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The early days of the Spaghetti Western saw the Italian producers trying to disguise their films as best as possible. American or British actors were brought in for the lead roles, Americanised names were given to the rest of the cast and the storyline and direction were designed as much as possible to mimic the American Westerns. All this changed after Leone and Corbucci turned the genre on its head and by 1967 the European film makers began to realise that they could make Westerns in their own unique way. Most distinctive were the times that the European brand of surrealism was applied to the old West.
In a small Old West town, Bart (Corrado Pani) has his head in a noose awaiting the death sentence when a gang of Mexican bandits storm into the town, killing everone in sight and seeting him free. As they ride out of town, Bart pays off the bandits, only to gun them down moments later. Meeting up with his old friends Ted and Phil, the group retreat to a desolate ghost town to plan an ambush on a stagecoach carrying a large amount of gold. The ambush is successful, but Bart is hit. As the group return, less a member, to the town, two other travellers are approaching to face a run in with this deadly gang...
All too often, surrealist films take liberties with the scripts and will usually forgo storyline for random sequences of surrealism. Fortunately here, crime movie veteran Mino Roli (Gli Intoccabili (1969)) provide the film with a solid storyline around which Canevari is able to work his magic (a storyline that he had previously used in the film Kill the Wickeds (1967)). The plot is certainly not the most original and much of the runtime is spent in the ghost town but the characterisation is decent and it is plotted enough to keep the film moving and building up to a very impressive climax and fitting conclusion that makes sense and does not just use the surrealism as an excuse for a cop-out ending.
Director Cesare Canevari is the man who makes the film unique, but he is helped out extensively by composer Mario Migliardi who provides the film with a completely unorthodox prog-rock soundtrack that would sound more at home in a Dario Argento Giallo entry - from the first note it makes it abundantly clear that we are not going to get a routine Western. The set design is particularly worthy of note, the ghost town is one of the best looking in the entire Western genre and it gives dozens of amazing angles for the cameramen to work from. Canevari uses all of these opportunities, combined with some distinctively fast editing to give the entire film a unique and memorable atmosphere.
Columbian born Lou Castel had made a name for himself in the politcally charged Spaghetti Western Bullet for the General (1967) but although top billed here he actually only gets a relatively small part, spending much of his time being tied up and tortured. A minor player in a number of Italian art house classics, Corrado Pani gives a very strong performance here as Bart and would go on to appear in a number of Euro-crime pictures. The wonderfully seductive Claudia Gravy, fresh off an appearance in Jess Franco's Marquis de Sade: Justine (1969) makes a very fine bandit vixen in a number of scanty outfits.
Surreal and weird but with a solid storyline and good acting to keep it moving, Mátalo is one of the more successful of the usual Spaghetti Westerns and it comes recommended to fans of the unorthodox Euro-West, certainly if you enjoyed Django Kill (1967) then this is one for you. However, if you like your Westerns straight forward or American style, then this is one to avoid.
| Anyone famous in it? | Lou Castel - a Columbian born actor who appeared in a number of Euro-cult films including Orgasmo (1969) |
| Directed by anyone interesting? | Cesare Canevari - a lesser known Italian director who also helmed the first Emmanuelle film Io, Emmanuelle (1969) and later the Nazisploitation picture L'Ultima orgia del III Reich (1977) |
| Any gore or violence ? | Some blood and some shootouts and beatings but nothing unusually violent or vivid. |
| Any sex or nudity? | None |
| Who is it for? | Fans of the more unusual and unique Spaghetti Westerns will certainly want to see this. |
| Kill the Wickeds (1967) | An earlier film that used exactly the same script, scene-for-scene as Matalo and manages to obtain a suitably unusual atmosphere. The two films make for a very interesting comparison. |
| Visuals | Original Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1. Not anamorphically Enhanced. Colour. Picture quality is solid but not too impressive. Colours all come through fine but there is a slight fading and general softness to the print. Miles better than VHS or bootleg and always watchable. |
| Audio | English mono - sounds fine. |
| Subtitles | None. |
| Extras | This disc includes:
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| Region | Region 0 (ALL) - NTSC |
| Other regions? | None known. |
| Cuts? | Believed to be fully uncut. Print used is English language (title credits seem to have been newly created but are in keeping with the film). |