Duccio Tessari
Tex e il Signore degli abissi

Tex, the marvelous creation of Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio "Galep" Galeppini, is, first and even today more than Dylan Dog, the champion among the Italian heroes of the comic world. A fearless ranger with a heart of gold and straightforward methods from the distant Texas and the chief of the Navajo Indians with the nickname "Eagle of the Night", Tex Willer and his stories have captivated entire generations of readers and achieved great success in Italy and abroad.
At the same time, if it is true that Tex Willer is the most popular among Italian comics, it is equally true that spaghetti westerns have been, over the years, among the most popular film productions in our country. And the most exported abroad. The success and glory obtained worldwide by Sergio Leone's films are great. Other more or less renowned names of our cinema have also achieved great success. Sergio Corbucci (Django, The Great Silence, Vamos a matar compañeros), Tonino Valerii, Sergio Sollima’s "political" westerns, and the all "fight and brawl" spaghetti westerns of Enzo "E. B. Clucher" Barboni.

It was inevitable. Sooner or later, fate would bring that old devil Tex Willer face to face with spaghetti westerns.

The meeting happens outside the maximum time. In 1985, when the golden age of spaghetti westerns and its greatest interpreters had already passed. The occasion is the film adaptation of one of the most famous stories of the Bonelli ranger. "Tex and the Lord of the Deep". The direction is entrusted to Duccio Tessari, one of the masters of the genre (the "father" of Ringo), and the role of Tex is assigned to, who else?, Giuliano Gemma. The great and unfortunate William Berger, for the writer one of the greatest interpreters of the genre, is a very successful Kit "Silver Hair" Carson. Legend has it Duccio Tessari aimed to cast Drupi for the part of Tiger Jack, which instead was assigned to CarloMucari(exactly)who?

But it's not all roses and flowers. The production of the film dragged on for years. Galeppini (quoque tu, Galep) refused to draw the film poster, which in the end would reveal itself to be a true commercial flop and was fiercely targeted by critics. On one hand, the historic fans of the Bonelli comic claimed the sacred superiority of the comic over the film and a presumed lack of adherence of the film adaptation to the original story. On the other hand, the film was attacked for being not dynamic enough. The rhythms were too slow, and the excessive use of static shots intended to give, according to the director’s will, a more comic-like aspect to the film, ended up making "Tex and the Lord of the Deep" a film too boring and very unspectacular.

The truth is that "Tex and the Lord of the Deep" is not a masterpiece, nor is it a terrible film. If as kids you wanted to be just like Tex Willer, if every time you see Giuliano Gemma in "Day of Anger" you feel like going to the saloon for a drink, if you learned to play the banjo after watching William Berger strum it, then you must give this film a chance. It is among the first of those comic book film adaptations that today are so (perhaps too) popular. Duccio Tessari didn’t have many reference points, and the ambiguity of the received criticism shows that overall he didn’t do a bad job. Moreover, the time of spaghetti westerns had passed. How could good old Tex Willer compete at the box office with Indiana Jones?

By the way. In the film, that old hellfire of Tex Willer will have quite a struggle against the usual gang of arms traffickers first, and the infamous followers of the terrifying lord of the deep later. It will be tough this time too. But you already know that.