''Johnny Hamlet'' ( it, Quella sporca storia nel West, lit=That Dirty Story in the West is a 1968

Italian film The cinema of Italy (, ) comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film ...

directed by

Enzo G. Castellari Enzo Girolami Castellari (born 29 July 1938) is an Italian director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Early life Castellari was born in Rome into a family of filmmakers. His father was a boxer turned film maker Marino Girolami. His uncle ...

. The film is a

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

version of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's tragedy ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''.

Plot

Johnny Hamilton returns to his Texas home from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

where he fought for the Confederacy. He camps with a theater troupe who is rehearsing ''Hamlet''. When they are attacked by gunfighters, Johnny defends the artists and leaves immediately. Arriving to his Ranch El Señor, where he finds that his father was killed by the Mexican bandit Santana and his mother Gertry has married his uncle Claude. He is distressed by this disrespect. His friend Horace consoles him and gives him a silver decoration found at the killing site. He goes to a cave cemetery where he makes the grave digger to open the grave of Santana. The skeleton wears a belt with silver decorations like the one found by Horace. Johnny reconnects with Emily. He suspects that lost Confederate gold is related to the killing. The theater troupe arrive to town and Johnny sleeps with an actress. Emily is killed by Claude. Her body and Johnny's father's revolver are found in the river by her father, the sheriff. The actress is also killed by Claude. Johnny searches for Santana and finds him and Claude hidden. They had hidden the Confederate gold. They capture Johnny, who instills doubt in Santana about trusting Claude. Johnny is found by the sheriff who puts him on a decussate cross. He is freed by Horace. Santana and his men attack the ranch. Gertry confronts Claude and is shot by one of Claude's henchmen. After fighting the bandits, Claude checks his gold. Johnny fights him and kill him. As Johnny recovers, the Confederate gold is blown away by the wind. Horace arrives and both friends ride away.

Cast

Andrea Giordana Andrea Giordana (born 27 March 1946) is an Italian actor. He has appeared in more than 14 films, 29 television and 35 theater shows since the mostly late 1950s. Early life He was born in Rome, Italy to film director Claudio Gora and actress M ...

as Johnny Hamilton (corresponding to

) *

Gilbert Roland Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso (December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994), known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice no ...

as Horace (corresponding to

Horatio Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin '' nomen'' (name) '' Horatius'', from the Roman ''gens'' (clan) '' Horatia''. The modern Italian form is '' Orazio'', the modern Spanish form '' Horacio''. It ap ...

) * Horst Frank as Claude Hamilton (corresponding to

King Claudius King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of ...

) *

Françoise Prévost Françoise Prévost (c. 1680 in Paris – 1741 in Paris) was a French ballerina who helped establish dramatic dance in the early world of classical ballet. She was expressive, light and dramatic in style. In 1699, Prevost debuted at the Acadé ...

as Gertry Hamilton (corresponding to Gertrude) * Gabriella Boccardo as Emily (corresponding to

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

) *

Stefania Careddu Stefania Careddu (born 13 January 1945) is an Italian retired film and stage actress. Life and career Born in Bergamo, Careddu is the daughter of the writer Marianna Frigeni. She made her film debut in 1965, in a small role in Gianni Puccini' ...

as Eugenia *

Enio Girolami Enio Girolami (14 January 1935 – 16 February 2013), sometimes credited as Thomas Moore, was an Italian film and television actor. Born in Rome, son of director Marino Girolami and brother of director Enzo G. Castellari, Girolami made his f ...

as Ross (corresponding to Rosencrantz) *

Ignazio Spalla Ignazio Spalla (best known as Pedro Sanchez; 5 May 1924 – 9 February 1995) was an Italian film actor. Born in Siena, Spalla was mainly active in Spaghetti Westerns, usually playing roles of Mexicans, gunfighters and outlaws. His first roles o ...

as Guild (corresponding to Guildenstern) * Manuel Serrano as Santana *

Franco Latini Franco Latini (September 12, 1927 – February 2, 1991) was an Italian actor and voice actor. He was considered to be one of the top voice dubbers for many animated films and cartoons for audiences across Italy. Biography Born in Pomezia, which ...

as The Gravedigger (corresponding to

the Gravediggers The Gravediggers (or Clowns) are examples of Shakespearean fools (also known as clowns or jesters), a recurring type of character in Shakespeare's plays. Like most Shakespearean fools, the Gravediggers are peasants or commoners that use thei ...

) * Giorgio Sammartino (as Giorgio Sanmartin) as Sheriff (corresponding to

Polonius Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of ...

) * John Bartha as Acting Troupe Leader

Production

09042009 160029 CEC 0025 - WLE Spain 2015

Ciudad-encantada-cuenca-sep-2019-j-convento

According to director

Franco Rossetti Franco Rossetti was an Italian film director and screenwriter . Life and career Born in Siena, Rossetti started his career as a film critic, then in the early 1950s he entered the film industry as an assistant director. With the rise of the S ...

, after finishing filming ''

The Dirty Outlaws ''The Dirty Outlaws'', also known as ''Big Ripoff'', ''King of the West'' and ''The Desperado'' (in original Italian, ''El desperado''), is a 1967 Italian Spaghetti Western starring Andrea Giordana. Quentin Tarantino ranked the film 13th in his ...

'' he was offered to do another Western which was a reinterpretation of ''Hamlet'' by Sergio Corbucci. Rossetti stated that after he turned down the offer to direct it feeling that he thought Shakespeare in a Western setting was absurd. Rossetti stated that Corbucci was to direct the film after, which the film's eventual director,

stated he was not sure if that was the situation. Castellari said he was contacted by the producers to direct the film and accepted after liking Corbucci's script. Castellari however later disliked the films Italian title which translated to "The Dirty Story in the West" stating that "Nobody went to see it. If they'd kept ''Johnny Hamlet'', the response of the public would have been different."

Release

''Johnny Hamlet'' was first distributed in 1968. It was distributed by Interfilm in Italy.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* 1968 films Films directed by Enzo G. Castellari Spaghetti Western films Films based on Hamlet Films scored by Francesco De Masi 1968 Western (genre) films Films shot in Almería 1960s Italian films {{1960s-Western-film-stub