Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

I Want Him Dead 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.

I Want Him Dead is a fairly basic quest for revenge story, though it's couched in a kind of interesting quasi-political context courtesy of its setting during the Civil War. Clayton (Craig Hill) is a disillusioned Confederate who has figured out maybe some things aren't worth fighting for, but when a tragedy involving his sister Mercedes (Christina Businari) occurs, he of course is more than willing to spring into action to right wrongs. The film has some kind of unintentionally funny gaffes in terms of "history", but the underlying story is actually rather compelling, and Hill makes for a suitably conflicted hero who is attempting to balance his own needs to "detach" with a desire to bring the bad guys to justice. There's a kind of unavoidably melancholic tone to a lot of this story, and it offers some views on the vagaries of war that may have been meant to echo the late sixties sentiments against what was going on in Vietnam. That said, there's some outright "revisionism" going on in terms of villains wanting the Civil War to keep raging which at least subliminally undercuts attempts at "gritty realism".

I Want Him Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Want Him Dead is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. 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:

I Want Him Dead / Lo voglio morto is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

The film was restored by Rewind Films from the original camera negatives. Audio was sourced from the optical sound negatives.

This is often a very nicely detailed presentation, though there are some noticeable ebbs and flows to the grain field (contrast screenshot 1 with screenshot 2), and at times grain can be rather gritty and even dirty looking. Color timing struck me as just a bit skewed toward yellows, but on the whole things look healthy and well suffused. The glut of outdoor location work provides a lot of brightly lit environments that can help support fine detail levels. There's a certain amount of fuzziness and/or blurriness that shows up on occasion that might be attributable either to lenses or perhaps even some momentary focus pulling anomalies. I noticed no major signs of age related wear and tear.

I Want Him Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I Want Him Dead features LPCM Mono audio in either Italian or English, and while Arrow has authored this disc so that toggling isn't allowed (something that frankly aids me in being able to do quick "side by side" comparisons, in playing and then replaying several sequences in each language, I found that both tracks sound very similar if not downright identical in terms of mixes and overall amplitude. Nico Fidenco's score sounds full bodied though perhaps encounters just the slightest hints of distortion at the loudest volumes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

I Want Him Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Two Versions are available (see screenshot 10)


• Commentary by Adrian J. Smith and David Flint


• Dead or Alive (HD; 12:42) is a newly produced introduction by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, wh offers some background on Craig Hill and Paolo Bianchini. Subtitled in English.


• The Man Who Hated Violence (HD; 30:17) is a new interview with director Paolo Bianchini. Subtitled in English.


• Cut and Shoot (HD; 17:32) is a new interview with editor Eugenio Alabiso. Subtitled in English.


• Nico Unchained (HD; 21:00) is an archival interview with composer Nico Fidenco. Subtitled in English.


• English Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:59)


• Image Gallery (HD)

I Want Him Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The supplements included with this feature are kind of interesting in that several participants on the film's production crew are still among the living, which helps to give some "first person" authenticity to the reminiscences offered. The film itself is intermittently quite visceral, and at times extremely scenic (even if the scenery may not exactly evoke the American landscapes it's supposed to). Technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.