Silver
Saddle was made at the tail end of the Spaghetti Western craze. It was directed by Lucio Fulci, who made it
in between The Psychic and Zombie. After
Zombie, Fulci would go on to be considered one of Italy’s premier horror
directors. Because of that, Silver
Saddle is an interesting film. Who
knows? If the Spaghetti Western fad
continued, he might’ve been the next Sergio Leone. (OK, probably not, but what I’m saying is
Silver Saddle is pretty good.)
A
little boy sees his father killed by a man who rides on a silver saddle. He shoots the man in cold blood and steals
his horse and saddle. He grows up to be
a bounty hunter named Roy Blood (Giuliano Gemma) and a crack shot at that. When he gets word that a young boy has been
kidnapped and held for ransom, Roy teams up with the weaselly Snake (Geoffrey
Lewis) to rescue him.
Silver
Saddle is surprisingly well filmed.
Fulci moves the camera around a lot and the shootouts are often peppered
with great stunt work and funny moments. The score is quite snappy, even if the theme
song is kind of hokey. (It sounds more
like a folk song than a genuine western ditty.)
Gemma
is a bit bland in the lead, but he does a decent enough job. He certainly LOOKS the part, even if he can’t
quite pull it off. Lewis (who was
dubbed, which ups the camp factor a bit) brings some oddball flair to the proceedings;
so much so that the movie often suffers whenever he isn't on screen. Gianni de Luigi, who plays the villain’s
henchman, has a Richard Lynch vibe about him, and the scenes where he and Gemma
square off are among the best in the entire film.
The
problem is, the other villains in the cast aren't nearly as menacing. They’re also way too many of them. It’s one thing to have the rich kid’s uncle
be the main antagonist, but did we really need the gang of Mexican bandits
too? Because of that, Silver Saddle
probably has two climaxes too many.
Still, there are enough solid moments along the way to ensure that fans
of Spaghetti Westerns won’t be disappointed.
