The Fifth Cord (1971)

The Fifth Cord (1971) is a visually striking giallo thriller from Italy. While there’s plenty of fashionable outfits and stylish interior decorating, there’s an emphasis on figures placed against colossal pieces of architecture, or the use of shadows against lit windows and lamplight reflected by glass. During one sequence where petals drift through the frame […]

Street Law (1974)

Franco Nero and his moustache get into trouble in Street Law (1974) when he is taken hostage in a bank robbery. The opening credits have already spelled out that the city is rampant with robberies and murders, backed by the beautiful soundtrack work of Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (the prog-rock stoner jam of ‘Goodbye […]

Django (1966)

The original Django (1966) is a spaghetti western that obviously Tarantino paid tribute in Django Unchained taking the name, the theme song and even having original Django Franco Nero pop up in a cameo. The original Django film is itself a riff (or cash-in copycat) on A Fistful Of Dollars in that it’s based on […]

The Mercenary (1968)

In my never ending quest to watch movies scored by Ennio Morricone (particularly as popularised and used by Tarantino – ‘L’Arena’ from this film was used in Kill Bill Vol. 2 when she busts out of the grave), I watched The Mercenary (1968 – Il mercenario), another spaghetti western. A smooth Polish mercenary with a […]

Day Of The Cobra (1980)

Wading further into the genre of poliziottesco/Eurocrime, Day of the Cobra (1980; Il giorno del Cobra) stars Italian superstar Franco Nero (the original Django himself) as the “Cobra”, a name which is never explained but has a catchy theme song (with the bluesy lyric, “Don’t give a damn – I am the Cobra!”). The movie […]