Desperado

One of the most visually impressive (late) spaghetti westerns, with polished widescreen compositions that even Leone himself would envy. A pleasantly atypical western with avant-garde editing (ingeniously combining past and present), an almost post-apocalyptic atmosphere of a dusty city decimated by plague (the night scenes lit by torches are reminiscent of the Middle Ages), religious symbolism and a charismatic Franco Nero with the visage of Jesus. It's a hodgepodge of everything from Shakespeare to Bergman to Peckinpah, but surprisingly it works as a whole. The only thing that throws it off is the bizarre soundtrack, with its whiny ballad songs in which two singers comment directly on what's happening in the film. (03/18/2018)

I haven't been as impressed with a spaghetti western as Desperado in a long time. And it's all the more interesting because (as far as I know) it has nothing at all to do with Sergio Leone or Ennio Morricone. Yet it dazzles with everything it has to offer. At first glance a simple, yet brilliantly delivered and ultimately dense fate story full of excellent characters, stunning direction to match Leone, catchy music, the actors... Like I said, everything. (12/04/2013)