Acquasanta Joe (1971)

A muddled, directionless, mostly incomprehensible mess, 30 May 2017
- Holy Water Joe

A bounty hunter named Acquasanta Joe (Lincoln Tate) has deposited all of his money into an Austin, TX bank. Unfortunately for Joe, a gang of ex-Confederate soldiers uses a stolen cannon to rob the bank, taking Joe's money. Joe sets off to get his money back and, as a bonus, hopes to get any reward for the capture of the gang. 

Acquasanta Joe (or Holy Water Joe) is a disaster of a movie. I enjoyed the opening robbery scene and the final showdown, but that's about it. Everything in-between (you know, the other hour+ of the movie) is a muddled, directionless, mostly incomprehensible mess. Nothing makes much sense. I'm not someone who needs to be spoon-fed plot points, but it felt like half the movie was missing. For example, one of the main plot points that drives pretty much the whole movie involves one of the characters in the gang stealing the money from the bank heist from the other members of the gang. We never see it happen and only know about it because we're told it happened. Unbelievable! You'd think that something this important, something that impacts a huge portion of the movie, would have appeared on screen. Next, Director Mario Gariazzo attempted to mix comedy into what is otherwise a fairly serious film to disastrous results. The bits of comedy are totally misplaced and never brought so much as a smile to my face – just audible groans. It things weren't bad enough and to make matters even worse, what is presented on screen is about as dull as anything I can remember seeing in a SW. Getting through Acquasanta Joe was tough going for me. I had to wake myself at least three times. I'm not really familiar with Lincoln Tate, but he makes for the most unappealing lead I've seen recently. His lazy style of acting only serves to ratchet up the dullness in the film. He's awful. Finally, I don't mind a low- budget film, but the lack of funds here is noticeable. I never expect historical authenticity when I watch a SW, but the wardrobe worn by several of the characters in Acquasanta Joe looked like something the actors might have been wearing when they walked in off the street. I found it very distracting. 

In the end, Acquasanta Joe is about as bad a SW I've seen in a long, long time. If it weren't for the first 15 minutes and the final 15 minutes, I'd rate it a whole lot lower.

3/10