Ringo's Big Night (1966) Poster

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6/10
Decent Spaghetti/Paella Western co-produced between Italy and Spain with ordinary actors as Berger , Fajardo and Bodalo
ma-cortes18 December 2013
Ringo or Jack Balman (Austrian actor resident in Italy named William Berger) is a tidy and rapid gunfighter . At the beginning take place a series of stagecoach robberies between Silver City and Tombstone . There occurs the theft of a passenger whose $ 200 had them hidden in their clothes . A 200-grand in stolen booty is at stake and Ringo gets blamed . Ringo is detained and imprisoned in Silver City , but he escapes and goes to Tombstone to discover the guilty . In Tombstone meets a saloon girl (Adriana Ambesi) that ties to her bed to get for information . He finds out a group of powerful local people (Spanish secondaries: Eduardo Fajardo , Jose Bodalo , Francisco Moran , Jorge Rigaud) carry out the robberies , as the Mayor , the sheriff , the saloon owner and shop keeper .

This acceptable Western contains an interesting but twisted plot , violence , double crosses , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some violence , crossfire or stunts every few minutes . The movie gets the usual Western issues, such as avenger antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies , soundtrack with Morricone influence , among them . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist William Berger against the heartless enemies formed by a Spanish all-star-cast such as Eduardo Fajardo , Francisco Moran , Jorge Rigaud , Armando Calvo and the great Jose Bodalo of Django . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as well as a lot of twists and turns , as the film approaches its climax , as in the final and the unusual conclusion . Austrian William Berger in his first Western , is fine , as he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . Fair-haired Austrian leading man Berger appeared in many Spaghetti westerns between 1966 and 1987 such as "Sartana in the Valley of Death" , "They Call Him Cemetery" , "Fast hand" , ¨Noose for Django¨, "Jaider's Gang" , among others . He also played several Western as a secondary actor as he had got fame and fortune with his unforgettable co-starring in ¨Sabata¨ as the banjo man , ¨Face to face¨, ¨Keoma¨ , ¨California¨ and ¨Tex¨. He had a reputation for being a rebel and a vociferous anti-establishment figure . Berger's career was also at times interrupted by drug abuse . La Grande Notte di Ringo" is predominantly an Italian film rather than a Spanish one , but the Spaniard participation is important , as here appears a lot of Spanish secondaries , ordinary players in Spaghetti/Chorizo or Paella Western such as Armando Calvo , Paco Morán ,Antonio Molino Rojo , Antonio Moreno and of course the always excellent Eduardo Fajardo . Colorful cinematography by usual Emilio Foriscot , he creates a magnificent scenario on the little town and barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a shimmer sun ; being filmed on location Manzanares Del Real , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) and Lacio (Rome) . The music original by Carlo Rustichelli composes an agreeable Spaghetti soundtrack , being well conducted and including a splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score

The motion picture was professionally written and produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero and his production company ¨Copercines¨ . Eduardo Manzanos started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin . After that , he produced with his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Marchent with Frank Latimore . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western little town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Jaime Perez Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today almost scrawny or sadly disappeared ; the village was called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as the classic ¨Fistful of dollars¨ and ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ ; furthermore there was shot : ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , various Zorros and this one . Manzanos Brochero produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨ , ¨Winchester 1 between 1000¨ by Primo Zeglio , ¨At the end of the rainbow¨ by Aldo Florio and ¨Taste for vengeance¨ or "Cowards Don't Pray" and this one . "Ringo's Big Night" was compellingly realized by Mario Maffei , he is an assistant director , known for Rufufú , Girl with a suitcase , Boccaccio 70 , Inglorious bastards , among others .
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6/10
Out of jail, but planning to return
unbrokenmetal1 April 2012
200,000 dollars are stolen in a stagecoach robbery, and soon two strangers are arrested: John and Jack. They are innocent (well, at least in this case) and because John has a broken arm, Jack decides to break out of jail alone, prove who the real bandits are, get hold of the money, kill the bad guys (whoever they may be) and return to John. Simple plan, difficult to carry out, though! In Tombstone, Jack cannot trust anybody, but he's got a few clever ideas to impress the enemies (he pretends he can shoot a hole through a coin, but exchanges the coin secretly because he actually missed) and doesn't hesitate even to tie the saloon girl (hot: Adriana Ambesi) to her bed for information. Yet he finds that the stagecoach robbers are well prepared to hide their true identities...

This was the first Italian western for William Berger who was to continue in the genre for many films until the 1980s. The character he portrays, Jack aka Ringo, is a typical blond hero type at first glance; but if you take a closer look at Ringo's problems with the law, especially with sheriffs, that is foreshadowing the more twisted characters Berger was to play later, for example in 'Sabata'. Eduardo Fajardo ('Django') is a perfect villain as always; in one scene, he uses a pistol disguised as a door-handle, I haven't seen this anywhere else before. Carlo Rustichelli's music enhances the action, and director Maffei (who was usually working as an assistant or second unit director) shows the necessary craftsmanship to put this together. The result is not outstanding in any way, but a solid low budget western without major flaws.
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6/10
There no Ringo!!
elo-equipamentos3 November 2017
In Brazil has this kind misunderstood, the name of movie here is "the Big Night of Ringo" but the main actor William Berger must to be called Ringo instead Jack Balman specially because is a dubbed version, so it's so easy call him Ringo, anyway apart from little mistakes, the unbelievable scene that Balman escapes from the prison using a bed and trouser, what a bizarre scene!!! The movie itself is quite likable for a spaghetti, the final is bit moralistic but works, the widescreen format was preserved and amazing restoration!!

