- Also known as Stranger That Kneels Beside the Shadow of a Corpse
- Italian: Inginocchiati straniero… I cadaveri non fanno ombra
- Directed by Demofilo Fidani
- November 25, 1970 (Italy)
A shady bounty hunter finds himself between an outlaw and a dangerous mine owner.
What drew me to Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows was purely the name. I just thought it was very cool which gave me hope for something intriguing or simply weird. It certainly gets a little weird but takes nearly half the runtime before we get something resembling an actual plot. Before that it is some strange guy following another strange guy for reasons.
The film is long on style and short on cohesion with it perhaps even a bit convoluted making for an intriguing mix of quality and junk. Costumes, sets, and direction are all fine while a canyon looks like a gravel pit and a Mexican woman is just a white lady with makeup to darken her skin. The latter is almost forgivable given the time and could be ignored if the story was not all over the place. I did say ‘almost’.
I have a soft spot for the sound design used in this production. It gives the movie a cartoonish and over the top element like a comforting Saturday morning cartoon. The unrealistic gun sounds remind me of older Japanese animation or general cartoon noise of contemporary American animation. They were distinctive yet unrealistic driving home whatever feeling the creators were aiming for. Here it aids divorcing what we see from reality to make the Spaghetti a bit saucier.
Lazar (Jack Betts as Hunt Powers), a bounty hunter often called a bounty killer, is followed from town to town to town to town (and maybe more) by a man called Blonde (Franco Borelli as Chet Davis). I admit to being more than a little lost on how the characters came into conflict. What was he after?
One strange thing really stuck with me: Blonde follows Lazar to one town and forces his way into a job across the street. The store owner (Eugenio Galadini) says he cannot pay Blonde, but the guy keeps pushing and eventually they agree to pay Blonde in soup. Soup. I don’t know what to make of that. It’s either the most Spaghetti Western pay or the stupidest Spaghetti Western pay I have ever encountered.
Beyond (and including) those, this is filled with the expected subgenre characters. We have almost racist depictions of ethnic henchmen and an evil mine owner named Barrett (Ettore Manni) who was once an outlaw himself but seems completely disconnect on their psychology and motivations. The filmmakers were clearly trying to channel the success of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Who wouldn’t at the time? Somewhere someone along the line they figured if one Clint Eastwood was good then two were even better because both actors look like they’re trying to channel The Man with No Name. It’s in expression, general physical appearance, and dress.
Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows has style but not so much in story. With so much dead space you have plenty of time to grab snacks or use the restroom without missing anything important. Despite this the movie passes all the technicals to be a film without being much of one. What could have been a niche bit of enjoyment comes up empty.
Despite a muddy plot you are held by the physical performances of the actors. Some decent voiceover work by whoever they hired for the job makes things go down smoothly. Mix that with a sense of style and it’s an entertaining movie even if it’s a little uncertain. It can get hypnotically middling.
Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows despite a cool name and moments of quality never gets to completely or mostly enjoyable. It is more confusing and empty than anything else.
