Cesare Canevari
Matalo!

In 1970, towards the decline of the Italian western, this strange cinematic object was released in theaters (only to stay there for a very short time). The director is a genuine "genre filmmaker," such as Cesare Canevari, a subject of a small re-evaluation in these recent "pulp" times (among all "Io, Emmanuelle," 1969, with Erica Blanc).

I can't say if the director's intentions were those that eventually materialized on film (who can say, after all), but what emerged is an anomalous film. Ugly? Beautiful? Certainly Unique.
It would be worth revisiting this work because, beyond the trendy-trash revisions, etc., etc., it is a work that still leaves audiences stunned, awaiting who-knows-what grand-guignol spaghetti.
The first anomaly concerns the cast: alongside a western veteran like Lou Castel (I recall "Quien sabe?" by D. Damiani but also "Requiescant" by C. Lizzani), a restless protester lent to genre cinema, the anti-hero of "I pugni in tasca" by Bellocchio, we find Corrado Pani, a theatrical actor at the time famous for the Ivan of the TV "Karamazov" and his marriage to Mina, and Antonio Salines (same activity as Pani and comrade in the aforementioned series as Smerdiakov).
Actors unaccustomed to genre works, perhaps in search of a greater launch in the cinema firmament; a failed operation given the poor box office results of Canevari's film and its unfortunate oblivion that lasts to this day.

But the "specialties" of "Matalo!" do not end here: the characteristic of this western-kammerspiel is the use of Aristotelian units immersed in an ectoplasmic atmosphere and the almost total absence of dialogues, which makes the film a case of its own in the already well-navigated genre that had already offered so much in terms of extravagances, see Giulio Questi's film "Se sei vivo spara" among all. The plot is insignificant: "Matalo!" is based on a screenplay by Mino Roli, which had already been used in the very poor "Dio non paga il sabato" by Tanio Boccia and which is recycled here without Canevari being aware of it.

After being saved from hanging by a band of desperados, Burt eliminates his saviors and recovers the compensation agreed to them. Joined by partners Ted (Antonio Salines) and Phil (Davila), the three go to the ghost village they use as a hideout. Desert, sand, an infernal dust whirlwind, and a cemetery that welcomes the three bandits. They while away the time until the arrival of Mary, Phil's woman, foxy and fatal. Mary is Bart's lover, Ted is hopelessly and vainly in love with her and destroys himself in envy and alcohol.
The three plan a heist on a valuables carriage; Mary will pretend to seek help from the driver, only to then start a shootout where Bart is killed. The others return to Culver City and revel in the success of the heist. Meanwhile, wearing an unforgettable paisley jacket, a stranger (Castel) recovers from a sunstroke. He's an Australian...

I won't proceed for those who don't want to know the plot of the films; as for my point of view on "Matalo!", whether one likes it or not, it is undeniable that we are facing something never seen before; perhaps there are some resonances with the rarefactions of Monte Hellmann (Mereghetti) in this apotheosis of desolation and psychedelic delirium. Never before in this western has Leone's solar line been exacerbated and distorted thanks to peyote overdoses, which expands time and slows perceptions. For example, the final duel, implausible from a realistic standpoint but effective with the swirling rotation of the camera, almost wanting to make palpable the atmosphere of madness.

"Matalo!" goes where the spaghetti western has always wanted to go; out of the west, into the self-destructive delirium with strong doses of mannerism. Also in this film, we find the Odyssey figure of the solitary hero, but it is an almost helpless Castel ("I come from a country where you hide your head under the sand" he says at one point and "to use the gun I would need a target as big as a house to hit").
In the end, he will do justice in an "ecological" way (I won't say anything else, otherwise goodbye plot twist), he will leave, all the others will be dead, and only ghosts will inhabit the west.

Unforgettable music by Mario Migliardi, between Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Luciano Berio.