a sadistic priest-turned-crime boss , nicknamed The Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) , and his hoodlums , who attempt to rob a valuable treasure . Roy then decides that he has enough of being an outlaw and leaves the bunch in search of a good , honest job as a sheriff in nearby Carson City . Roy , Winchester and his cohorts foil the planned robbery to keep the treasure for themselves . Our two not so upright heroes rob the robbers but, needless to say, get distracted by the gorgeous Indian girl .

Comical Spaghetti Western about a simple and plain plot , as two outlaws compete with each other over a treasure map , being realized in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style and considered to be rip-off of the Trinidad and Bambino westerns . The film is plenty of fistfight between Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood over who will take the treasure and who will become sole leader of their band . This is a slightly funny film with entertaining as well as bewildering events , giggles , craziness , twists and lots and fun . In ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨ there are pursuits , stagecoach attacks , crossfire , saloon brawls , cutthroats gunslingers and many others things . This bemusing movie is packed with tongue-in-cheek , slapstick , a steady stream of gags , lively situations abound , sheer belly laughs , crazy humor , too much fun and to be perfect for youngsters . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and poor results . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some fights , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Mediocre Western All'Italiana made in laughable style with a screenplay written by Mario Di Nardo , including amusing dialogue , silly situations , plot twists and turns . Filmmaker Mario Bava often uses disconcerting and surrealist situations to give us a passable movie plenty of funny happenings as well as absurd incidents ; and that , at least , kept me entertained for the almost half an hour of duration . The cast and support cast are passable . As sympathetic acting by starring trio : Brett Halsey , Charles Southwood and Marilù Tolo as a young Native American woman . Furthermore , there appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti Western , such as : Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Bruno Corazzari , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd and Franco Pesce , among others .

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack was regularly directed by Mario Bava . This was one of the films on which Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava , began his career as his father's assistant ; Lamberto would latter become a director himself , winning a successful career . Mario was the main creator of Italian ¨Giallo¨ genre , Bava ("Blood and Black Lace", ¨House of exorcism¨ , Black Sabbath¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental representatives . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Bava directed all kinds of genres such as , Sci-Fi : ¨Planet of Vampires¨ , Peplum : "Hercules in the Center of the Earth" , ¨Battle of Marathon¨ , Historical : "Erik the Conqueror" , "Viking Massacre" and Western : "The Road to Fort Alamo" , ¨Ringo from Nebraska" and this ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨.

While this comic Spaghetti Western was nowhere near as bad as its low reputation amidst the director’s canon would seem to suggest, it can’t possibly hold a candle to Sergio Leone’s classic THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) – and it would be puerile for anyone to attempt comparisons of this sort!

It’s the last of Bava’s three such genre efforts but, actually, the first I’ve watched; I used to think that he was constrained within the number of relatively low-brow peplums he made, but even those showed greater commitment – and vigor during the action sequences. Here we get plenty of brawling and shooting, to be sure, but the handling throughout is decidedly sloppy…as if Bava, rather than be inspired by these traditionally ‘big’ moments, wanted to get such genre requirements out of the way!

That said, despite utilizing a wide variety of locations in its plot about two rival outlaw gangs’ quest for gold, these don’t seem to have stimulated the director’s trademark compositional skills; even worse, the comedy element comes across as heavy-handed most of the time, resulting in a flat and drawn-out film (even if it runs for a mere 85 minutes)!

Brett Halsey (from Bava’s FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT [1969]) and Charles Southwood don’t exactly generate fireworks in the title roles and, in fact, the best in the cast are Marilu' Tolo as Winchester’s spirited (and shrewd) Indian girl and Teodoro Corra' as The Reverend, the atypically buffoonish baddie – a Russian émigré who still can’t get over the cold of his native land. Isa Miranda (who would work again with Bava when he treaded more familiar ground in BAY OF BLOOD [1971]) appears as the brothel Madame in what is perhaps the most slapsticky and forced set-piece in the entire film.

