''Silver Saddle'' ( it, Sella d'argento; also released under the titles ''The Man in the Silver Saddle'' and ''They Died With Their Boots On'') is a
1978 spaghetti Western. It is the third and final western directed by
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...
and one of the last spaghetti Westerns to be produced by a European studio. The film was based on an original story written by screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni and directed by Fulci for the Italian studio Rizzoli Film Productions.
This was also the final western film role for leading man
Giuliano Gemma, whose breakout role was in the 1965 spaghetti western ''
A Pistol for Ringo'', although he would continue acting in other genres for more than twenty years afterwards. Along with Gemma, the film also starred
Sven Valsecchi,
Ettore Manni
Ettore Manni (6 May 1927 – 27 July 1979) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1952 and 1979.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Manni debuted as an actor in 1952, when in spite of his acting inexperience he wa ...
,
Gianni De Luigi,
Cinzia Monreale,
Licinia Lentini
Licinia Lentini (born 4 March 1959) is an Italian actress and television personality. She was sometimes credited as Lilian Lacy and Licia Lee Lyon.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Lentini achieved a wide popularity in 1980 as a showgirl in the R ...
,
Donald O'Brien,
Aldo Sambrell,
Philippe Hersent
Philippe Hersent (26 July 1912 – 30 December 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1930 to 1978.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1912 births
1982 deaths
French male film actors
{{Franc ...
and
Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to:
* Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor
* Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish
* Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist
* Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...
. Although Gemma, Manni, O'Brien and Sambrell were all experienced veterans of the genre, for most of the cast this would be their first and only spaghetti Western appearance.
Cast
*
Giuliano Gemma as Roy Blood — a bounty hunter who wanders the Texas frontier following the murder of his father. He eventually arrives in Cerriotts, where he intends to take revenge on the land baron who is ultimately responsible for his death.
*
Donald O'Brien as Fletcher — a murderous gunman who works for Barrett.
*
Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to:
* Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor
* Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish
* Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist
* Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...
as Two-Strike Snake — a colorful drifter who befriends Roy Blood and becomes his companion. He is often seen stealing the belongings of men who Blood has killed in gunfights.
*
Gianni De Luigi as Turner — a blond-haired cowboy with uncertain intentions towards Blood. He initially offers Blood a murder contract, which the bounty hunter accepts when he learns the target is Barrett.
*
Licinia Lentini
Licinia Lentini (born 4 March 1959) is an Italian actress and television personality. She was sometimes credited as Lilian Lacy and Licia Lee Lyon.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Lentini achieved a wide popularity in 1980 as a showgirl in the R ...
as Shiba — Blood's ex-girlfriend and madam of the local whorehouse. She hires Blood to stop Garrincha from extorting her and later helps Blood in his feud with Thomas Barrett.
*
Sven Valsecchi as Thomas Barrett, Jr. — the only son of Richard Barrett, the land baron who cheated Roy Blood's father years before. He and his sister Margaret are under the care of their uncle Thomas Barrett, Sr.
*
Cinzia Monreale as Margaret Barrett — the older sister of Thomas Barrett, Jr. and niece of Thomas Barrett, Sr.
*
Ettore Manni
Ettore Manni (6 May 1927 – 27 July 1979) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1952 and 1979.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Manni debuted as an actor in 1952, when in spite of his acting inexperience he wa ...
as Thomas Barrett, Sr. — a ruthless and
manipulative land baron who uses Roy Blood's desire for vengeance to further his own plans.
*
Aldo Sambrell as Garrincha — a Mexican bandit whose gang is extorting Shiba. He becomes an enemy of Roy Blood when the gunfighter kills several of his men who are threatening Shiba.
*
Philippe Hersent
Philippe Hersent (26 July 1912 – 30 December 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1930 to 1978.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1912 births
1982 deaths
French male film actors
{{Franc ...
as The Sheriff — the town sheriff, he is initially suspicious of Roy Blood and eventually believes he is in league with Garrincha. He is largely focused on breaking up Garrincha's gang and is unaware of Thomas Barrett's intentions.
Plot
The film opens in a small
South Texas border town
A border town is a town or city close to the boundary between two countries, states, or regions. Usually the term implies that the nearness to the border is one of the things the place is most famous for. With close proximities to a different cou ...
in the 1850s. A poor farmer and his young son arrive into the settlement where the farmer confronts Luke, a thieving henchman employed by wealthy
land baron Richard Barrett. The man complains to Luke that he had been cheated by Barrett, claiming he had been sold a
deed to non-existent property. Luke finally shoots the farmer, killing the man in front of his young son. His son then picks up his father's shotgun, uses it to kill Luke, and rides out of town with Luke's horse and a distinctive silver-trimmed saddle.
