Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2018

Note: This film is available as part of A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari.

Doing some background research for our relatively recent Trinity Twin Pack Blu-ray review led me to the data point that well over six hundred so called “European westerns” were made between 1960 and 1978, and so-called “Spaghetti western experts” C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke mention at least a few of them in their appealing commentaries on this new “twin pack” combining two (but not the only two) Ringo films. In fact, Joyner and Parke kind of joke about how various entries in the “Euro western” genre were branded with various character names, even when those particular characters were nowhere to be found in the films (one of the odder comments the pair makes is how one of the Ringo film was actually rebranded as a Sartana outing for one foreign market). And while both of these films obviously feature the name Ringo in their titles and many of the same cast and crew (including star Montgomery Wood), these two supposedly linked entries actually have next to nothing in common in terms of either plot or character. A Pistol for Ringo would seem to be establishing a new Euro western hero somewhere in between the laconic tendencies of The Man with No Name and the somewhat more verbose Trinity, but The Return of Ringo eschews much of the first film as it attempts to rework Homer’s immortal Odyssey in a Civil War setting, in an approach that kind of strangely presages the much later Cold Mountain.

A Pistol for Ringo turns out to be more or less a hostage drama, though it takes a while for it to get there. Ringo (Montgomery Wood), originally identified as "Angel Face", is initially shown as an apparently nonchalant type, a guy out in a courtyard playing hopscotch (of all things) with some kids, until, that is, a quartet of bad guys arrives. Then Ringo’s penchant of being the fastest gun in the universe comes into play, leading to four corpses in the courtyard (none of them Ringo’s, of course). Local sheriff Ben (George Martin) apprehends Ringo and deposits him in a jail cell to await trial.

Meanwhile two other plots unfold more or less simultaneously, with an expected intersection of all of them down the line. A horde of bad guys led by Sancho (Fernando Sancho) is wreaking havoc, as is Sancho’s duplicitous main squeeze Dolores (Nieves Navarro). Outside of town, a well to do land owner named Major Clyde (Antonio Casas) is preparing for impending Christmas revelry with his daughter Ruby (Hally Hammond), who just happens to be Sheriff Ben’s fiancée. (Pay attention during the film's opening vignette, where two gunslingers square off against each other, as if to suggest a coming brawl, only to wish each other "Merry Christimas".)

When a bank robbery goes at least slightly awry, Sancho is wounded and he and his gang end up at Major Clyde’s place, where they take all the party goers hostage in a desperate attempt to secure their escape route. Meanwhile Sheriff Ben is plotting a way to get the hostages out safely (hostages that include his love, of course), which leads him to springing Ringo with an understanding that Ringo can infiltrate the gang and work some magic from the inside (so to speak).

All of this plays out in a somewhat overheated emotional ambience where both of the major female characters end up either being sincerely attracted to or find themselves being ogled by male characters to whom they’re not officially attached. There’s some genuine tension as Sancho begins planning to execute hostages until his demands are met, but of course Ringo is able to save the day, at least for most.

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Pistol for Ringo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restorations of both films in this set:

A Pistol for Ringo and The Return of Ringo have been exclusively restored in 2K resolution for this release by Arrow Films and are presented in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono 1.0 sound.

All restoration work on these new restorations was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm 2-perf Techniscope camera negatives were scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan with a wetgate and graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master.

Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Overall image instability and instances of density fluctuation were also improved.

The film's original Italian and English mono soundtracks were transferred from the original 35mm optical sound negatives using the Sondor OMA/E with COSP Xi2K technology to minimise optical noise and produce the best quality results possible. The audio such will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the soundtracks were recorded entirely in post-production.

Arrow has done its typically fine job in restoring a cult item with this title and its sibling. The palette is really wonderfully vivid and suffused, with deep blue skies and appealing tones on a variety of costumes. Textures and fine detail on those costumes pop with commendable precision throughout the presentation. There are a few moments when grain can look a bit coarse (pay attention shortly after the 17:00 minute mark when hordes of horsemen cavort through a valley, or later at the ranch as Christmas festivities get under way), but typically everything looks very organic and resolves without any problems. Some day for night moments toward the end of the film look just slightly blue, something that tends to push otherwise solid blacks toward a purplish hue.

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks on this release sound decent, within the context of Italian audio as a whole during this era. The Italian track sounded more relatively "natural" to my ears, though the English track has slightly more amplitude. Along with that amplitude, though, came a more artificial sound with a boxy ambience that didn't quite have the breathing room of the Italian track. Ennio Morricone's score is rendered without problems. There are no issues with dropouts or other damage on either track.

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This is a one disc release, and so both films share supplements:

• Revisiting Ringo (1080p; 37:56) features Tony Rayns, who has been a welcome addition to several recent Arrow releases. Rayns gets into the history of the films and discusses how they're actually not all that related when you get right down to it.


• They Called Him Ringo (1080p; 21:52) is an archival piece with Giuliano Gemma (also known as Montgomery Wood) and Lorella De Luca.


• A Greek Western Tragedy (1080p; 26:32) is another archival piece, this time with Lorella De Luca and camera operator Sergio D'Offizi.


• Audio Commentaries on both films are by "Spaghetti western experts" C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke.


• Original Trailers

  A Pistol for Ringo Trailer

  U.S. Trailer (1080p; 3:26)

  German Trailer (1080p; 3:14)

  The Return of Ringo Trailer

  U.S. Trailer (1080p; 3:25)

  Italian Trailer (1080p; 3:26)

• Image Gallery (1080p) is culled from the Mike Siegal Archive.

As usual, Arrow has also supplied a nicely appointed insert booklet.

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Pistol for Ringo is consistently engaging and introduces an appealing Wood as a putative franchise hero. Unfortunately, as is discussed across several supplements on this release, that never really worked out (at least not in the way intended). Arrow has offered a release with nice technical merits and excellent supplements. Recommended.