Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

El Puro Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 1, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow Video's Savage Guns: 4 Classic Westerns collection.

Arrow may be engaging in just the slightest bit of PR hyperbole with their description of the quartet of offerings in Savage Guns as "classic westerns", as even some of the commentaries included on this set get into. The sheer glut of what have alternately been called Spaghetti or Euro (as well as in one case on a disc in this set, Taco) Westerns throughout the sixties and seventies in particular probably unavoidably led to rather wide variances in quality, and if, as again the very commentaries on some of these discs overtly mention, some of the films in this set are probably not "top tier", they can be rather interesting in their own ways, and as usual Arrow has assembled an impressive array of supplements to augment things.

El Puro, like I Want Him Dead, offers an American star, in this case Robert Woods, and also like I Want Him Dead, this is a basic tale of vengeance, again revolving around the death of a loved female. Woods portrays a kind of down and out gunslinger who goes by the title nickname, though for lovers of the Rat Pack, the character's real name is supposedly Joe Bishop. El Puro is a wanted man himself who has not reacted well to the vagaries of fate and is basically a washed up drunk until a kind hearted woman named Rosie (Rosalba Neri) offers him a new lease on life. Unfortunately for El Puro, Rosie's lease on life isn't all the long and El Puro must first emerge from hiding and escape or at least mitigate his psychological turmoil in order to exact revenge.

El Puro Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

El Puro is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet offers technical information on all four films in the set in a somewhat haphazard fashion on one page, so I'm "cutting and pasting" as necessary to offer data on each film separately:

El Puro / La taglia e tua. . .l'uomo l'ammazzo is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

The original 35mm negative was scanned in 2K resolution at Cinema Communications, Rome. The film was graded and restored in 2K resolution at Dragon DI, Wales. A 35mm print was scanned in 2K resolution for the additional sections needed to complete the long version of the film. Although every effort has been taken to restore these print sections to match the negative sourced footage as closely as possible, this element suffered from severe fading and wear and some instances of picture damage remain.

Audio was sourced from the optical sound negatives. Audio remastering was completed by Þorsteinn Gislason, Norway.

All original materials supplied for El Puro were made available by Intramovies.

A text card at the opening of the extended version offers a few more comments, as follows:

The original Italian version of El Puro / La taglia e tua. . .l'uomo l'ammazzo io runs some 10 minutes longer than the more widely circulated export cut.

Unfortunately, the original elements for these additional scenes have been lost. For this presentation, these scenes were sourced from an archival print. In addition, for some brief scenes, no Italian audio could be located, so these are presented in Spanish with English subtitles.

While the quality of these elements is far from ideal, we felt it was important to bring you the complete, uncut version of El Puro.

With a probably significant caveat offered vis a vis the interstitial additions made for the extended version, this is a very pleasing looking transfer that preserves a very nicely suffused palette and some commendable detail levels. Flesh tones in particular can be just a tad on the orange side at times, but despite this film not having the surplus of outdoor material that other films in this set like I Want Him Dead offer, densities are secure and detail levels nicely consistent. The additional material is often quite easy to spot, and it does indeed show some severe fading, to the point that colors can look pretty blanched, as well as offering a much grittier grain field and less fulsome detail levels.

El Puro Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

El Puro features LPCM Mono audio in either Italian or English. Supplements on this disc either solely or in passing mention Alessandro Alessandroni's score, which more than obviously owes a tip of the sombrero to Ennio Morricone's epochal work on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and perhaps even more saliently, Hugo Montenegro's arrangement of that memorable theme and other Morricone spaghetti western opuses). While the audio here shows some of the same quality variances that the video side of things does, things are nowhere near as widely variant, and overall the tracks for the different versions offer secure fidelity and no really debilitating damage. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

El Puro Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Four Versions are available (see screenshot 10)


• Commentary by Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson


• A Zen Western (HD; 15:07) is a newly produced introduction featuring journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, who freely admits how "bizarre" the film is, while also discussing some of the background in both plot and casting. Subtitled in English.


• A Real Italian (HD; 28:11) is a new interview with actor Robert Woods.


• More Than Just Western (HD; 35:37) is an appreciation by Lovely Jon of Alessandro Allessandroni's Morricone-esque score.

El Puro Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The back cover of this release states that El Puro offers Robert Woods' "arguably. . .greatest performance", and he is quite compelling as yet another addled hero who must confront his own inner turmoil in order to achieve justice for a loved one. Basic technical merits here are solid, though the extended version does show some significant quality variances. Supplements are very enjoyable. Recommended.