Resume:

First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6
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6/10
William Berger's First Spaghetti Western
zardoz-1315 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Expatriate American actor William Berger saddled up for the first of many Spaghetti westerns when he made writer & director Mario Maffei's oater "Ringo's Big Night," with genre stalwart Eduardo Fajardo cast as the villain. Interestingly enough, the protagonist that Berger portrays has a different name than the eponymous character. The reason perhaps is that the nickname 'Ringo' became a familiar name in European westerns, as popular as 'Trinity' and 'Django.' In this instance, the Berger anti-hero is neither related to Giuliano Gemma's two "Ringo" horse operas "A Pistol for Ringo" and "The Return of Ringo," helmed by Duccio Tessari, nor Mark Damon's gunslinger in "Ringo and His Golden Pistol." Indeed, Berger is cast as never-do-well gambler Jack Balman. Basically, this above-average sagebrusher concerns a gambler who is arrested and thrown in the hoosegow because the authorities suspect that he may have robbed a stagecoach and stolen $200-thousand in bank notes. Maffei staged the robbery with comic overtones. The villains force both driver and passengers to strip to their underwear to see if they are hiding the $200-thousand. Afterward, they check the boot, or trunk of the coach, and find a gentleman crammed up in it. Systemically, they strip him and rip off packets of bank notes. Anyway, while he had nothing to do with the hold-up, Balman winds up sharing a cell with another man (Walter Maestosi) and convinces him to help him escape from jail so he can find the missing money. The outlaw sharing his cell with him has one arm injured, but he helps Balman break out of jail by using his pants and the cell bed. Our hero hightails it to Tombstone where he tracks the money down to a corrupt lawman and Tombstone's mayor Joseph Finley (Eduardo Fajardo of "The Mercenary") who is a sneaky dastard himself. For example, Finley has rigged up a door in his house so that it has no knob on it. Instead, he has a revolver that he has placed in the hole so that the revolver looks like a door knob that has a handle. This neat trick doesn't fool our resourceful hero when he comes looking for the money. Predictably, Balman recovers the loot, sinks it into a glass jar under a water fall and rides back to town so he can get back into this jail bunk before he is discovered. This synopsis makes it look like a "Mission: Impossible" western. Maffei generates a modicum of suspense along the way as the villains blast it out with the sons of virtue and the bodies pile up. When he rides into town to question suspects, Federal Agent Norman Ford (Guido De Salvi of "Passport for a Corpse") finds several corpses lined up outside in the middle of the street. Balman has every intention of hoarding the money and riding off to Mexico, but the Federal authorities convince him to do otherwise. The gunfights and the fistfights are fast and furious. Those Spaghetti western sound effects—particularly the report of any firearm—are distinctive. For the record, one of the towns that the action takes place in is the same town that Sergio Leone used for his Clint Eastwood westerns. Some of the things that you don't see in the usual, run-of-the-mill western is our hero shooting it out with his enemies from the bucket of a water well. He reels himself up above the well and fires at the bad guys, and then he lowers himself. Lenser Giuliana Attenni of "Two Sons of Ringo" makes everything look rugged with his widescreen cinematography. "Ringo's Big Night" is worth watching at least once.
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You'll be dozing through this "night"
Wizard-810 June 2013
Normally I enjoy spaghetti westerns a lot, but this one was at times very tough to sit through, so I can only imagine what non-western fans would think of it. The movie does have a few good ideas that could have potentially paid off, but the execution is more often than not lacking. After the opening action sequence, you have to wait more than a half hour before the next real action sequence. The movie is extremely slow-moving and filled with too much talk to engage western fans. Even the music score, usually the highlight of a spaghetti western, is very lacklustre. Animal lovers might want to especially avoid this movie since there is some treatment of horses at one point that might anger them.

Oh, and despite what the title says, there's no character in the movie by the name of "Ringo".
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10/10
Awesome choice if you have a couple of hours to spare
I watched this out of pure boredom. My job is remote, so when my shift ends I'm already home. I get off at 3pm on Saturdays (I used to get off at 5:30). That's early enough to go out, but places are too crowded. And it seems like people are extra rude on the weekend compared to during the week, so I prefer to stay in the house after I finish working. But since I often find myself moping around, I'm trying to make it a habit to get on my laptop and watch something. I told myself it doesn't have to be a genre that I like. Just as long as it was made in the 20th century, preferably any decade before the 80s (because, unlike a lot of millennials, I think 80s films and TV shows are crap), I'll watch it, regardless of whether or not it's in color. I didn't expect to enjoy Ringo's Big Night as much as I did. I'm actually not a fan of westerns. The first spaghetti western I watched was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and I loved it, so I tried to watch another one, but I found it so lame that I turned it off after fifteen minutes (it was called Blood at Sundown, which coincidentally was also made in 1966. I don't know, maybe I should give it another try). I came across this movie, and I was having doubts, but I started watching anyway, because like I said, I was quite bored. Well, I misjudged Ringo's Big Night - I was glued to the screen the whole time.

Stagecoaches have been getting robbed between two communities, Silver City and Tombstone. Whoever is committing the crime stole $200,000 that was sewn into a banker's clothing, the person who was transporting the money. Jack Balman (William Berger) has been labeled a suspect and put in jail with another man who's arm is broken. The two make an agreement: Jack breaks out of jail, goes to Tombstone, locates the $200,000, and when he returns they'll split the money. It moves a little slow at times, but overall it's climactic. I could watch it again, honestly. It's an action packed film. If you're a fan of spaghetti westerns but you haven't already seen this one, I suggest giving it a look.
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