The song of murder and manslaughter
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The song of murder and manslaughter |
| Original title | Los amigos |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1972 |
| length | 98 (German version: 92) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paolo Cavara |
| script |
Oscar Saul Harry Essex Paolo Cavara Lucia Drudi Demby Augusto Finocchi |
| production |
Joseph Janni Luciano Perugia |
| music | Daniele Patucchi |
| camera | Tonino Delli Colli |
| cut | Mario Morra |
| occupation | |
| |
Song of murder and manslaughter (original title: Los amigos ) is a spaghetti western from Paolo Cavara of 1972 with the stars Franco Nero and Anthony Quinn in the lead roles. The German premiere was on August 16, 1973. The alternative title chosen for marketing reasons, Spiel mir das Lied von Mord und Mansschlag is intended to remind of Spiel mir das Lied von Tod . The main character of the film is based on the historical figure Erasmus "Deaf" Smith (1787–1837), a soldier in the Texan War of Independence on the side of the Republic of Texas .
action
In 1836, Texas gained independence from Mexico; however, the republic is far from pacified. Various groups, some of which are controlled from abroad, are trying to take advantage of the power vacuum and bring Texas under their control. One of the largest of these groups is led by General Lucius Morton. However, President Sam Houston has been warned and is planning to smuggle his best agent, Erasmus "Deaf" Smith, into the group in order to nip the rebellion in the bud. Smith is deaf and dumb and is therefore accompanied by Johnny Ears, who not only replaces his hearing, but also keeps him away from other difficulties. These are numerous, because Morton has heard of the President's plan and also knows that the man he is looking for is deaf and dumb.
Johnny and Smith have different views on how to carry out their mission to infiltrate the enemy fort and stop arms shipments. Johnny even suggests calling it off. In the course of time and after a number of actions to realize it, it is clear that Johnny is just as dependent on Smith as he is on him. When Johnny falls in love with the saloon girl Susie, Smith makes the decision to leave the couple in the middle of the night, since the mission could be completed successfully and the fortress could be destroyed.
Reviews
- Christian Keßler judges: (The film) "is a large-format western that looks very good and entertains appropriately without falling out of line in any way."
- Ulrich P. Bruckner, in his standard work For a few more corpses, considers the film to be "only moderately entertaining despite its great cast."
- Joe Hembus in the Western Lexicon: “The heroes have interesting stories; the political situation is characterized by interesting constellations; the whole film goes to great lengths to be interesting, right down to the music that has the ambition to be poppy (...). A Herr von Mittler appears and recalls the US wartime westerns, in which Nazis sometimes tried to roll up the United States from the Wild West. And occasionally you get the terrible suspicion that the curious couple Quinn / Nero are competing with the Hallelujah brothers Hill / Spencer - but in the most interesting way in the world, of course, as homosexuals. Quinn also suffers terribly when Nero cheats on him with the gaudiest whore in Texas ”.
"Humorous, but somewhat bloodthirsty adventure story with two wonderful types of actors."
Remarks
Film songs are The ballad of Deaf & Ears and Even if you are not the first one, interpreted by Ann Collin . The soundtrack was released on CD.
Web links
- Song of murder and manslaughter in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The film at comingsoon (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ in: Willkommen in der Hölle, 2002, p. 26
- ↑ Munich, 2006, p. 557
- ↑ Munich, 1995, p. 393
- ↑ The Song of Murder and Manslaughter. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .