''Requiescant'' (often translated as ''Kill and Pray'') is a 1967

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 filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

film

directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero'', ...

and starring

Lou Castel Lou Castel (born Ulv Quarzell; 28 May 1943) is a Colombian-born Swedish actor who became internationally known through his work in Italian films, in particular for his starring role in Carlo Lizzani's '' Requiescant'' (1967) and his co-starring ...

Mark Damon Mark Damon (born Alan Harris; April 22, 1933 – May 12, 2024) was an American film producer and actor. In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for his performance in Roger Corman's ''House of Usher'', and later moved ...

, Barbara Frey and

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

, in one of his few acting roles.

Plot

At Fort Hernandez near

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, a group of Mexican villagers are betrayed and murdered by

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldiers under the command of the aristocrat Ferguson. A little boy survives and runs into the desert, where he is rescued by Jeremy, a priest, who is there with his small family. The priest raises him as he was his own son. Although heavily religious, the boy also proves to be an excellent gunslinger. Growing up, he gets along particularly well with his stepsister Princy, who one day rebels against her family and joins a traveling troupe. Setting out to find her, every time he kills an enemy he dismisses him by pronouncing the Latin phrase: "Requiescant!" ("May they rest in peace"), which earns him his nickname. When he comes to San Antonio, he finds that the city belongs to former officer Ferguson. In the saloon he finds Princy working as a prostitute and Ferguson's subordinate Dean Light as her pimp. Ferguson refuses to let Princy walk away with Requiescant. When Requiescant learns of his true identity, he supports the priest Don Juan (played by renowned writer, poet and film director

) in his uprising against Ferguson. After a clash, Requiescant kills Ferguson and frees the townspeople from tyranny.

Cast

: "Requiescant" *

: George Bellow Ferguson *

: Father Juan * Barbara Frey: Princy *

Rossana Martini Rossana Martini (1 January 1926 – 2 February 1988) was an Italian actress, model and beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its na ...

(as Rossana Krisman): Lope * Mirella Maravidi: Edith Ferguson *

Franco Citti Franco Citti (; 23 April 1935 – 14 January 2016) was an Italian actor, best known as one of the close collaborators of director Pier Paolo Pasolini. He came to fame for playing the title role in Pasolini's film '' Accattone'', which brought hi ...

: Burt * Carlo Palmucci: Dean Light * Ferruccio Viotti: Father Jeremy *

Ninetto Davoli Giovanni "Ninetto" Davoli (born 11 October 1948) is an Italian actor who appeared in several of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films. Biography Davoli was born in San Pietro a Maida, Calabria. He was discovered by poet, novelist and film director Pier ...

(as Nino Davoli): El Niño *

Lorenza Guerrieri Lorenza Guerrieri (born 18 April 1944) is an Italian actress. Born in Rome, Lorenza Guerrieri made her film debut in the mid-1960s in '' Le sedicenni'', and later appeared in films of any genre, mainly in secondary roles. She became popular wit ...

: Marta * Luisa Baratto (as Liz Barrett): Pilar * Nino Musco: old mute * Anne Carrer: Lavinia *

Vittorio Duse Vittorio Duse (21 March 1916 – 2 June 2005) was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. Biography One of Duse's first roles was in Luchino Visconti's debut feature '' Ossessione'' (1942). Outside Italy, Duse is known for his role ...

: "El Doblado" * Massimo Sarchielli: Leonardo Marquez * Pier Annibale Danovi: Felipe

Reception and critiques

In Italy the film grossed almost half a billion Lire. Journalist Ermanno Comuzio praised it, saying: "''The film is halfway between the traditional western style and the new cinema - the usual motifs mix with themes of a democratic movement. These two dimensions are optimally coordinated here.''" Ulrich P. Bruckner highlights the political dimension of the film: "''Mark Damon, normally the hero, goes against his image and plays the vampire-like villain Ferguson, with pale make-up and dressed entirely in black, who is a perfect contrast to Pasolini's Don Juan. Both believe only in their own truth; the revolutionary underdog Don Juan, who was forced to join the revolution and fight against the oppressors, and on the other side the aristocrat Ferguson, who cannot accept the fact that there can be equality between the ruling and the ruled.''" The German Lexicon of international film described ''Requiescant'' as a "realistic western (with Pasolini in the role of a priest) about pre-revolution Mexico, without sufficient psychological foundation and with a certain dose of brutality".

Releases

Wild East Productions released a limited edition region 0 NTSC DVD on 1 November 2004, preserving the film's original widescreen aspect ratio. The DVD has the English title ''Kill and Pray'' on the box art but the title on the print used for the DVD transfer is the original Italian ''Requiescant'' title. The 2004 DVD is currently out of print, but the film was re-released under the title ''Kill and Pray'' in another limited edition R0 NTSC DVD in 2011 alongside ''Dead Men Don't Count'', also starring Mark Damon.

References

External links

* {{Carlo Lizzani 1967 films 1967 Western (genre) films Spaghetti Western films West German films 1960s Italian-language films Films directed by Carlo Lizzani Films scored by Riz Ortolani 1960s Italian films Italian-language German films