It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

BALLAD FOR A GUNMAN is a mean-spirited and low budget spaghetti western in which every character seems to be a bad guy of one kind or another; it's all about levels of badness. The two heroes are outlaws who begin by robbing a stagecoach before going on to rob a bank, but a local gang of bandits have other ideas and the two sides are set on conflict. Half the running time takes place in an old mine where the 'heroes' are hiding out. There's a lot of violence here with merciless characters gunning down rivals and innocents, but the direction is somewhat pedestrian, lacking the inventive flourishes that marked the more memorable of these genre entries.

Ballata per un pistolero (1967), which I saw under the title Pistoleros, at first appears to be a rather unremarkable if decently executed Western alla'italiana. As is the case with most of this genre, and perhaps any genre, this film is largely a rehearsal of narrative elements form earlier films that proved resonant with audiences. Here, story elements from Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, especially For A Few Dollars More (1965), are the sources for most the entire film. However, while director/screenwriter/actor Alfio Catalbiano failed to create much emotional resonance with this movie, his movie provides an interesting and surprisingly self-consciousness commentary on the genre and Leone's films in particular which makes this movie of real interest for fans of the genre.Catalbiano was not a very prolific director and this was his first effort, which must explain the self-conscious imitation of Leone that is evident through the movie. This awareness of the conventions and phases of the western was nothing new in the WAI in and of itself. The early examples all have a strangely surreal feel to them, they are familiar but something is off in the prominence of certain features or their arrangements. Leone, Tessari, and a few others successfully used this awareness in their ironic re-arrangements. Were the focus had previously been on the American western, in Catalbiano's case the focus seems to have turned to the WAI itself. This would explain the increasing amount of slapstick as well as the outright commentary on the world created in other films of the time. Along with films like Vado... l'ammazzo e torno (1967) this may mark a turning point from the sincerity (if ironic style) of the best WAI to the often unwatchable slapstick westerns that came to dominate the genre after Lo chiamavano Trinità (1970).Most of the story is a based on For A few Dollars More, with an older "mentor" character Rocco (Anthony Ghidra) competing/cooperating with a younger man Blackie (Angelo Infanti). Costume and style are switched, with the younger man in black with a Colonel Mortimer "look" while the older man is closer to the "Man with no name." Catalbiano himself plays an Indio/Ramon Rojo-type character complete with rifle and amoral detachment. Numerous other elements, from the final showdown to the Allentown bank robbery, all have a suspicious similarity to sequences in FAFDM. The comic barroom brawl in the middle of the movie and the funny prospector "Explosion" all point to other sources, however, and are a little out of step with the rest of the plot. However, there is a character who bears a little resemblance to the Clint Eastwood of the Dollars films who is repeatedly beaten and out-shot in what had to have been a deliberate in-joke.Catalbiano made good use of arches, depth, and lighting in a manner which betrays his reliance on Leone's style. The first sequences in the film also have the flowing camera movements associated with Leone and they help make what might have been an otherwise dull opening into something a little more interesting.The most interesting aspect to the film, and one that should have been more fully developed by Catalbiano, was the attitude of the older man, Rocco, to the younger bounty hunter, Blackie. It evolves from disgust to curiosity to concern. Both are "traveling the same road" and this correspondence has the same strange fated, quasi-religious character of other WAI such as Requiescant (1967) where it was used to great satirical effect. The resolution of this element to the relationship is something of a rejection of the surreal comic cynicism of Leone's first two westerns. This is further emphasized by the continued focus on the 'collateral damage" of the violence in the film, as at the ranch or the strange street funeral service that Rocco watches. In fact, there was a great deal of concern with the bystanders in Leone's westerns, especially the later ones, but Catalbiano's focus is much more explicit and has to be understood as a reaction to perceptions of the genre. Blackie's first gunfight recalls Mortimer's in FAFDM, but the ending is very different, very cynical, and funny in light of the earlier film.Overall, the Ballata per un pistolero is not very emotionally involving, but it has several sequences which are definitely pop-western "cool." Rocco's first gunfight, followed by his use of a piano as a flight of stairs, is unexpected and fun. The usual WAI elements are in place, complete with the hidden symmetries and Gothic family western distortions which are an important, if not often noticed, element of the genre. In particular, the relationships between father/son and brother/brother recurs again and again in these movies. Finally, the movie follows the same liminal plot as most WAI with the near-death and resurrection of the main character Rocco. As in many WAI, this involves a literal crucifixion of Rocco on a bizarre spinning target which the outlaws use for guns, knives and harpoons (In a mine?). For genre fans, this film is recommended. Other viewers would probably be not be interested.Top spaghetti western list http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849907Average SWs http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849889For completists only (bottom of the barrel) http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849890

'Ballata per un Pistolero' is a so-so spaghetti western, with a trifle story, good scenes of shootings and a good photography background and competent music score.This movie was released in DVD here in Brazil and it takes my special attention for two reasons: first of all, I'm a great addict of spaghetti western (in fact, I'm writing a book about movies, actors and directors of this genre) and second because 'Ballata per un Pistolero' has not in the cast none of the actors who were always around, like Giulianno Gemma, Franco Nero, George Hilton or Anthony Steffen.The movie is a standard example of these kind of movies. In the main role we find an actor of old Yugoslavia (here under the name 'Anthony Guidra') who made a good work as an aging gunman in a hunt against two criminals. By his side goes a young bounty hunter (played by Angelo Infanti, in an infamous wooden performance) and the ending will bring the revelation of a secret between these two different men.Not a great movie, to be sure. I give this a 5 (five) out of 10 (ten). But the movie is somewhat amusing and well done, especially if you are a spaghetti western enthusiastic.

Rocco wants to kill Chiuchi and El Bedoja, two brothers who decided to rob a bank together. On his side but not really with him is Nigros, a bounty-hunter who just kills for living. The story consists of cliched plot devices and is spiced with a lot of violence. The bad guys don't kill Rocco when they have the opportunity and viceversa. The story is sometimes disjointed, the acting is regular at best and there is no remarkable score. Film is somewhat entertaining overall, though.3 / 10.