I remember seeing a scene from Keoma (1976), a Franco Nero spaghetti western, on SBS Cult Movies a long time ago and hearing some of its discordant, strange soundtrack, and never forgetting it. Scored by Guido and Maurizo De Angelis (who had already made a lasting impression on me recently with their weird theme to Mannaja), we hear a Joan Baez type singer breathlessly caterwaul over scenes and then is occasionally joined by a deep male voice (at the time, I think I mistakenly thought it was Nero himself since the singing is accented English and the lyrics often comment on what is happening on screen: “there’s my father… there’s my brothers and meeeeee…”). Again, it is a divisive soundtrack amongst fans of the genre, and the film was made at the tail-end of the genre’s popularity in Italy. Nero plays Keoma, a part Native American drifter who returns to his town looking like Jesus – and it’s quite the distinctive look: bearded with long hair, a tall hat, no shirt, hairy chest out, long coat, arm bands. My favourite moment was when Keoma would call out someone for a fight and he’d point at them like he was a wrestler. Directed by Enzo G. Castellari (of 1990: The Bronx Warriors), this is a stylish movie with lots of slow motion Peckinpah esque shoot-out deaths and experimental cross-cutting in the editing. There’s also a Shakespearean/Bergmanesque tone with an old woman who symbolises death following Keoma around and the pregnant woman he rescues and protects representing life. And there’s his three half brothers who have grown up to be gunfighters in a powerful gang that have closed off the town from outside interference and banishes the sick to an internment camp. If Mannaja was all about mud, this is all dust and wind, and Christ-like imagery. Overwrought but compelling, particularly Nero’s characterisation of Keoma as enigmatic with lots of existential one liners: “The world keeps going around and around. So you always end up in the same place.” I had a fun time with this strange, memorable spaghetti western (though I think I personally prefer Mannaja over it). Available to stream on Tubi. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 