About halfway through Awkward Hands, there was a burst of violence, and Joe proclaimed that now it was a Spaghetti Western. Up until that point, we were lamenting that it felt more like an American Western. The good guy seemed kind of pure good. The bad guy was real bad. And there were these Romantic musical interludes that reminded me of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Keith disagreed. After the movie was finished he pointed out all the negativity that Joe and I were overlooking. The repeated whippings of the the hero, Peter Cushmich. Dorothy's parents showing no regard for her feelings. The criminal waking up tied to a plague-ridden corpse. These elements all made this a very dark film. Still, despite Keith's objections, this didn't feel like what I expect from a European Western. At least not for the first half.
The second half, on the other hand, was very interesting. Lots of conflict. Peter's troubled past is explored. He gets revenge on the old man. And after a year's absence he finds his wife working in a brothel ("the more they humiliated me, the more I loved you!"). And the ending was truly great. Perfect.
But more than anything else, this was a real character study. Peter's background is explored and discussed, and we see him mature from the clumsy oaf to confident and formidable gunslinger. But in the process we see him lose his soul. And though Dorothy still loves him, her spark is gone -- killed by her year in the brothel (or maybe by the changes he went through and his having ignored her in his pursuit of other goals).
Next week we start on a month of Hammer films.
And the hits just keep on comin'...
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