Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 13, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Blood Money: Four Classic Westerns set.

The term "Spaghetti Western" and the name of Sergio Leone are probably going to be forever linked in many film fans' minds, but as a number of labels and perhaps especially Arrow continue to prove, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say, and in this particular instance there were seemingly hordes of filmmakers out to "flatter" Leone with their own take on this often rather provocative (sub?)genre. Blood Money aggregates a quartet of rather interesting films, all according to some descriptive verbiage on the slipbox included with this set "centered around the theme" of the title of the collection. Each of the four offers interesting introductions by Italian journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, and he points out both some connections between some of the films, as well as some perhaps unexpected tethers to Hollywood in some cases as well. The films' production dates range from 1967 to 1970 and offer an admittedly somewhat formulaic approach to both plot and character, all within the general confines already proscribed by Leone, but each of the films has some interesting elements either intrinsically or again in some cases with a certain "meta" aspect. As usual with these Arrow collections, technical merits tend to be solid and the supplemental content is outstanding.

I began the $10,000 Blood Money Blu-ray review with a recounting of some of my previous comments about when a Django film is or isn't really a Django film, and in that regard, this particular film may raise a somewhat linked question, namely, when is a sequel not really a sequel? There's a longstanding tradition in Hollywood at least for clever names for sequels, with Addams Family Values being one of my own personal favorites, and if you look at the original Italian title of this particular film, you might be able to glean that it "ups the ante" so to speak from the reward offered in $10,000 Blood Money, also included in the Blood Money collection from Arrow. While some of the character names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent and/or guilty, this film not only reunites the marquee stars from $10,000 Blood Money, it also once again offers Gianni Garko (under his Anglicized Gary Hudson moniker) as a bounty hunter, albeit this time not named Django, but instead perhaps just slightly improbably Johnny Forest.

Once again Claudio Camaso is on hand in an over the top characterization, this time as Johnny's errant ne-er-do-well brother Clint. As some of the supplements get into, this is a slightly rejiggered version of the venerable tale of Cain and Abel, though it probably unsurprisingly never attempts the literary qualities of, say, East of Eden. This may not offer the same moral "shades of gray" that are at least somewhat apparent in $10,000 Blood Money, with John not really questioning the fact that he needs to bring his very villainous brother to justice, but the family dynamic (which includes the boys' mother making a deathbed request of Johnny) adds to an already considerable angst factor.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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Arrow's insert booklet included with the Blood Money set lumps all of the films in the set together on its page devoted to the restorations:

$10,000 Blood Money is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

Vengeance is Mine is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

Find a Place to Die is presented in its original aspect of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

The original 35mm negatives were scanned in 2K resolution at Cinema Communications, Rome. The films were graded and restored in 2K resolution at Dragon DI, Wales.

Sound mastering was completed by Lowe Frequency Limited, London and Bad Princess Productions, London.

Matalo! (Kill Him) is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono sound.

The original 35mm negative was scanned and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The film was colour graded at R3Store Studios London.

Sound remastering was completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata and Lowe Frequency Productions, London.

Audio synch will appear loose against the picture, as the dialogue was recorded entirely in post productions, as pwer the production standards of the period.

All original materials for 10,000 Blood Money, Vengeance is Mine and Find a Place to Die were supplied by Variety Distribution.

All original materials supplied for the restoration of Matalo! (Kill Him) were made available by Intramovies and Mediaset.

Vengeance is Mine struck me as the least overall pleasing looking transfer in the Blood Money set, which is not to suggest it's highly deficient one way or the other. At its best in fact it matches the nice suffusion and excellent fine detail levels of some of the other films in this set (look at screenshot 4 for a great example), but it also has more widely variant densities at times, especially in some of the ubiquitous outdoor material, and there are also a couple of noticeable sudden downgrades in image quality where things become almost pixellated and compression struggles to deal with both grain and dust (see screenshot 9 for one example). On the whole, this is certainly more than serviceable, and perhaps suffers only when compared to a couple of the other "shinier" transfers in this set.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As your resident audiophile who has in fact pointed out sometimes rather odd pitch differences in alternate language tracks on one disc, I have to say that Arrow's disclaimer on this disc seemed to be aimed directly at my ears, to whit:

Perceptive listeners may notice a difference in pitch between the Italian and English version of Vengeance is Mine. Please rest assured that this as per the original soundtrack negatives and not a fault of this release.

As with the other discs in this set, English and Italian language versions are offered in LPCM Mono, but you can't toggle between the languages, making side by side comparisons a little more difficult, but that said, yes, perceptive listeners will notice a pitch change with regard to the scoring. Otherwise, the Italian track sounded a bit thinner overall to me, with a more robust midrange in the English track especially noticeable during scoring. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout in both versions. Optional English subtitles are available.

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Italian Version and English Version options are accessible under the Choose Version Menu.


• Commentary by Adrian J. Smith and David Flint


• Crime and Punishment (HD; 13:05) is a new introduction by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli. Melelli draws some connections between this film and 10,000 Dollars for a Massacre, while also pointing out some differences between the two. Melelli describes the film as a Cain and Abel story. Subtitled in English.


• Cain and Abel (HD; 25:03) is a newly edited version of archival interviews with actor Gianni Garko and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Subtitled in English.


• In Conversation with Nora Orlandi (HD; 15:34) is a newly edited archival interview with the composer. Subtitled in English.


• Movie After Movie (HD; 16:42) is a new interview with producer Mino Loy. Subtitled in English.


• Italian Trailer (HD; 3:14)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Vengeance Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As with $10,000 Blood Money, as charismatic as Gianni Garko (and/or Gary Hudson) may be, it's probably Claudio Camaso's scenery chewing performance that will stick in the memory the longest in this kinda sorta retelling of the Cain and Abel story. That said, for anyone wanting more evidence in that aforementioned "when is a Django film not a Django film" debate, look at the alternate title of this film on the reversible sleeve. Technical merits are generally solid, and as usual Arrow has aggregated some appealing supplements. Recommended.