The boy is next seen several years later and has since become a hardened
bounty hunter
A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...
calling himself Roy Blood (
Giuliano Gemma). He meets an elderly
drifter
A drifter is a vagrant who moves from place to place without a fixed home or employment.
Drifter(s) or The Drifter(s) may also refer to:
Films and television Films
* ''The Drifter'' (1917 film), an American film directed by Fred Kelsey
* ''Th ...
, Two-Strike Snake (
Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to:
* Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor
* Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish
* Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist
* Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...
), who accompanies him to the frontier town of Cerriotts. Snake is a colorful character who claims that the story of the "silver saddle" and the boy who avenged his father's death is well known and that he wishes to join Blood in his travels. On the way, Snake often
scavenges the remains of those killed in gunfights by Roy Blood.
Their arrival in Cerriotts is noticed by several townspeople, in particular, a local cowboy known as Turner (Gianni De Luigi). Blood visits the town
whorehouse where he meets with an old girlfriend, Shiba (Licinia Lentini), who is also its
madam. She tells Blood that she is being extorted by a man called Shep, who collects the money on behalf of a Mexican bandit named Garrincha (
Aldo Sambrell). Shiba enlists Blood's help in taking care of Garrincha and his gang. Indeed, Blood confronts and kills Shep and several of Garrincha's men in a gunfight. Afterwards, Turner appears to offer Blood $2,000 to kill a man called Barrett. Blood is hesitant to take the
murder contract, but accepts the offer upon recognizing the name of the land baron who had swindled his father years before.
The murder is arraigned to take place in a graveyard outside town where Barrett is expected to arrive. Blood lies in wait until a carriage eventually pulls up. Its occupant is a young boy however, not the older land baron he had expected, who enters the graveyard carrying a
funeral wreath. Blood then sees several men who ambush the child, but before they can kill him, Blood shoots the assassins and rides off with the boy. Blood learns the boy's name is Thomas Barrett, Jr. (Sven Valsecchi), the son of his intended victim Richard Barrett. The elder Barrett has been dead for several years and Thomas, Jr. has since been cared for by his uncle Thomas Barrett, Sr. (
Ettore Manni
Ettore Manni (6 May 1927 – 27 July 1979) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1952 and 1979.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Manni debuted as an actor in 1952, when in spite of his acting inexperience he wa ...
). Angered at being cheated out of his revenge, Blood leaves the boy stranded in the hillside with only a knife and a blanket.
Back at the Barrett homestead, Thomas's older sister Margaret (Cinzia Monreale) is upset over her brother's disappearance. Thomas, Sr. discusses the search with Turner, who is revealed to be the ranch foreman, and is decided by the land baron that Roy Blood is the kidnapper and posts a $5,000 bounty. Meanwhile, Blood is rejoined by Snake, who offers him a deal. Snake reveals that he took in Thomas, Jr. after he left and intends to ransom the boy back to the Barrett family. Blood is also informed that the bounty was a ploy used to kill himself and the boy, with Blood being blamed for the murder.
Blood hides out at Shiba's whorehouse, and where Thomas, Jr. is looked after, while Shiba obtains information on the Barrett family. Using her feminine wiles, she is able to learn that after the death of Richard Barrett, his fortune was divided between his children and his brother. However, Thomas gambled away his half of the inheritance, while the family fortune was possessed by his children. The will provided that if Thomas, Jr. died, Margaret would inherit the entire fortune. It is presumed that is the motivating factor for Thomas Barrett, Sr. to
marry his niece.
Thomas, Jr. is eventually spotted by Turner while visiting the whorehouse and Blood takes him to the San Jacinto monastery located several miles away. The gun-toting
padre
__NOTOC__
Padre means father in many Romance languages, and it may also refer to:
Music
* "Padre" (song)
People
* A military chaplain
* A Latin Catholic priest
* A member of the San Diego Padres baseball team
Places
* Padre Island, a barrier ...
of the monastery promises to protect the boy while Blood goes after Turner. He eventually confronts Turner and his men at an abandoned farmhouse, where a shootout occurs and Blood kills Turner. But at the monastery, the bandit Garrincha and his gang have killed all the priests and taken Thomas, Jr., whom they plan to ransom for themselves. Blood is later arrested by the sheriff (Phillppe Hersent) who believes he is a member of Garrincha's band.
