''God's Gun'' (also known as ''Diamante Lobo'') is a 1976 Italian-Israeli
Spaghetti Western
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
directed by
Gianfranco Parolini
Gianfranco Parolini (20 February 1925 in Rome, Italy – 26 April 2018 in Rome, Italy) was an Italian film director. He is often credited as Frank Kramer. Among his films are ''The Sabata Trilogy'', several sword and sandal films, most of the Kommi ...
(credited as Frank Kramer) and starring
Lee Van Cleef
Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, partic ...
,
Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
,
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his drug ...
and
Sybil Danning
Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger) is an Austrian actress, model, and film producer. She is best known for her frequent appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 1980s.
Biography Early years and first films
Born in Austria, Dannin ...
. Palance plays the head of a malicious group of bandits and Van Cleef plays a double-role of brothers: a priest and a reformed gunfighter.
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his drug ...
plays the main character in the film as Johnny, a fatherless kid who brings the reformed gunfighter to town to avenge his brother's murder.
Synopsis
One day Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) and his gang arrive in the small town of Juno City where Father John (Lee Van Cleef) is the priest of the local church. The gang wreak havoc in town, raping a woman and knifing a man in the back. They leave town, only to be caught by the fearless but unarmed Father John. After that, the gang member responsible for the murder is broken out of jail.
Vowing revenge, the gang ambushes and guns Father John down on the steps of his church, and then take over the town while waiting for the arrival of the next stagecoach. However, Johnny O'Hara (Leif Garrett), a local boy, manages to escape with a couple of their horses and rides off to Mexico in the hope of finding the priest's gunfighter
twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
brother (also Van Cleef). They meet and set off back across the border to clean up the town.
Meanwhile, Sam Clayton discovers that he is Johnny's father. Also, it is revealed that some fifteen years earlier, during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, Jenny O'Hara (Sybil Danning) had been one of Clayton's victims, adding to the mystery of Johnny's paternity.
Cast
*
Lee Van Cleef
Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, partic ...
as Father John / Lewis
*
Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
as Sam Clayton
*
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''.
Early lif ...
as The Sheriff
*
Sybil Danning
Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger) is an Austrian actress, model, and film producer. She is best known for her frequent appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 1980s.
Biography Early years and first films
Born in Austria, Dannin ...
as Jenny
*
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his drug ...
as Johnny
*Robert Lipton as Jess Clayton
*Cody Palance as Zeke Clayton
*
Ian Sander
Ian Sander (November 22, 1947 – May 3, 2016) was an American television producer, whose works include ''Ghost Whisperer'' and '' Profiler''. He was a principal in Sander/Moses Productions.
Biography
Sander was born in New York City. He grad ...
as Red Clayton
*
Pnina Rosenblum
Pnina Rosenblum ( he, פנינה רוזנבלום, born ) is an Israeli businesswoman, model, media personality, and a former politician. Former Knesset parliament member for Likud from 2005 to 2006.
Biography
Pnina Rosenblum was born in Petah T ...
as Chesty
*Zila Carni as Juanita Lewis
*
Heinz Bernard
Heinz Bernhard Löwenstein, known as Heinz Bernard (22 December 1923 – 18 December 1994) was a British actor and director and theatre manager. Of Polish-Jewish and German-Jewish descent, he lived and worked in Israel from 1971-81. He trained a ...
as Judge Barrett
*Didi Lukov as Rip
*
Ricardo David as Angel George
*Chin Chin as Willy
*Rafi Ben Ami as Mortimer
Production
''God's Gun'' was filmed in 1975 in Israel.
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''.
Early lif ...
walked off the film before it was completed, leaving his role to be dubbed by another actor. In an interview with
Cleveland Amory
Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and animal rights activist. He originally was known for writing a series of popular books poking fun at the pretensions an ...
in Israel in May 1976, Boone told Amory: "I'm starring in the worst picture ever made. The producer is
an Israeli and the director is Italian, and they don't speak. Fortunately it doesn't matter, because the director is deaf in both ears."
[p.29 Rothel, David ''Richard Boone: A Knight without Armor in a Savage Land''. Empire Publishing, 2000]
Home media
''God's Gun'' was released on
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
in the Region A format by
Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...
on February 8, 2022.
References
External links
*
*{{Internet Archive film, id=Gods_Gun.avi, name=God's Gun (English version)
God's Gun– at the ''
Troma Entertainment
Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pla ...
'' movie database
1975 films
Israeli drama films
Films shot in Israel
1975 Western (genre) films
1970s Italian-language films
Spaghetti Western films
Films directed by Gianfranco Parolini
English-language Israeli films
English-language Italian films
Golan-Globus films
Troma Entertainment films
Italian films about revenge
Italian vigilante films
1970s exploitation films
Films produced by Menahem Golan
Films about twin brothers
1970s Italian films