Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970)

Nice effects though.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Silly and funny Western about two drifters carry out several adventures , saloon brawls and resolve conflicts among nasty robbers that want to take a treasure . This is a serviceable comic spaghetti western which doesn't take itself too seriously . This good natured comic spaghetti packs diverting elements , tongue-in-cheek , thrills , shootouts , fighting , explosions , and results to be quite entertaining but middling . It is set California, the 1870s . Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are outlaws and although they are good friends , they cannot get along peacefully . Meantime , a beautiful Indian (Marilú Tolo) helps both drifters and plays both sides against each other . They take on a sadistic priest-turned-crime boss , nicknamed The Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) , and his hoodlums , who attempt to rob a valuable treasure . Roy then decides that he has enough of being an outlaw and leaves the bunch in search of a good , honest job as a sheriff in nearby Carson City . Roy , Winchester and his cohorts foil the planned robbery to keep the treasure for themselves . Our two not so upright heroes rob the robbers but, needless to say, get distracted by the gorgeous Indian girl . Comical Spaghetti Western about a simple and plain plot , as two outlaws compete with each other over a treasure map , being realized in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style and considered to be rip-off of the Trinidad and Bambino westerns . The film is plenty of fistfight between Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood over who will take the treasure and who will become sole leader of their band . This is a slightly funny film with entertaining as well as bewildering events , giggles , craziness , twists and lots and fun . In ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨ there are pursuits , stagecoach attacks , crossfire , saloon brawls , cutthroats gunslingers and many others things . This bemusing movie is packed with tongue-in-cheek , slapstick , a steady stream of gags , lively situations abound , sheer belly laughs , crazy humor , too much fun and to be perfect for youngsters . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and poor results . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some fights , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Mediocre Western All'Italiana made in laughable style with a screenplay written by Mario Di Nardo , including amusing dialogue , silly situations , plot twists and turns . Filmmaker Mario Bava often uses disconcerting and surrealist situations to give us a passable movie plenty of funny happenings as well as absurd incidents ; and that , at least , kept me entertained for the almost half an hour of duration . The cast and support cast are passable . As sympathetic acting by starring trio : Brett Halsey , Charles Southwood and Marilù Tolo as a young Native American woman . Furthermore , there appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti Western , such as : Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Bruno Corazzari , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd and Franco Pesce , among others .Roy Colt and Winchester Jack was regularly directed by Mario Bava . This was one of the films on which Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava , began his career as his father's assistant ; Lamberto would latter become a director himself , winning a successful career . Mario was the main creator of Italian ¨Giallo¨ genre , Bava ("Blood and Black Lace", ¨House of exorcism¨ , Black Sabbath¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental representatives . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Bava directed all kinds of genres such as , Sci-Fi : ¨Planet of Vampires¨ , Peplum : "Hercules in the Center of the Earth" , ¨Battle of Marathon¨ , Historical : "Erik the Conqueror" , "Viking Massacre" and Western : "The Road to Fort Alamo" , ¨Ringo from Nebraska" and this ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨.

Hmmm...a spaghetti western that comes on DVD without English dubbing and only captions! Now that's something you just don't see every day! And, after seeing many dubbed films (some of which were terribly done), it was nice to see this captioned film. Could the reason this one not be dubbed be because it wasn't shown in the States or was perhaps seen as not worthy of dubbing? Who knows.Unfortunately, my excitement at seeing a dubbed film was short-lived. At the four minute mark, there was a shootout that was, I suppose, done for laughs. But, since it was really, really stupid, it didn't make me laugh...just groan in disbelief. I think the Banana Splits or Paul Rubens would have done this scene more subtly! In the next scene, two bounty hunters are killed by our anti-hero, Winchester, and he releases their prisoner--an Indian woman. Sadly, she really doesn't look like an American-Indian--more like some Italian lady with light brown-green eyes--and they didn't do much to pull off this character other give her buckskins to wear! In that case, I'm going wrap myself up in aluminum foil tomorrow in the hopes I get to play an alien in an Italian sci-fi epic! Soon after this, Winchester meets up with Roy and the fun begins. Well, okay, the fun NEVER begins...but at least the story starts to move...a bit. Aside from some very sloppy slapstick, the film is about Roy and Winchester both looking for treasure--only one of them has apparently gone straight in the meantime. But frankly, considering how bad the film is and how disappointed I was that the famous Mario Bava could make such a rotten film, I totally lost interest. And, unless you have suffered a serious brain trauma, you, too, will find little to entertain you in this film that looks as if no one cared in the least if it resembled the old west in any way at all! By the way, if you care, the money that the American-Indian prostitute is paid is very clearly the type made from 1928 until very recently--not even close to the sort of money they actually used in the old west. Also, the 'American-Indian' lady clearly is wearing modern band-aids on her nipples--a common practice when the film will NOT show explicit nudity (allowing a tiny measure of modesty for the actress). Apparently, someone forgot to tell the cameraman, as it appears in the film and makes the viewer think "...huh?!?!".

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970) * 1/2 (out of 4) Spaghetti western directed by Mario Bava about two outlaws (Brett Halsey, Charles Southwood) trying to find a treasure. Outside some nice cinematography this film is pretty much a wasted effort for everyone involved, especially the director. I'm a fairly big fan of Bava but this here certainly ranks down at the bottom of his filmography. The film goes for way too many laughs, which is okay if any of them were actually funny. In the end the film is basically a rip of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are a few good moments but not enough to make it worth watching.

Knowing that Mario Bava spent most of his career directing horror flicks, it may come as a surprise that he also directed a western. Well, not only did he direct one, it came out quite cool. Portraying a pair of outlaws splitting up and meeting again after one of them has gone straight, "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" plays everything for all that it's worth. As can be expected, there's plenty of gunfights (I suspect that the Old West was like that). But what I notice was different about this movie that wasn't true about any other spaghetti westerns - at least the ones that I've seen - was the whole brothel scene; it was probably fun to film all that! Leave it to the Italians to stick something like that in a western.Anyway, this is one movie that makes no pretense about being anything other than pure, unadulterated fun. Some of the characters - particularly the Reverend - seemed a little annoying. But the movie's quick pace makes up for any problems. I liked the movie. And not just because Manila was really hot! PS: Brett Halsey, who played Roy Colt, had earlier co-starred with Vincent Price in "Son of the Fly" and "Twice-Told Tales".