''Tedeum'' (internationally released as ''Sting of the West'', ''Father Jackleg'' and ''Con Men'') is a

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Italian

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 ...

film directed by

Enzo G. Castellari Enzo Girolami Castellari (born 29 July 1938) is an Italian director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Early life Castellari was born in Rome into a family of filmmakers. His father was a boxer turned film maker Marino Girolami. His uncle ...

. The title role was initially offered to Tomas Milian, who eventually refused.

Plot

Tedeum and his parents and granddad are all con men travelling around in a sailboat on wheels. When he inherits a mine from another well-known con man he assumes that it is false and tries to sell it. His first attempts turns out to be at the Texas’ sheriff convention and he has to escape together with another con man who is disguised as a monk. However, the mine does in fact exist, and the big boss Grant is out for it, though his confrontations with Tedeum usually ends in him losing his pants. Two female con men, the strong Betty and the beautiful Wendy, also get involved. In the end we find Grant, Tedeum, the monk and Tedeum's father as inmates of Laredo prison – because the mine lies right under it!

Cast

* Jack Palance as Buck Santini/Father Jackleg * Giancarlo Prete as Tedeum (as Timothy Brent) * Lionel Stander as Stinky Manure * Francesca Romana Coluzzi as Betty Brown * Riccardo Garrone as Sheriff *

Maria Vico Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

as Ma Manure * Eduardo Fajardo as Mr. Grant * Renzo Palmer as Rags Manure *

Mabel Karin Mabel is an English female given name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987, History Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering th ...

as Wendy Brown

Reception

In his investigation of narrative structures in

films, Fridlund describes ''Sting of the West'' as one of the most hardcore followers of They Call Me Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name in its employment of smell and gluttony jokes, con men (and women), (fake) religion and low comedy.Fridlund, Bert: ''The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis''. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 232-45.

References

External links

* 1972 films Films directed by Enzo G. Castellari Spaghetti Western films 1972 Western (genre) films Films scored by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis Films shot in Almería 1970s Italian films {{1970s-Italy-film-stub