The bandit leader demands $10,000 for the safe return of the boy. Thomas, Sr., against the advice of the sheriff, agrees to pay the ransom and sends out a messenger named Fletcher (
Donald O'Brien) to deliver the money to Garrincha's camp. The courier is murdered once he hands the money over to the bandits.
With the help of Margaret, Blood eventually escapes from the town jail and reunites with Snake to track down Garrincha. They finally find the bandit's hideout when Thomas, Jr. flies a kite over its location. Blood and Snake arrive to find Garrincha whipping the boy after discovering his ruse. A gun battle with Garrincha and his men results in the death of the bandit, but not before Snake is killed.
Blood returns to the Barrett ranch with Thomas, Jr. and exposes his uncle's role in the kidnapping, revealing that Thomas, Sr. had planned with Turner to kill his niece and nephew so that he would gain the family inheritance. Garrincha was also part of the plan, Thomas, Sr. staging a false kidnapping and ransom payment to avert suspicion from himself, and had intended to kill Turner as well as Margaret once he married her. Blood kills Thomas, Sr. with one of his ornamental pistols. The film's conclusion shows Blood riding out of town with Thomas, Jr. alongside him.
Production
Lucio Fulci had directed two other spaghetti westerns, ''
The Brute and the Beast'' (1966) and ''
Four of the Apocalypse
''Four of the Apocalypse'' ( it, I quattro dell'apocalisse) is a 1975 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Lucio Fulci and starring Fabio Testi, Tomas Milian, Lynne Frederick and Michael J. Pollard.
Plot
Set in the year 1873, professio ...
'' (1975), prior to ''Silver Saddle''. With an original story written by screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni and financed by the Italian studio Rizzoli Film Productions, Fulci went to work on what would be his final spaghetti western. Fulci would later find fame as a
horror film director, specifically his
gore film
A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of wikt:gore, gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the h ...
s ''
Zombi 2
''Zombi 2'' is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's '' Dawn of the Dead'' (1978), which was released in Italy with the ...
'' (1979) and ''
The Beyond'' (1981).
Filming between ''Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes'' (1977) and ''Zombi 2'' (1979), his crew included many Fulci regulars including cinematographer Sergio Salvati, editor Ornella Micheli and composer
Fabio Frizzi
Fabio Frizzi (born 2 July 1951) is an Italian musician and composer. Born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, he is best known for his film scores and was a frequent collaborator with horror director Lucio Fulci.
Frizzi is the older brother of th ...
. The film's screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni was also a top Italian writer, best known for his collaboration with
Ernesto Gastaldi
Ernesto Gastaldi (born 10 September 1934) is an Italian screenwriter. Film historian and critic Tim Lucas described Gastaldi as the first Italian screenwriter to specialize in horror and thriller films. Gastaldi worked within several popular ge ...
in
Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino (born 19 July 1938) is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre.
Martino is the brother of the late producer Luciano Martino (who died in 2013). They collaborated frequently in their ...
’s ''Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key'' (1972).
Casting
Giuliano Gemma was given the lead role of Roy Blood. Gemma's breakout role had been in one of the earliest successful spaghetti westerns, ''
A Pistol for Ringo'' (1965), and secured his role as a star in the genre. Several of his co-stars were also highly recognizable
character actors
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to be ...
.
Donald O'Brien, best known for his roles in ''
Run, Man, Run!
''Run, Man, Run'' ( it, Corri uomo corri, also known as ''Big Gundown 2'') is an Italian-French Zapata Western film. It is the second film of Sergio Sollima centred on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years e ...
'' (1966), ''
Keoma
Keoma is a hamlet in southern Alberta under the jurisdiction of Rocky View County.
Keoma is located approximately 35 km (21 mi) northeast of Downtown Calgary, on Highway 566, 2.0 km (1.2 mi) east of Highway 9 and 19 km (12 mi) north of the ...
'' (1976) and ''
Mannaja
''Mannaja'' (also known as ''A Man Called Blade'') is an Italian 1977 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Martino. The main role, Blade, is played by Maurizio Merli. Other central roles are played by John Steiner, Sonja Jeannine, Donald O ...