Hardly memorable in itself, there are still a few mild highlights in this reasonably agreeable, innocuous yet patchy genre offering: the spastic gunman at the beginning, the obviously fake snake which menaces Winchester (reminiscent of the one in Fritz Lang’s THE Indian TOMB [1959]), the exploding villain, and the final shot with the heroes’ feet up in the air as they engage in yet another fisticuff. Piero Umiliani’s lively score certainly contributes to the film’s characteristically light touch.

Now that this is available in a beautiful letterboxed, subtitled DVD, ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK can be enjoyed by anyone who wants to see it. Is it worth seeing? Well...what you have is basically a lowbrow Eurowestern comedy that belongs on the same shelf with STING OF THE WEST and IT CAN BE DONE AMIGO. The various supporting players are colorful, and there are two strong American leads in the charismatic Brett Halsey and the engaging Charles Southwood. Though hidden under a lot of makeup, Marilu Tolo is as sexy as ever. I've never found Italian western comedies to be that worthwhile (or western comedies in general, BLAZING SADDLES excepted)--for me, most of the best qualities of westerns are lost when they are played for laughs. There are a number of laughs in this film--Halsey and Southwood both play comedy well--but the viewer should be warned that the laughs are on a Bowery Boys/Police Academy-level. I like that kind of comedy, but you may not. The reason this film was reissued is that it was directed by Mario Bava; however, had I seen the film without knowing that, I would never have guessed. Bava scholars can no doubt find similarities, but I would not consider his direction a major element here (see my review of RINGO DEL NEBRASKA, one of Bava's two other westerns). Overall, this is an enjoyable Eurowestern comedy, with excellent and creative production design (now THERE is a Bava quality!) and good performances, but I don't really consider it essential, only for the serious Eurowestern fan or the Brett Halsey fan (of which I'm one).

If this film is judged only on its own merits, without reference to other entirely unrelated entries in the Mario Bava lexicon, it holds its own as light-hearted entertainment. Unlike most Italian comic westerns, this one holds the interest largely due to its three central players' well rendered characters and exploits. The cinematography is also far better than many others in the genre.

Charles Southwood is perfect as the scruffy, irrepressible Jack, in contrast to the stolid, lachrymose-faced Roy (Halsey)and both of them can be relied upon to out-cheat the other when they aren't busy beating the tar out of each other to show their mutual affection. Southwood is really quite outstanding and should have been in a lot more films.

Marilu Tolo is very effective here (much more than she is in most of her roles) as the feisty and very resourceful Indian prostitute who is determined to coerce someone into marrying her, preferably Jack or Roy. Don't miss the sequence when she hooks up with Southwood and forces him at gunpoint to take a bath before becoming a "client." Under protest, Southwood descends to the cellar and has to break the ice on the water before stripping off his smelly long-johns to take the plunge. By the shrunken state of his retracted genitals, the water is cold indeed. The shotgun pointed at him by the comely Tolo probably helped, too. Now there's a touch you would never have seen in an American-made western.

The outlaws Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are frequently fist fighting, disputing who the boss of their gang is. Roy Colt decides to leave the gang and find a honest job; he saves the crippled banker Samuel (Giogio Gargiullo) from a hit man and the old man hires Roy to work with him. Meanwhile Winchester Jack rescues the Indian girl Manila (Marilú Tolo) that is arrested by two bounty hunters; she stays with him, charging to have sex with Winchester. When the bandit Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) finds that Samuel owns a treasure map, he teams up with Winchester Jack and they steal the map from Samuel. But Roy Colt is assigned sheriff by Samuel to chase Reverend and his henchmen and retrieve the treasure. Roy Colt betrays Reverend first and Winchester Jack later, while Manila leaves Winchester Jack to stay with Roy Colt, in a greedy mouse-and cat game of betrayals while hunting the hidden treasure.

