Movie: Black Jack (1968)
Directed by Gianfranco Baldanello
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot:
Jack Murphy's gang pull off a daring bank robbery, but can't agree about how to divide the proceeds. The gang rapes and kills Jack's sister* and leaves him for dead. So he comes for revenge. Hilarity ensues.
Reaction:
Compared to the prior week's show (Cut-Throats Nine), this was much more of a traditional Spaghetti Western. But what made it stand out is the level of barbarity -- high even by Spaghetti Western standards. In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, when Tuco wants to hang Blondie, he puts him on a stool and plans to shoot the legs of the stool. In this, Jack is left standing with the noose around his neck, and one of (formerly) his gang shoots him in the legs so that he can't support his weight.
At its heart, this is a revenge film -- admittedly, many Spaghetti Westerns are. And in a way it reminded me of I Spit on Your Grave. The whole thing about hunting his gang down one at a time. And if we're willing to extend the comparison to the remake of Spit, there's the added similarity of bringing one of the victims' daughters into the mix.
The ending kind of surprised me. I correctly guessed that Jack's remaining friend, Peter, would end up stabbing Jack to death, thus ending matters. But I expected that it would be some kind of redemptive moment for Peter -- remembering what happened to his girlfriend (who was Jack's sister) who wasn't going to let another innocent woman die the same way. Instead, it was explained as Peter hallucinating. So, having stabbed Jack, he begs for Jack's forgiveness. I think I would have preferred the twist I was expecting. But, I guess, Spaghetti Westerns aren't about redemption.
Ratings:
Me: 8.8
Dave: 9.3 - 9.4
Ethan: 8
Joe: 9.8
Sean: 2 out of 4
*Seriously, WTF? She had nothing to do with anything.
To me (…and since you already spoiled the ending, as you say you might, I don’t mind discussing it further), the fact that Jack went through ALL THAT HELL to exact his revenge against an entire gang of betrayers – and “gets it at the end” from HIS OWN LOYAL BROTHER… acting not by his will, but driven by a ghastly hallucination – is exactly what MAKES the film for me!
ReplyDeleteI could just FEEL the irony… and Jack could just feel the iron!
I can see where you're coming from, and the irony was great. Yey, I think I would have preferred seeing the redemptive moment.
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