Keoma **** (1976, Franco Nero, William Berger, Orso Maria Guerrini, Joshua Sinclair, Olga Karlatos, Donald O’Brien) – Classic Movie Review 8402

Franco Nero stars in director Enzo G Castellari’s classic 1976 vigilante Spaghetti Western Keoma, as the mixed-race half-Indian ex-Union gunfighter Keoma Shannon, who tries to protect his plague-ridden home town from being overridden by his three racist half-brothers Lenny (Antonio Marsina), Butch (Orso Maria Guerrini) and Sam (Joshua Sinclair), who have joined forces with Caldwell (Donald O’Brien), a Confederate tyrant.

Keoma joins up with his father William H Shannon (William Berger)’s ex-ranch hand George (Woody Strode) for violent revenge.

Also in the cast are Olga Karlatos, Gabriella Giacobbe, Leonardo Scavino [León Lenoir], Wolfango Soldati, Victoria Zinny and Alfio Caltabiano.

Keoma is celebrated for its impressive and outstanding cinematography by Aiace Parolin, beautiful scenery, exciting action sequences, bold use of cinematic techniques such as slow motion and close and medium panning shots in its unusual camera work, and its vocal soundtrack by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, as well as Nero’s strong and commanding central performance. However, it turns out that the score is not to everyone’s taste.

The script, based on a story by Luigi Montefiori (aka actor George Eastman), was mostly improvised as the film was being made. Castellari disliked the script by Mino Roli and Nico Ducci, and he actor John Loffredo [Joshua Sinclair] wrote a script for the next day every evening after filming, incorporating suggestions from the cast and crew, with Nero writing a substantial part of his dialogue. Most of the dialogue was written by Loffredo. It was shot in eight weeks, with most of the principal photography done at the Elios Studios in Rome, plus location shooting at Lago di Camposecco.

Keoma is available on DVD, and is released on Blu-ray on 16 April 2019 by Arrow Video.

Keoma is a Native American name that, according to producer Manolo Bolognini, means ‘freedom’ but in reality means ‘far away’.

Nero’s long hair is a wig.

It is Castellari’s favourite of his films.

Keoma premiered on 25 November 1976 in Italy, where it was a mild success at a time of dwindling demand for Spaghetti Western films. The full film runs 101 minutes but in the UK there was a severely cut and dubbed 85 minute version of the film.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8402

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