Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

A Town Called Hell

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • A Town Called Hell



    Released by: Kino Lorber
    Released on: August 18th, 2015.
    Director: Robert Parrish
    Cast: Robert Shaw, Stella Stevens, Telly Savalas, Martin Landau, Fernando Rey
    Year: 1971
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Although it's often understandably lumped in with the Italian Spaghetti Western craze, Robert Parrish's 1971 film A Town Called Hell (also known as A Town Called Bastard, which is what it's called on the title card seen on this disc) isn't an Italian production at all - though it was shot in Spain and it does feature many of the same elements that made the Spaghetti Western boom so interesting.

    Set during the Mexican Revolution, when the film opens a gang of rebels lay siege to a town and slaughter not only a horde of soldiers but a bunch of innocent civilian types as well. Years later a mysterious woman named Alivra (Stella Stevens) arrives in town, along with her deaf-mute assistant (Dudley Sutton), offering a substantial reward to anyone who can tell her who killed her husband, one of the victims of the massacre. In the years since the massacre took place, the town has more or less come under control of a military man named Don Carlos (Telly Savalas).

    A man with a taste for wealth, Don Carlos offers to help the beautiful widow for a shot at the reward, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Additionally, two of the men who were behind it have 'evolved' into positions of influence. One man serves as the town priest (Robert Shaw) while another now serves as a Colonel in the army (Martin Landau) - both of them have skeletons in their closet that they'd rather stay there.

    While Parrish and company were obviously aiming for a high concept Leone style revenge western, they never really quite hit their mark. There are times where the movie is a blast - some solid action scenes easily hold our attention and there are also some really memorable images too, most of which revolve around Stevens. Her character arrives in town in a coffin and at one point appears decked out in silver body/face paint cloaked in funeral attire (images like this are hard to forget). The film also has a really solid score that, if not on par with Morricone or Ortolani's classics, is still pretty involving.

    The plot, however, jumps around and leans towards erratic. Character motivations are iffy at best and often times poorly defined while logic gaps and a strangely placed flashback can leave us scratching our heads when we should be cheering on the good guys (if there actually are any good guys in this movie - everyone operates in a very grey area in this town).

    Really though, this is one you watch for the cast. Savalas is a blast to watch here, though he's underused despite his top billing. He plays the arrogant, crooked Don Carlos with lecherous glee and he's awesome in the part. Landau just goes for it here, his eyes frequently looking like they're going to pop out of his head and paint his khaki uniform red. His toothy grin is at its most insane looking here and he too is a lot of fun to watch. Stella Stevens does the 'mysterious and beautiful' thing very well here too. She's basically a whacked out goth chick in a western setting, her character channeling some darkness into the story in interesting ways. The real star of the show, however, is Shaw. You can almost smell the whiskey sweating out of him in certain scenes here and he's got the right balance of restraint and over the top enthusiasm to make it all work.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    A Town Called Hell arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.35.1 that is, at best, a quirky one. Detail in close up shots looks really good but in the latter half of the movie, during a flashback, detail starts to get pretty washy looking. On top of that there's some obvious video noise in some shots, but then it's not nearly as pronounced in others. Print damage is fairly frequent here and a couple of outdoor night time scenes show some compression artifacts. When the image is clean and the action takes place outside in daylight, things can and do look impressive - but then the indoor scenes, not so much. Sometimes the colors look flat out gorgeous, other times they're a bit off. It's tough to say how much of this is the encode versus the elements (it's clear that some shots are just not focused very well and there are quite a few times where the camera pans and the lens distorts the picture - those are not transfer flaws) but the picture quality here is inconsistent. At the same time, it also appears to be the best version currently available on home video.

    Audio is handled by an English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track. There are no alternate language options or subtitles. It's hard not to notice the hiss here. It's not overpowering but it is present throughout most of the movie. Balance isn't so hot either. There are times where the dialogue is nice and clear and other times where it sounds muffled. The score sounds pretty decent though. You'll reach for the remote a lot as this movie plays out - to turn it up during scenes where the dialogue is delivered in hushed tones, and then turning it down when the action starts up again.

    Aside from static menus and chapter selection we get bonus trailers for two films - Navajo Joe and A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die.

    The Final Word:

    A Town Called Hell is disjointed and sometimes a mess in terms of how it's been put together, but it's hard to completely walk away from a movie with a cast like this, particularly when it's got some really great camera work, an awesome score and some bizarrely memorable imagery. This is not a great movie but it is a really interesting one. Kino's Blu-ray is an uneven and almost barebones affair, but as of this writing there's no better option out there.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!





















    • Scyther
      #1
      Scyther
      Senior Member
      Scyther commented
      Editing a comment
      By FAR the best version on home video. This was a film notoriously ruined by bad pan and scan transfers and editing, making the schizo plot even MORE incomprehensible. Love this release, though, as this is one of my favorite whacked out westerns. You're spot on about its flaws, though, Ian. I just dig it in spite of them...or maybe because of them? Plus, Stella Stevens. Hubba Hubba.

    • Ian Jane
      #2
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      Ian Jane commented
      Editing a comment
      Oh, I dig it too, it's almost surreal in spots and it's definitely unique, but yeah, far from perfect. Fascinating in its own crazy way.
    Posting comments is disabled.

Latest Articles

Collapse

  • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: April 30th, 2024.
    Director: Lee Frost
    Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    Hot Spur – Movie Review:

    Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
  • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Mondo Macabro
    Released on: April 9th, 2024.
    Director: Max Pecas
    Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    Death Squad – Movie Review:

    Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
  • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Quality X
    Released on: February 28th, 2024.
    Director: Chuck Vincent
    Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    Roommates – Movie Review:

    Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
  • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Jess Franco
    Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
    Year: 1970
    Purchase From Amazon

    Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

    Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
  • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Saul Bass
    Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
    Year: 1974
    Purchase From Amazon

    Phase IV – Movie Review:

    Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
  • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Radiance Films
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
    Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
    Year: 1969-1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

    Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
    ...
    03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
Working...
X