Films That Witness Madness

review

MANNAJA: A MAN CALLED BLADE

Let's start with a bit of disclosure, shall we? I don't particularly like American westerns. They tend to tell the same story over and over with varying degrees of stupidity and implausibility, populated with characters who are either over-the-top villainous, cartoonishly comic, or serious to the point of distraction. The Italian variation on the standard American formula, the spaghetti western, is no different. So I don't find myself all that often inclined to sit down and watch one. But as MANNAJA was directed by my favorite giallo director, Sergio Martino, I figured I'd give it a shot. Lo and behold, it's no different from the rest of them, just a bit more entertaining.

Now, that's not to say that I dislike every western that comes my way. A few have made their way into my own personal greatest films list over the years. The westerns of Peckinpah, for example. Or Leone's sprawling, majestic ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. But for every THE WILD BUNCH I've seen, there's two IT CAN BE DONE, AMIGOs out there ready to re-enforce my general dislike for the western. But I'm getting off the point of this whole bit of business. So let's begin proper.

MANNAJA opens in a fog-shrouded valley. A man is being chased. Everything is in slow motion, like a nightmare. The man falls repeatedly, the sound of an approaching horse getting nearer and nearer. The man gets to his feet and runs into the woods. He falls yet again. When he gets to his feet this time, he finds it's too late. His pursuer has caught up with him. The man reaches for his gun and draws, only to have his arm lopped off by a hatchet. Cue credits. As I sat watching this, very much familiar with Sergio Martino's work, I was struck by how closely it resembled a scene in Martino's giallo, TORSO. I was also struck by how much it resembled a standard slasher chase, from the barely glimpsed pursuer - in this case our hero, a bounty hunter called Blade - to the prey who trips over their own two feet repeatedly, to the graphic violence that provides an exclamation point on the scene.

From that point on, MANNAJA falls into standard spaghetti western conventions. Our hero, a bounty hunter, brings his now one-armed bounty to a town called Suttonville to seek shelter during a pounding rainstorm. He wastes no time in making enemies, specifically Voller, the right hand man of the town's proprietor, silver mine owner McGowan. Winning $5,000 of Voller's money during a card game - and shooting all of Voller's men in the process - Blade lets his bounty go. The next day, as he rides out of town, he's nearly killed by Voller's men - in a typical kind of spaghetti western scene, Voller's three men, all of whom are armed, decide to use dynamite to try and take Blade down, triggering a rock slide instead of simply, you know, shooting him. Our wounded hero is taken in by a traveling band of whores and nursed back to health. Meanwhile, Voller arranges the kidnaping of McGowan's only daughter and the old man has little recourse but to turn to Blade for help. Cue the "hero gets the crap beat out of him" scene...

And while you're at it, cue up the "hero survives" and the "hero gets his revenge" scenes, too...

MANNAJA is built largely on the DJANGO model - which itself was built largely on the Leone model, which was largely built on the Kurosawa's YOJIMBO model, which was largely built on... ahh, nevermind - from the typical character models on down to the hilarious theme song that plays repeatedly during the movie. In DJANGO, the theme was merely a distraction, popping up so damned frequently you could organize a drinking game around it but managing to be, at least, charming. Here, it's absolutely hilarious - the first part of the lyrics, "You.... alone.... a sollllitarrrrrryyyy man", sound like they're being sung by Rainier Wolfcastle - and never ceased to be so through the whole movie. Each plot development, likewise, is torn from the DJANGO cloth, including the hero being sadistically tortured by his foes. In DJANGO, the hero had his hands trampled by horses. In MANNAJA, he's buried up to his neck and has his eyelids sewn open so the sun can burn them out. They're also incredibly anti-climatic films. In DJANGO, our hero - busted hands and all - manages to shoot all the bad guys in five seconds flat in the big showdown. MANNAJA resolves itself with a single toss of a hatchet. A big letdown.

But the film isn't a total waste. It's fast paced and entertaining with good performances all around - although the dub job isn't always the best. Maurizio Merli, best known for his tough cop roles in a string of popular polizieschi, carries the film well and John Steiner provides a good counterpoint in his portrayal of Voller. But this is Martino's film and his direction keeps the whole thing afloat. From the dreamlike opening and closing scenes to his trademark compositions - the cross cutting between violent death and a lively showgirl performance is classic Martino - his visual styles matches the tone of the film perfectly.

Overall, I'd call this one recommended.

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