A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2018

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 Ringo 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.

For reviews of the two films included on this release, please click the following links:

A Pistol for Ringo Blu-ray review

The Return of Ringo Blu-ray review

A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari 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 & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Arrow continues to offer fans of cult genre items a field day with releases that tend to sport nice technical merits and enjoyable supplements. They've done it again with these two Ringo films, releases which got overlooked domestically at the time of their original theatrical exhibitions but which are now ripe for rediscovery. Recommended.