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Reviews
Tedeum (1972)
One of the better Italian western farces, featuring a delightful Palance performance
I was quite blown away by how much I actually enjoyed this viewing experience! A big part of it must've been the pristine 35mm print it was projected from but still... the movie is funny & entertaining, with memorable characters and even a few laugh-out-loud gags.
Made only one year prior to one of Enzo G.'s top works, High Crime, needless to say the direction is proficient. The score by the De Angelis bros compliments the action on screen. There are also some interesting religious themes in play... BUT the whole thing is still a loud, low-brow slapstick-fest.
It's great fun to see Jack Palance, typically the one straight performer in many a comedy, hamming it up the best he can. Most of the stuff involving Tedeum's (Giancarlo Prete) family is horrible, but thankfully the film recovers whenever they're out of sight.
Highly recommended to the fans of Italian western farces!
Genova a mano armata (1976)
Fun times with carefree detective Tony Lo Bianco in Genova
Not very merciless (the English title is "Merciless Man"), but a fun detective-"poliziotteschi" nevertheless. Most of the genre staples are present, from chases showcasing the local scenery (not very exciting) to shootouts to villains in high places, but Genova a mano armata sports a rather unique happy-go-lucky charm due to the carefree nature of it's protagonist, played by Tony Lo Bianco.
Maybe it's because I haven't seen a poliziotteschi in a while, but I got a good kick out of this, despite some obvious weaknesses. Lo Bianco appears to be doing most of his own stuntwork, and a few of the fisticuffs are quite well choreographed & performed. The catchy theme song by Franco Micalizzi is very familiar, although the film is one of the rarer ones within the genre, at least as a proper presentation. Genova makes a nice chance of backdrop to Milan & Rome. Humor is present, sometimes also unintentionally.
Most of the reviewers complaining about an incoherent plot must've seen a badly edited version, because the print screened at a showing I attended (35mm, in Italian with custom digital Finnish subtitles) made the story easy to follow despite not making total sense in every twist. Reportedly it was fully uncut & 10 minutes longer than the version currently available on YouTube (without subtitles).