Review of Blindman

Blindman (1971)
7/10
Offbeat Western about a strange but deadly blind gunfighter and taking on a nasty bandit who has stolen fifty mail order brides
24 March 2013
A mysterious blind gunfighter roams through Mexico with a mission he has sworn to carry out , as he was hired to escort fifty mail order brides to their miner husbands . But his business pals treason him, selling the women to a nasty villain . As some enemies have stolen 50 women that belong to him , thus Blindman heads into Mexico and sets out in pursuit . Blindman is imprisoned by the bandit called Domingo (Lloyd Batista) who has the brides in a fortress where comes a military party commanded by a Mexican general (Raf Baldassarre) . In the middle of these two parties is a beautiful woman , Candy's(Ringo Starr) sweetheart, who helps Blindman . The gunfighter enters the stronghold attempting to take the girls shipment , being trapped between two feuding factions , a Mexican officer and a gang of Mexican bandits led by Domingo and Sweet Mama (Magda Konopka) , and he then is caught up in a struggle against them . But here is a problem however, the gunman is blind .

The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Tony Anthony is very fine, giving even some comic touches , he ravages the screen, he shoots , hits and run and ultimately takes the law on his own hands It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the starring Tony Anthony and his enemies Lloyd Batista , Ringo Starr , Magda Konopka , among others . The movie contains gun-play, action Western , thrills , bloody spectacle and some nudism in charge of beautiful girls , including the ordinary female shower among them . Made on a fairly middling scale with acceptable set design , adequate photography filmed in Elios studios and evocative musical score by Stelvio Cipriani . Screenplay with interesting premise about a 'blind gunfighter' though its origin results to be a Japanese series starred by ¨Zaitochi¨, a blind swordsman from the 60s and being recently remade by Takeshi Kitano . This interesting theme about a blind gunslinger in the West has been treated in other films such as ¨An eye for eye¨ by Michael Moore with Robert Lansing and ¨Minessota Clay¨ with Cameron Mitchell , directed by Sergio Corbucci and finally ¨Blind Justice¨(1994) by Richard Spence with Armand Assante , Robert Davi and Elizabeth Shue . An interesting casting full of usual Italian/Spanish Western players such as : Tito Garcia , Fortunato Arena , Guido Mannari , Renato Romano and very brief appearance of Eurotrash goddesses as Malisa Longo , Krista Nell , Janine Reynaud , Shirley Corrigan , among others . Special mention to Raf Baldassarre in his ordinary role as a cruelly baddie , he is terrific , and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . The movie gets the ordinary Western issues, such as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , quick scenes and exaggerated baddies . This is a good Spaghetti Western with some moments genuinely entertaining if you can avoid thinking too much . It's an improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . Acceptable cinematography by Ricardo Pallottini , but is necessary a perfect remastering , being the copy a little washed-out . Of course , the film was appropriately filmed in Almeria , Spain . As it was shot in Texas Hollywood-Fort Bravo , Almeria, and ¨ a fortress called Condor¨, where was filmed several Spaghetti as ¨ Blind man, Massacre at Fort Holman¨, ¨A man called Noon¨ , ¨El Condor¨ and ¨Conan the Barbarian¨ .

The motion picture was compellingly realized by Ferdinando Baldi . Direction by Ferdinando Baldi is well crafted, here he is more cynical and violent and inclined toward humor and packs too much action . Baldi makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , moving shootouts and bemusing scenes . Baldi was a craftsman who directed all kind genres but especially Western such as "Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket" , "Django, Prepare a Coffin" , ¨Adios Texas¨ , ¨Rita in the West¨ and of course ¨Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria" or USA original title "Forgotten Pistolero" at his best . ¨Blindman¨ is an outlandish , surprising and uneven story but will appeal to Spaghetti Western aficionados . Rating : 7 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough .
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