''The Price of Power'' ( it, Il prezzo del potere) is a 1969 Spaghetti Western directed by

Tonino Valerii Tonino Valerii (20 May 1934 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian film director, most known for his Spaghetti Westerns. Tonino (Antonio) Valerii started his film career as an assistant director on Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'', before mo ...

. The film stars Giuliano Gemma as the hero Bill Willer who tries to get revenge against the killers of his father while at the same time trying to prevent an assassination plot against president James Garfield (played by

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment o ...

, with José Suárez playing Vice President

Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...

) in 1881.Hughes, p.106

Plot

The president ends up dying from an assassin's bullet, but Willer's further quest for revenge is ultimately more successful. Spanish actress Maria Cuadra plays

Lucretia Garfield Lucretia Garfield ('' née'' Rudolph; April 19, 1832 – March 13, 1918) was the first lady of the United States from March to September 1881, as the wife of James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States. Born in Garrettsville, Oh ...

, the President's wife. In her role she portrays pretty much the role of

Jackie Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...

as a glamorous President's wife. Even in the assassination scene, Cuadra seems to emulate many of the same actions from Jackie Kennedy's last moments with

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

in Dallas in 1963.

Cast

* Giuliano Gemma as Bill Willer *

Warren Vanders Warren Vanders (born Warren John Vanderschuit; May 23, 1930 – November 27, 2009) was an American character actor on television and in films. Biography He was born in San Fernando, California, as Warren John Vanderschuit. Under the name War ...

as Arthur MacDonald *

Benito Stefanelli Benito Stefanelli (2 September 1928 – 18 December 1999) was an Italian film actor, stuntman and weapons master who made over 60 appearances in film between 1955 and 1991. Biography and career Stefanelli is best known in world cinema for his ...

as Sheriff Benny Jefferson * Fernando Rey as Pinkerton * Ray Saunders as Jack Donovan * Michael Harvey as Jeff Wallace *

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

* José Suárez as

* Maria Cuadra as

Antonio Casas Antonio Casas (11 November 1911 – 14 February 1982) was a Spanish footballer turned film actor who appeared in film between 1941 and his death in 1982. Casas originally began as a footballer for Atlético Madrid, but entered film in 1941 and ...

as Mr. Willer *

Manuel Zarzo Manuel López Zarza (born 26 April 1932) better known as Manuel Zarzo is a Spanish film actor. He has appeared in more than 150 films since 1951. Selected filmography * '' Day by Day'' (1951) * '' Love in a Hot Climate'' (1954) * '' Cursed M ...

as Nick * Julio Peña as Governor of Texas * José Calvo as Dr. Strips

Production

The film's concept was conceived by Massimo Patrizi, Luigi Comencini's brother-in-law, and serves as an adaptation of the story of

's assassination in the form of a Western. Patrizi also imposed another true story in his script, that the attempted murder of

in 1881. Although the opening titles of the film credit the story and screenplay only to Patrizi, the film was rewritten by Valerii and Ernesto Gastaldi. Valerii commented that he did not remember Patrizi's script word-for-word, but described it as "extremely basic, whereas Gastaldi and I deepened it. We established the essential themes to develop, introduced the character played by Fernando Rey, the banker who is also the assassination's mandator, and so on." Gastaldi stated that "Patrizi's treatment was simply thrown in the bin, but the producer had signed a contract with him which stated that he was to be credited as the sole author of the script. Since I didn't care about my name in the titles, I had no problem writing the script and not signing it."

Release

''The Price of Power'' was released theatrically in Italy on December 10, 1969, by Cidif. It grossed a total of 1,273,858,000 lire on its domestic release in Italy. It received a release in Spain on June 9, 1970, as ''La muerte de un presidente''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Price of Power, The 1969 films Spaghetti Western films 1969 Western (genre) films Films directed by Tonino Valerii Films scored by Luis Bacalov Films about assassinations Films about presidents of the United States Cultural depictions of James A. Garfield Cultural depictions of Chester A. Arthur Films shot in Almería Films with screenplays by Ernesto Gastaldi 1960s Italian films