Serpente a sonagli

This is the first spaghetti western that I have seen that does not have an Italian director. It is actually an Italian/Mexican co-production, and I am assuming that the director is Mexican or Spanish by his last name. I'm guessing that being partly Italian, and having a decidedly Euro-western flavor makes this a spaghetti western.

The movie has a couple of slightly macabre touches. The main character is the adopted son of an undertaker and even bears a coincidental resemblance to the wrestler called "The Undertaker." At one point he starts picking fights to give himself an excuse to shoot people. He does this to drum up business. There's another part where he and the old man find a mountain of dead bodies. The elder undertaker calls them "beautiful" and says "we've found gold." Pretty cool stuff.

The biggest problem with this movie is that the plot (actually I should say plots, because there are several) meanders off into so many directions that there ends up being no point at all to the film. It's part Burke and Hare, part haunting love story, part revenge tale, part racial struggle, etcetera. But if you don't think about it too much, it's really quite enjoyable to watch. It's actually very beautiful and stylish in parts.

I think the music score could have been better. Some parts of the score were good, and I really liked the rattler sound during the gunfights just before the shooting, but some of the music sounded too much like something you would hear in the background of a 1970's TV show.

Overall, I found it very interesting, but it's definitely not for everyone.