'' (1977), had also appeared in Fulci's previous western ''Four Gunmen of the Apocalypse''. O'Brien would later star in Fulci's
dystopian film
This is a list of dystopian films. Dystopian societies appear in many speculative fiction works and are often found within the science fiction and fantasy genres. ''Dystopias'' are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, ...
''
The New Gladiators'' (1984).
Ettore Manni
Ettore Manni (6 May 1927 – 27 July 1979) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1952 and 1979.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Manni debuted as an actor in 1952, when in spite of his acting inexperience he wa ...
had starred in ''
Johnny Oro'' (1966) and both
"official" and "unofficial" Sartana sequels ''
I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death'' (1969) and ''
Django and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End'' (1970).
Aldo Sambrell, another early spaghetti Western star, had appeared in ''
Gunfighters of Casa Grande
''Gunfighters of Casa Grande'' ( es, Los pistoleros de Casa Grande) is a 1964 Western (genre), Eurowestern film, co-produced by American and Spanish producers. Based on a story by Borden Chase, Borden and Patricia Chase, it was later developed i ...
'' (1964), ''
A Fistful of Dollars
''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, ...
'' (1964), ''
For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), ''
Navajo Joe'' (1966), ''
A Bullet for the General'' (1966), ''
The Hellbenders'' (1967), ''
Once Upon a Time in the West
''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...
'' (1968) and ''
Duck, You Sucker!'' (1971). American
character actor Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to:
* Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor
* Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish
* Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist
* Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...
had previously appeared in
Sergio Leone's ''
My Name is Nobody
''My Name Is Nobody'' ( it, Il mio nome è Nessuno) is a 1973 Italian/French/German international co-production comedy Spaghetti Western starring Terence Hill and Henry Fonda. The film was directed by Tonino Valerii and based on an idea by Ser ...
'' (1973).
Sven Valsecchi was a well-known
child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...
at the time of his appearance in ''Silver Saddle''. His first role had been in ''
The Balloon Vendor
''The Balloon Vendor'' ( it, Il venditore di palloncini, also released as ''Last Moments'' and ''The Last Circus Show'') is a 1974 Italian drama film directed by Mario Gariazzo and starring James Whitmore.
Cast
* Renato Cestiè as Giacomino ...
'' (1974) and had recently appeared in ''
Nenè
''Nenè'' is a 1977 Italian drama film directed by Salvatore Samperi. The film is a historical drama, set in post-war Italy in 1948 during the first free elections after the war. It tells of a romance and a coming-of-age amid a difficult family l ...
'' (1977) when he was cast in the film. This was his final role in a feature film and, after a guest appearance in the 1979
television miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
''
Orient Express
The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...
'', retired from acting altogether.
Cinzia Monreale had been in a few
romantic comedies
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
before her appearance in ''Silver Saddles'' although the director of her first film,
Franco Rossetti
Franco Rossetti was an Italian film director and screenwriter .
Life and career
Born in Siena, Rossetti started his career as a film critic, then in the early 1950s he entered the film industry as an assistant director. With the rise of the ...
, had written the screenplays for ''Johnny Oro'' (1965), ''
Texas, Adios
''Texas, Adios'' (Italian language, Italian: ''Texas, addio'') is a 1966 Italian/Spanish international co-production Spaghetti Western film directed by Ferdinando Baldi and starring Franco Nero. It is often referenced in connection with ''Django ...
'' (1965) and ''
Django'' (1966). Monreale would appear in several of Fulci's later horror films including ''
The Beyond'' (1981), ''The New Gladiators'' (1984) and the
television movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
''The Sweet House of Horrors'' (1989).
This was the first major film role for
Licinia Lentini
Licinia Lentini (born 4 March 1959) is an Italian actress and television personality. She was sometimes credited as Lilian Lacy and Licia Lee Lyon.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Lentini achieved a wide popularity in 1980 as a showgirl in the R ...
, appearing alongside fellow Italian
sex symbol Agnes Kalpagos, and was cast in the female lead despite being relatively inexperienced. She had then been in only a few films, among these being the
b-movie science fiction film ''War of the Robots'' (1976). Following her appearance in ''Silver Saddle'', she had a number of supporting roles in
comedy films
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
herself. In her last film appearance, she starred in ''
Django 2
''Django Strikes Again'' ( it, Django 2 - Il grande ritorno, lit. "Django 2 - The Great Return") is a 1987 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Nello Rossati, under the pseudonym Ted Archer. It is the only official sequel to '' Django''.
