''Ballad of a Gunman'', also known as ''Pistoleros'' and ''Ringo, Pray to Your God and Die'' ( it, Ballata per un pistolero) is a 1967

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Spaghetti Western directed by

Alfio Caltabiano Alfio Caltabiano (1932–2007) was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director.Curti p.25 Partial filmography * ''Il principe dalla maschera rossa'' (1955) * ''Messalina'' (1960) * ''La strada dei giganti'' (1960) * ''The Colossus of Rho ...

and starring Antony Ghidra.

Plot

The criminal brothers El Bedoja and Chiuchi have each their own gang. Together they rob a stagecoach. After they've just got rid of all witnesses by killing the passengers, they are already about to plan the next coup together. This time they want to do the bank of Mallintown. Its

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and ...

is considered unbreakable but it does open automatically shortly at certain times. The two gang leaders use the stagecoach as a kind of

Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

to get gang members unrecognised into the town and moreover to have a big chest put into the strongroom. When the time has come for the safe to open, Chiuchi attacks the town as a diversionary tactic and lures the guards away. Then El Bedoja carries out the actual strike with his own gang, taking the now scarcely protected bank by surprise. Here he unites with the other gang members who have arrived with the stagecoach already. El Bedoja and his men get away with a great deal of booty and bring a wounded accomplice to a farm where they coerce a woman into removing a bullet. Meanwhile, a travelling gunman named Hud, who happened to see the massacre in Mallintown, has followed them. He puts down all of El Bedoja's men but El Bedoja himself eludes. On hot pursuit Hud teams up with bounty hunter Rocco. They discover that the criminal siblings hide in an old mine and hire an old miner to close the entrance with dynamite. Yet El Bedoja and Chiuchi are on their guard. Hud wants to keep El Bedoja alive because he needs him as a witness to correct a miscarriage of justice. The bounty hunter on the other hand just wants to get the bounty and for that El Bedoja is worth dead just the same.

References

Releases

Wild East released the film in a limited edition Region 0 NTSC DVD with the title "Pistoleros" on the cover art though the actual title on the film is "Ballata per un pistolero." DVD is currently out-of-print.

External links

* 1967 films 1967 Western (genre) films Spaghetti Western films West German films 1960s Italian-language films Films directed by Alfio Caltabiano Films scored by Marcello Giombini 1960s Italian films {{1960s-Western-film-stub