Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Wizard-8 While Italian movie director Lucio Fulci is best known for his bloody horror movies, he actually did dabble in other genres in his career. He even made a few spaghetti westerns, "Silver Saddle" being one of them. Made when the spaghetti western genre was breathing its last breath, it's been all but forgotten today. To a degree I can understand this. It does have more than its share of dull spots, and Giuliano Gemma is only adequate in the lead role. But the movie all the same has enough interest to satisfy spaghetti western fans. Fulci throws in some interesting direction at times, such as with some particular camera movements as well as how he composes what's in front of the camera. Though there isn't enough action, what action there is in the movie does catch your attention, particularly with some very bloody squibs thrown in. Gemma's somewhat underwhelming performance is made up for by the presence of American actor Geoffrey Lewis, who is amusing without being overbearing. And the music is great; you'll be humming the title song for days after watching the movie. It's no classic, but it's a respectable final effort for a genre that was breathing its last.

dmacewen ...and which adults might enjoy, too. Fulci's best western was the imperfect but striking and alchemical "Four of the Apocalypse," which was alternately shocking and touching, and meandered along at an engaging pace, letting the viewer soak in the detail and peripheral touches. While this is not up to the standard of that film, I find Silver Saddle to be preferable to his conventional, by-the-numbers "Massacre Time" (which, for some strange reason, its director insisted on referring to as "oneiric," although there is nothing dreamlike about it). If you enjoy this film, you might want to check out "White Fang," also by Fulci.

Cristi_Ciopron I must confess, dear Gemma (presumably) fans, that I have never seen a bad or uninteresting Italian western; never. Many of them have certain noticeable deficiencies in the content's sector—yet, despite this poor content, they are well—made and likable. The one I have chosen here looks very low-budget; it has some qualities that make it very enjoyable, and a must for all Gemma fans. It shares with other similarly themed films the same desolate, barren landscape and notions of a dehumanized society.To describe it in one word, Silver Saddle is a somewhat _cartoonish non—stop adventure western. Very compact and concise , while the content itself is quite average (the kidnapping and ransoming of a boy). (Allow me here a parenthesis, to mention that the western as a genre meant to me:--at first comics, in Romanian and French magazines;--then books, novels—Frânculescu, Reid,May and Cooper …;--in the third place, movies …. So I guess I especially enjoy this comic book look of the westerns.)In a certain sense, I like Gemma more than Nero. He has, if I may say so, a more interesting presence . Sella d'Argento (1978) came one year after California (1977) (another good Gemma western),and two years after The Desert of the Tartars. It marks the end of Gemma's career as a western mythical actor—as well as that of the European westerns as such. These movies are still considered like something of a guilty pleasure—and still don't receive the esteem they deserve.Sella … is a quite straightforward western, no-nonsense and violent; there is a scene of cruelty, when a kid is whipped by Garrincha. The tone is fortunately deprived of melodrama. Some of the characters are comic, or funny, or do comic things—Serpent (who is comic, but in a grim way) and the kid.The silver saddle in this film is an item belonging to Roy Blood,a gunman played by the cult—actor Gemma.The score that accompanies the suspense moments is very good; the song with English lyrics a la Keoma is less happily chosen.At least six of the characters are noticeable—Roy Blood himself; his partner Serpent; Turner; Sheba; Margaret; and the kid."Creatures bizarre and grotesque, yet somehow always familiar"—as Nathan M. Powers once happily wrote about Lem's world of Ijon Tichy.Like in many other Italian westerns, there is a strange, uncanny atmosphere.It is Lucio Fulci's film.

MARIO GAUCI The third and last of Fulci's Spaghetti Westerns (coming at the tail-end of the genre) - not up to the vintage MASSACRE TIME (1966) but preferable to the disappointing and unpleasant THE FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE (1975) - with a distinct kiddie interest, since the violence isn't particularly graphic. In fact, even if star Giuliano Gemma (perhaps best known for two "Ringo" Westerns) is given the possibility of a couple of romances, the central relationship involves him and the young nephew of his sworn enemy! As such, it emerges as unremarkable but surprisingly engaging, with a pleasant soundtrack and able support from Geoffrey Lewis (as Gemma's sidekick, a more likable version of the slimy bounty-hunters played by Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones in Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH [1969]), Ettore Manni (as the chief villain) and Aldo Sambrell as a Mexican bandit-leader.