Sy ...
'' (1986) which was the first spaghetti western to be made in over a decade since her appearance in ''Silver Saddle''.
Philippe Hersent
Philippe Hersent (26 July 1912 – 30 December 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1930 to 1978.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1912 births
1982 deaths
French male film actors
{{Franc ...
was a veteran actor with a career spanning forty years and had supporting roles in such films as ''
La Garçonne'' (1936), ''
The Giant of Marathon
''The Giant of Marathon'' ( it, La battaglia di Maratona) is a 1959 international co-production sword and sandal film, loosely based on the Battle of Marathon. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and Mario Bava. It starred Steve Reeves as Philli ...
'' (1954), ''
Scipio the African'' (1971) and ''
Conversation Piece
A conversation piece refers to a group portrait in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other.[James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...]
parody film series ''Agent 077'' (''
Agent 077 From the Orient with Fury
''Agent 077 From the Orient With Fury'' or ''Agent 077 Fury in the Orient'' or ''Agente 077 dall'oriente con furore'' or ''Fury on the Bosphorus'' is a 1965 Italian/Spanish/French international co-production action spy adventure film; the second ...
'' and ''
Agent 077: Mission Bloody Mary''). This was his last film role and he died four years later.
Filming
Principal filming took place in
Almería, Spain under the direction of longtime Fulci collaborator
cinematographer Sergio Salvati throughout 1977 and into early 1978. This was one of the two last spaghetti westerns to be filmed in the area, the other being
Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...
's ''
China 9, Liberty 37
''China 9, Liberty 37'' ( it, Amore piombo e furore, "Love, Lead, and Fury") is an Italian-Spanish 1978 Western film directed by Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates, Jenny Agutter, and Fabio Testi. Noted director Sam Peckinpah has a small, rare ...
'' which was released later that year.
Reaction
The film proved moderately successful following its release in Italy on 20 April 1978, eventually earning 237,000,000 £ (US: 162,462) in its initial run. ''Silver Saddle'' was shown throughout Europe during the next two years, and was especially popular in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
with a recorded attendance of 887,413 for the latter country. The film was generally rated "above 15", West Germany and Norway both classifying the film as (
FSK 16) and (
15 År) respectively, while in other countries such as
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
the film was given an "
above 13" rating.
It was never theatrically released in the US, although it was released on VHS shortly after its original theatrical run in Italy. The film's soundtrack, composed by Franco Bixio, Vince Tempera and
Fabio Frizzi
Fabio Frizzi (born 2 July 1951) is an Italian musician and composer. Born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, he is best known for his film scores and was a frequent collaborator with horror director Lucio Fulci.
Frizzi is the older brother of th ...
, came out that same year and featured ''"Two Hearts"'' by
Ken Tobias
Kenneth Wayne Paul Tobias (born July 25, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He is noted for penning the 1971 chart-topping hit for The Bells, " Stay Awhile", and for several top-selling recordings of his own.
Early career
Born and raised ...
which later became a popular tune. Despite the film being re-released on DVD in 2001 by ''Madusa Video'', ''Silver Saddle'' remains one of Fulci's least known films. It has generally had mixed reviews by both fans and critics, being praised in Thomas Weisser’s ''Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, The Bad, and The Violent'' (1992) and panned in
Stephen Thrower
Stephen Thrower (born 9 December 1963) is an English musician and author.
Musical career Early career
In 1980, Thrower formed the group Possession with Victor Watkins and Anna Virginia War and they released the album ''The Thin White Arms, Obtu ...
’s ''Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci'' (2002).
References
Further reading
*Matuszak, David F. ''The Cowboy's Trail Guide to Westerns''. Redlands, California: Pacific Sunset Publishing, 2003.
*Palmerini, Luca M. and Gaetano Mistretta. ''Spaghetti Nightmares: Italian Fantasy-Horror as Seen Through the Eyes of Their Protagonists''. Key West, Florida: Fantasma Books, 1996.
*Weisser, Thomas. ''Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, The Bad, and The Violent: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography of 558 Eurowesterns and Their Personnel, 1961-1977''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1992.
External links
*
*
*
*
Sella d'argentoat th
Spaghetti Western Database
{{Lucio Fulci
1978 films
Films directed by Lucio Fulci
Spaghetti Western films
1970s Italian-language films
1978 Western (genre) films
Films shot in Almería
Films scored by Fabio Frizzi
1970s Italian films