A Pistol for Ringo

Directed by Duccio Tessari, this early Italian western is notable for Ennio Morricone's score and for Giuliano Gemma's lead performance, billed under the anglicized name Montgomery Wood for the American market. Just before Christmas, Sancho's gang robs a border town bank, and when their leader is wounded in the getaway, they hole up at Major Clyde's ranch, taking his family and Christmas guests hostage. The sheriff hires the cold blooded gunslinger Ringo, played by Gemma, to infiltrate the gang and free the hostages, but the plan unravels as Sancho starts executing captives, and the film ends with a trick shot ricochet from a hidden pistol. Tessari had, a year earlier, co written the first draft of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars with Ferdinando Di Leo, tying him directly to the genre's founding moment. The film's success spawned The Return of Ringo the same year, made by the same team, though despite sharing the Ringo name it follows an entirely different character and story. Who it's for: Anyone tracing the spaghetti western's founding years, with Morricone's score and Gemma's star making turn. Who it's not for: Viewers accustomed to the genre's later, grittier Leone entries may find this early example comparatively mild in tone.