Fulci Goes West, 6 July 2007
The story is typical Spaghetti Western stuff. Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) returns home only to find it's not the home he remembers. His family's ranch and the rest of the town have been taken over by a wealthy and seemingly cruel land baron named Mr. Scott. It's either do as Scott says or face the wrath of his henchmen – including his psychotic son, Junior (Nino Castelnuovo). Corbett turns to his brother, Jeff (George Hiilton), for an explanation and assistance, but finds he is more concerned with getting drunk than avenging his father's death. Can Corbett set things right for the town and his family? In typical Spaghetti Western style, the final showdown is not to be missed.
This is actually the second of Fulci's Westerns I've seen. While I enjoyed the other (Four of the Apocalypse) it was a little too far "out there" for my tastes. Massacre Time is much more conventional in its presentation. Massacre Time has more in common with the works of Leone and Corbuccci (Django in particular) than it does with Fulci's other films. And, there's a lot here to like. The acting is top notch. Nero and Hilton are both more than capable of carrying a film on their own and, together, they're dynamite. Nice chemistry from two pros. Coriolano Gori's score is as good as any I've heard. Fulci's direction was never better. The movie has more flow and pacing than some of Fulci's other movies I've seen. And finally, the writing is surprisingly good. Italian genre films are often criticized over their lack of coherent scripts. That's not the case with Massacre Time. Fernanco Di Leo's script is very nice. Overall, it's a wonderfully entertaining film that I'm very glad to have finally discovered.
8/10
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