The comedy "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" is a parody of the western movies that is silly most of the times but has at least three hilarious scenes: when Manila asks Winchester Jack to marry her or pay ten dollars to have sex; when the clients sees who is dancing in the cabaret; and when the cuckold Winchester Jack sees Manila with Roy Colt and the cactus forms a pair of horns ("cornuto") in his head. This movie entertains and maybe fans of western genre might like it more than I did. I prefer Mario Bava's works in the horror and thriller genres. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This is the only western that I know of that was directed by the great Italian horror director Mario Bava. He directed quite a few non-horror movies, but his true talent is mainly exhibited within the categories of horror and giallo. His other films usually aren't meant to be taken very seriously, and this one is no exception. That having been said, this film is still lots of fun to watch, especially if you are a spaghetti western fan.

The music score is great. The trumpet, guitar and organ music set the proper tone for a spaghetti western.

The acting seems about average for a Eurowestern. Marilu Tolo is beautiful as Manila, and she steals the show by doing the best acting out of the entire cast, as well as being so nice to look at. The character called "the reverend" is very annoying, and suffers from some very corny translation in the subtitles. I probably would have given this movie a higher rating if it had been dubbed in English, since I prefer watching westerns that way. They could have at least done a better job with the subtitles! This movie is a bawdy, humorous spaghetti western, not the dark and vengeful kind one might expect from a director of horror movies. The humor misses in a couple of parts, but works pretty well in general if you recognize this as a light-hearted film. The story is one of those in which everyone double crosses one another in the search for gold. It is typical, but engaging and fun. There is a twist at the end, but I saw it coming about 10 minutes into the film.

This one's not bad, and all connoisseurs of the spaghetti western should see it at least once.

Stoical smoothie Roy Colt (affable Brett Halsey) and his more scruffy wild card buddy Winchester Jack (the equally engaging Charles Southwood) go searching for a fortune in gold. Shrewd spitfire Native American prostitute Manila (winningly played by the lovely Marilu Tolo) tags along. Meanwhile, irascible Russian villain the Reverend (robustly essayed with lip-smacking brio by Teodora Corra) also tries to find the gold. Director Mario Bava cheerfully pokes fun at the Spaghetti Western genre in this lively and amusing send-up that neatly combines elements from both "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Moreover, Bava relates the wacky story at a constant brisk pace, gives the picture a suitably dirty'n'dusty look, and stages the stirring shoot-outs with considerable rip-roaring flair. This movie reaches its gut-busting peak during a hysterical sequence set in a brothel called Wimpy City. Halsey and Southwood display a loose, funny and appealing chemistry as our titular bumbling outlaw duo while Tolo almost steals the show with her wonderfully fiery portrayal of the cagey and enticing Manila. Kudos are also in order for Antonio Rinaldi's slick, often dazzling cinematography and Piero Umiliani's supremely funky'n'twangy score. A hugely enjoyable hoot.

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Spaghetti western directed by Mario Bava about two outlaws (Brett Halsey, Charles Southwood) trying to find a treasure. Outside some nice cinematography this film is pretty much a wasted effort for everyone involved, especially the director. I'm a fairly big fan of Bava but this here certainly ranks down at the bottom of his filmography. The film goes for way too many laughs, which is okay if any of them were actually funny. In the end the film is basically a rip of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are a few good moments but not enough to make it worth watching.

The great Mario Bava will always be best known for his Gothic horror and Giallo films, but he was a very versatile director (like most Italian directors around the time) that made many films in genres outside of horror, and Roy Colt and Winchester Jack is his attempt at making a film within Italy's popular Spaghetti Western genre. This film is not widely liked amongst Mario Bava's fans and it's not hard to see why - the film really doesn't feel like a Bava film at all as it features none of his trademarks and the plot also has a lot of problems and elements that don't work. The film takes obvious influence from the greatest of all the Spaghetti Westerns; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and focuses on the race to claim some buried gold. The main characters are a pair of outlaws named Roy Colt and Winchester Jack. They were once in a gang together, but Roy left to find honest work and ends up becoming sheriff of a small town. A bank owner there has some gold buried and after Jack and his gang steal the map, Roy heads out on their tail. A corrupt reverend and a devious Indian girl also join the party...

