6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A returning Union Officer discovers that his home has been overrun by Mexican bandits, and infiltrates the gang to restore order and determine if his wife has been faithful to him. (IMDB)
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Fernando Sancho, Jorge Martín, Nieves Navarro, Antonio CasasForeign | 100% |
Western | 41% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
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 | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
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.
The Return of 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.This transfer exhibits almost all of the same positives as A Pistol for Ringo, though there are a couple of very minor differences. What looks like a white hair mars the opening credits sequence in the upper left part of the frame, and, later, a few errant blemishes and minor scratches and white flecks have made it through the restoration guantlet. As with its sibling, the grainfield encounters just a couple of moments of coarseness along the way (typically in bright outdoor scenes where it tends to swarm a bit against deep blue skies), but generally looks great. The palette is once again beautifully lush and saturated, and detail levels remain high throughout the presentation, especially since this film offers a glut of extreme close-ups. If the first film's palette tended to be skewed slightly toward the yellow side of things, this film has a tendency to dwell more in an orange-brown range, especially with regard to flesh tones.
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.
Once again DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks are available in Italian and English. The English track simply sounds a bit too hot to my ears, resulting in some minor but noticeable distortion in the midrange in both dialogue and (perhaps more unfortunately) score (by Ennio Morricone once again). The Italian track doesn't quite have the amplitude of the English track, but sounds relatively more natural and appealing. Synch isn't just "slightly loose", per that description above, it's almost comically loose at times on both the Italian and English versions of the film.
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)
Fans of Cold Mountain may want to check out The Return of Ringo, since this earlier film paints with some of the same broad brushstrokes. That said, this follow up (in name only, literally as it turns out) doesn't quite muster the emotional content it's aiming for, though it's generally interesting and fun. Arrow has provided a release with generally solid technical merits and enjoyable supplements. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Ballad of Death Valley / The Angry Gun / Ringo the Killer / Una Pistola per Ringo
1965
Special Edition
1966
Goodbye Texas
1966
Django, prepare ton cercueil / Preparati la bara!
1968
Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana / Gunman in Town
1970
Stranger's Gundown / Django the Avenger / Django il bastardo
1969
1968
Da uomo a uomo | Special Edition
1967
The Rope and the Colt / Une corde, un Colt...
1969
C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara! / A Fistful of Lead
1970
E Dio disse a Caino...
1970
I quattro dell'apocalisse
1975
La resa dei conti
1966
Buon funerale amigos!... paga Sartana / Gunslinger
1970
Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte / Gunfighters Die Harder
1968
Due once di piombo
1966
Le colt cantarono la morte e fu... tempo di massacro / The Brute and the Beast
1966
1976
Gatling Gun / Machine Gun Killers / Quel caldo maledetto giorno di fuoco
1968
Faccia a faccia
1967