Review of Keoma (1976) by Fermi T — 22 Jun 2012

An impressively bewigged Franco Nero plays Keoma, a "half-breed" out to find himself but who also finds the time to "sort out" his three wayward half-brothers and the psychopath they work for.

There are plenty of good things about this film: great camerawork with some unusual perspectives, audacious panning and tracking and some charmingly wonky hand-held sequences; locations which are very different from those of your standard spag western; and interesting narrative techniques, particularly the flashbacks that are acted out in the present in front of Keoma's eyes.

Old western hands Woody Strode and William Berger bring dignity to the proceedings. Unfortunately the whole shebang is derailed by the endless repetition of possibly the worst theme tune I've ever heard.

It really is the most dreadful bobbins and in addition to a caterwauling woman who doesn't hit one note when she can warble 25, I do believe Franco Nero himself joins in with his sub-Leonard Cohen croak.

The plot is also so wafer-thin that if you hold it up to the light you can see through it. I really wanted this to be the last great spaghetti western but in truth the genre had had it's day by 1976 and although it's a valiant attempt, Castellari fails to breathe new life into it.