The film is obviously not meant to be taken seriously and Bava packs it with comedy. It has to be said that a lot of it completely misses the mark and isn't funny - but there are some laughs, and scenes such as the one that takes place inside a Brothel in "Wimpy City" work simply because it's so surreal. As the title suggests, this is a character driven western and the leads are both well designed and well acted by American actors Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood. Their relationship is one of the key elements of the film and the way they interact with each other is generally entertaining. The biggest highlight of the film for me was undoubtedly the beautiful and seductive Marilù Tolo who plays the Indian girl and steals every scene she's in - I would even go as far as to say that this film would not have worked without her in it. The only character that doesn't work too well is The Reverend, who is more irritating than amusing. There's some good fighting in the film - plenty of gunfights and fistfights and at eighty five minutes, there isn't really time for the plot to get boring. Overall, on the grand scheme of things; this is not a particularly good western or a particularly good Bava film - but it's entertaining enough and I did enjoy it.

Knowing that Mario Bava spent most of his career directing horror flicks, it may come as a surprise that he also directed a western. Well, not only did he direct one, it came out quite cool. Portraying a pair of outlaws splitting up and meeting again after one of them has gone straight, "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" plays everything for all that it's worth. As can be expected, there's plenty of gunfights (I suspect that the Old West was like that). But what I notice was different about this movie that wasn't true about any other spaghetti westerns - at least the ones that I've seen - was the whole brothel scene; it was probably fun to film all that! Leave it to the Italians to stick something like that in a western.

Anyway, this is one movie that makes no pretense about being anything other than pure, unadulterated fun. Some of the characters - particularly the Reverend - seemed a little annoying. But the movie's quick pace makes up for any problems. I liked the movie. And not just because Manila was really hot! PS: Brett Halsey, who played Roy Colt, had earlier co-starred with Vincent Price in "Son of the Fly" and "Twice-Told Tales".

A rollicking spoof of the Spaghetti Western genre, "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" offers some fun for fans of the genre, although ultimately it's awfully silly stuff. American actors Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood star as the title characters, members of the same outlaw gang. Roy goes his own way, hoping that he'll be able to successfully go straight. But Roy, Jack, and others all end up on the trail of some hidden gold, with other people such as flamboyant villain "The Reverend" (Teodoro Corra) and self-serving, materialistic Indian prostitute Manila (Marilu Tolo) also playing key roles in the proceedings.

Although a far cry from the best work of Italian maestro Mario Bava, it's still a definite curiosity that his admirers will want to check out. It's a real change of pace for the filmmaker; rarely did he embrace comedy this thoroughly. While not always terribly funny - it does wear a little thin - it can't be denied that it's a very lively film that delivers some reasonably rousing action scenes. The performances are suited to the material. Halsey and Southwood have good chemistry; both are handsome, charismatic stars. Corra is way over the top as the effeminate bad guy who absolutely hates the feeling of being cold. But it's the gorgeous Tolo who often steals the show; her character really is something. In one hysterical sequence, she insists that Jack take a bath - in cold water - before she'll agree to make love to him.

Bavas' creation of visuals and camera work are typically stylish, helping to keep this modest diversion watchable for a decently paced 86 minutes. It definitely ends on a real high note.

Six out of 10.

Reading various comments on the internet about Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, you would think that it was the worst movie ever made. I've now seen most of Mario Bava's films (23, to be exact) and I've seen my fair share of Spaghetti Westerns. While Roy Colt and Winchester Jack isn't a very good example of either, it's hardly the worst film Bava made (see Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs) or the worst Spaghetti Western I've watched (see God's Gun). In fact, there are moments and certain set-pieces in the movie that I really enjoyed. The best example that comes to mind is the film's finale. Without giving it away, I'll just say that it's a nice twist that worked for me. The film's soundtrack is interesting. I wouldn't call it a traditional Spaghetti Western, but it's enjoyable enough anyway. Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood are okay in the title roles, but Marilu Tolo stands out in the role of Manila. More of Tolo would have been a good thing. Finally, while some of the more eccentric characters in the movie don't work, the gunfighter in the opening scenes with Tourettes Syndrome is a real hoot.

