Johnny Hamlet (1968) - Quick Review
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Johnny Hamlet
AKA Quella sporca storia nel west
Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Released: 1968
Starring Andrea Giordana, Gilbert Roland, Horst Frank
Running Time: 91 minutes
Region 2 PAL
DVD Studio: Koch Media (Germany)
Holy crap. I’ve watched a few spaghetti westerns in my time but few of them were as strange as Johnny Hamlet. This is Shakespeare’s classic play (with a scaled down plot) given the Old West treatment as only the Italians can do with rollicking fistfights and lightning fast shootouts. Johnny Hamlet is a cinematic oddity that isn’t just an interesting idea but an entertaining film as well.
The cast features Andrea Giordana as the title character and the always awesome Horst Frank (of The Grand Duel) as Claudio Hamilton, Johnny’s evil uncle. The suave Gilbert Roland plays Johnny’s friend Dazio who gets him out of more than a few close calls. Ennio Girolami of Night of the Devils and Ignazio Spalla of Adios, Sabata play two bloodthirsty thugs working for Claudio.
Director Enzo G. Castellari (The Big Racket, Keoma) brings us a film that is both surreal and beautiful. The cinematography by Angelo Filippini is colorful and sharp and the soundtrack by Alessandro Alessandroni, Francesco De Masi, and Audrey Nohra is grandiose and melodramatic. I can’t help but recommend this one for spaghetti western enthusiasts. While Johnny Hamlet was marketed as another Django sequel (with Andrea Giordana done up in Franco Nero-like makeup), this is a very unique flick and worth a look.