6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In a border town the famous gunslinger Ringo kills four people out of self defense but is arrested nevertheless. Meanwhile a gang of Mexicans cross the border and rob the local bank. Their leader is wounded when they try to escape and therefore the bandits take refuge on a nearby ranch, taking the occupants hostage. The sheriff is reluctant to take action because his fiancée is among the hostages. The only one who can help him now is Ringo, who is set free and asked to infiltrate the gang...
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Jorge Martín, Fernando Sancho, Nieves Navarro, Antonio CasasForeign | 100% |
Western | 41% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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 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.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.
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.
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.
This is a one disc release, and so both films share supplements:
- 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)
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Blood at Sundown / Il ritorno di Ringo
1965
Faccia a faccia
1967
Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana / Gunman in Town
1970
Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte / Gunfighters Die Harder
1968
Da uomo a uomo | Special Edition
1967
Goodbye Texas
1966
C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara! / A Fistful of Lead
1970
Gli Specialisti
1969
La resa dei conti
1966
I quattro dell'apocalisse
1975
Il grande silenzio | 50th Anniversary Edition
1968
Il grande duello / The Big Showdown
1972
Buon funerale amigos!... paga Sartana / Gunslinger
1970
1971
1968
1968
The Rope and the Colt / Une corde, un Colt...
1969
Il mercenario / A Professional Gun
1968
Django, prepare ton cercueil / Preparati la bara!
1968
1970