I actually would have enjoyed Roy Colt and Winchester Jack more and rated it higher if it weren't for two things. First, the movie hardly feels like a Bava film. There are none of the great director's flourishes of color or unique camera tricks I look forward to seeing. It's all rather flat and dull looking. Second, and my biggest complaint with the movie, is the character called The Reverend. A more annoying character I can't think of at the moment. He's not funny, he's not threatening, and his idiosyncrasies are downright painful to watch. Similar to what I wrote about Tolo, less of The Reverend would have been a good thing.

Typical Italian western, made at the time when producers wanted to cash in on the success of Sergio Leone's IL BUONO, IL BRUTTO, IL CATTIVO. Plot about three gunslingers (Halsey, Southwood and Corrà) is clearly a rip-off and nowhere as funny or clever as the Eastwood western; too often it resorts to low-brow comedy. Some typical directorial touches, nice photo-graphy (by Antonio Rinaldi) makes film worth watching for Bava completists. Nice score by Piero Umiliani.

(aka: ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK)

I'm amazed at the review written below.

In fact, I'm not even gonna bother repeating the plot since this ranks about as bottom of the barrel as CAPTAIN APACHE. In fact, this is one of the worst spaghetti westerns that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of 'em.

AND this is also *the* worst Mario Bava movie I've seen yet. Bava should have stuck with horror films because if this is typical of the three westerns he directed, then I don't even wanna bother seeing the other two. The dialog is awful and the jokes are lame and flat. It looks like Bava shot this one in less than a week. I did like the Reverend (Teodoro Corra) blowing himself up with the stick of dynamite at the end since that was the only time I laughed.

If you like to see comedy mixed with the spaghetti western genre, then go with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in the TRINITY series they did. Or even Terence Hill in ACES HIGH (1969) or MY NAME IS NOBODY (1973). Now those are pretty funny spoofs.

Bear in mind too that the anamorphic widescreen DVD by Image uses only an Italian language print, so there's no overdubbing. It's all subtitles with no extras beyond a short Bava bio.

I'll bet the only reason they bothered to release it on DVD was because Mario Bava directed it. Otherwise it would have been condemned to spaghetti oblivion.

3 out of 10

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Hmmm...a spaghetti western that comes on DVD without English dubbing and only captions! Now that's something you just don't see every day! And, after seeing many dubbed films (some of which were terribly done), it was nice to see this captioned film. Could the reason this one not be dubbed be because it wasn't shown in the States or was perhaps seen as not worthy of dubbing? Who knows.

Unfortunately, my excitement at seeing a dubbed film was short-lived. At the four minute mark, there was a shootout that was, I suppose, done for laughs. But, since it was really, really stupid, it didn't make me laugh...just groan in disbelief. I think the Banana Splits or Paul Rubens would have done this scene more subtly! In the next scene, two bounty hunters are killed by our anti-hero, Winchester, and he releases their prisoner--an Indian woman. Sadly, she really doesn't look like an American-Indian--more like some Italian lady with light brown-green eyes--and they didn't do much to pull off this character other give her buckskins to wear! In that case, I'm going wrap myself up in aluminum foil tomorrow in the hopes I get to play an alien in an Italian sci-fi epic!

Soon after this, Winchester meets up with Roy and the fun begins. Well, okay, the fun NEVER begins...but at least the story starts to move...a bit. Aside from some very sloppy slapstick, the film is about Roy and Winchester both looking for treasure--only one of them has apparently gone straight in the meantime. But frankly, considering how bad the film is and how disappointed I was that the famous Mario Bava could make such a rotten film, I totally lost interest. And, unless you have suffered a serious brain trauma, you, too, will find little to entertain you in this film that looks as if no one cared in the least if it resembled the old west in any way at all!

By the way, if you care, the money that the American-Indian prostitute is paid is very clearly the type made from 1928 until very recently--not even close to the sort of money they actually used in the old west. Also, the 'American-Indian' lady clearly is wearing modern band-aids on her nipples--a common practice when the film will NOT show explicit nudity (allowing a tiny measure of modesty for the actress). Apparently, someone forgot to tell the cameraman, as it appears in the film and makes the viewer think "...huh?!?!".