"Any Gun Can Play" writer & director Enzo G. Castellari's derivative Spaghetti western "Johnny Hamlet," headlining Andrea Giordana, Gilbert Roland, and Horst Frank, qualifies as a surreal adaptation of the English Bard's classic revenge play "Hamlet." If you think about it, the standard issue revenge theme Castellari and co-scenarists Sergio Corbucci and Tito Capi have concocted here aligns itself with the revenge theme in "Hamlet." Most Spaghetti westerns focused on revenge so it was inevitable someone must draw parallels with Shakespeare. Confederate veteran Johnny Hamilton (Andrea Giordana of "The Dirty Outlaws") returns home from the Civil War to find his father murdered and his mother remarried to his uncle. Inevitably, casual moviegoers as well as snooty Shakespeare scholars may either cringe or sneer at this western riff on "Hamlet." Nevertheless, some of Hollywood's greatest post-war horse operas drew on elements of Shakespeare. Who can forget the deeply moving "Hamlet" soliloquy a drunken thespian (Alan Mowbray) delivered in a frontier saloon in John Ford's classic 1946 western "My Darling Clementine" (1946), with Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature as Doc Holliday, and Walter Brennan as Old Man Clanton? William A. Wellman's 1948 western "Yellow Sky" successfully re-imagined the underlying themes of the Shakespeare play "The Tempest" and integrated them with the tropes of the Western. Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark were bank robbers who hole up in a ghost town that served as home to a defiant dame (Anne Baxter) and her prospector grandpa (James Barton), the equivalent of the wizard Prospero. Delmar Daves's 1956 soap opera on the range "Jubal," with Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, and Felicia Farr, drew on themes prevalent in "Othello."
Like those classic westerns, Castellari has invoked Shakespeare here in imaginative ways. Before he shows up at the family ranch, Hamilton sojourns with a traveling troupe of actors rehearsing "Hamlet." Portions of "Johnny Hamlet" duplicate Shakespeare's story. Who killed Johnny's father? Why was he murdered? Johnny's sinister Uncle Claude (Horst Frank of "Django, Prepare a Coffin") up and marries Johnny's grieving mother Gertrude (Françoise Prévost of "The Enemy General"). Interestingly, Spaghetti western guru Sergio Corbucci provided the story for "Johnny Hamlet." Italian western buffs cannot help but notice the finale pitting Johnny against his Uncle Claude in a gunfight that borrows heavily from Corbucci's own landmark western "Django." Literally, Johnny must tie a revolver in his shattered hand when he goes gunning for sinister Uncle Claude! Just as Sergio Leone relied on Ennio Morricone's musical genius to enhance his westerns, Enzo G. Castellari depended on composer Francesco De Masi and his stirring musical cues for virtually all of his westerns. "Johnny Hamlet" bristles with shootouts. Unlike most of Castellari's other westerns, this one is surreal not only in its choice of exotic locations with mushroom shaped rock formation as well as a sprawling graveyard in a vast underground cavern but also "Seven Magnificent Guns" lenser Angelo Filippini's artsy fartsy widescreen cinematography. Filippini's camerawork is incredible for his picturesque compositions as well as his interesting rack focus shots in the graveyard. None of Castellari's other westerns resembles "Johnny Hamlet." Castellari gives all his primary characters memorable entrances into the story. For example, Uncle Claude is shown displaying his superb marksmanship skills. He shoots into lengths of pipes so his bullets will fly through them and perforate water bags behind them. Frank makes an exceptional villain. He is aided and abetted by his two dastardly henchmen, the derby clad Guild (Pedro Sanchez of "Sabata") and Ross (Ennio Girolami of "Escape from the Bronx") who constantly hound Johnny. Charismatic Hollywood silent movie star Gilbert Roland who had made his share of horse operas and played the Cisco Kid before he migrated to Europe for a fistful of Spaghetti westerns is cast as Horace, Johnny's swift-shooting mentor who always shows up when Johnny finds himself harassed by the evil likes of Guild and Ross. These two villains are homicidal hellions. Well into his 60s when he made his Spaghetti westerns, Roland with his Errol Flynn mustache performed many of his own stunts, too.
Castellari juggles his references to "Hamlet." First, he has a troupe of actors cavorting about on the periphery rehearsing their play and then his writers and he shape the plot so it imitates the tragic play. For example, the name of Johnny's father's ranch is Ranch Elsenor. Clearly, this is a riff on castle Elsinore in Shakespeare's play. Most of "Johnny Hamlet" follows our protagonist's efforts to solve the mystery of his father's demise. Everybody attributes the death of Johnny's dad to a stereotypical Mexican bandit named Santana (Manuel Serrano of "Beat the Devil") who appears to be dead himself, but as we learn later is alive and killing, allied as he is with treacherous Uncle Claude. Interestingly enough, Castellari's "Johnny Hamlet" came out the same year as Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet." For the record, "Johnny Hamlet" was released in Italy in March of 1968, while Zeffirelli's masterpiece came out later in October. Whether you're a Shakespeare fan or not, Castellari never lets the action bog down in lofty dialogue. Gunfights galore occur in "Johnny Hamlet" and Castellari orchestrates them with his superb staging. If it boils down to watch or not to watch "Johnny Hamlet," Spaghetti westerns completists will opt to watch it!
Castellari juggles his references to "Hamlet." First, he has a troupe of actors cavorting about on the periphery rehearsing their play and then his writers and he shape the plot so it imitates the tragic play. For example, the name of Johnny's father's ranch is Ranch Elsenor. Clearly, this is a riff on castle Elsinore in Shakespeare's play. Most of "Johnny Hamlet" follows our protagonist's efforts to solve the mystery of his father's demise. Everybody attributes the death of Johnny's dad to a stereotypical Mexican bandit named Santana (Manuel Serrano of "Beat the Devil") who appears to be dead himself, but as we learn later is alive and killing, allied as he is with treacherous Uncle Claude. Interestingly enough, Castellari's "Johnny Hamlet" came out the same year as Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet." For the record, "Johnny Hamlet" was released in Italy in March of 1968, while Zeffirelli's masterpiece came out later in October. Whether you're a Shakespeare fan or not, Castellari never lets the action bog down in lofty dialogue. Gunfights galore occur in "Johnny Hamlet" and Castellari orchestrates them with his superb staging. If it boils down to watch or not to watch "Johnny Hamlet," Spaghetti westerns completists will opt to watch it!