Wanted Review by J.D.
Review of Wanted (1967);
Director Georgio Ferroni has given us Fort Yuma Gold and One Silver Dollar. He reunites with Giuliano Gemma yet again for 1967's Wanted. Gemma stars as Sheriff Gary Ryan, who shows up in a town whose mayor, it turns out, is a corrupt cattle rustler, and has quite a few baddies in town working for him, as well. When Gemma shows up for his assignment minutes after Mayor Gold appoints his corrupt henchman (Serge Marquand) as sheriff, they decide it's time to take care of business and get rid of Ryan.. They then proceed to set him up for murder, with the complicity of the Cheryl, the town's hotel owner(Gia Sandri). With the assistance of a crafty gambler named Martin Heywood (well-played by Germán Cobos), Ryan is eventually able to turn the tables on them, as well as expose a rather wily cow-branding scam that implicates the mayor as the head of the operation.
Giuliano Gemma as Sheriff Gary Ryan
There's not a lot to say about this one. It was one of those run-of-the-mill variety, not bad by any means, but not really a standout either. Gemma was great, as always. Also, it had the incredibly sexy Teresa Gimpera as one of the rancher's nieces, who becomes a love interest for Gemma. Benito Stefanelli turns in a good performance as the town drunk who helps out Ryan (after Ryan helps him out in the beginning of the film). Germán Cobos' Heywood character was well acted, and whoever did the English overdub did a fine job as well. The film did have some rather exemplary cinematography, thanks to Toni Secchi, who had a good eye for framing the landscape. I particularly like the second shot below:
Another noteworthy comment - Secchi took advantage of the changing seasons, as we sometimes see snow and lots of mud. It wasn't fake, as you can clearly see the breath of the characters as they're speaking, giving the film a welcome touch of realism.
This was the German New Entertainment World release, which looked and sounded pretty good. The English overdub was well acted, although not synched that well at times. There was also a brief scene where the English track wasn't available, so it reverted to German, but it's a common occurence for these restored films, so it wasn't too bad.
All in all, it was a pretty average outing, but watchable due to some great camerawork and good performances by Stefanelli, Gemma, and Cobos.
This article is part of the A Fistful of Pasta archive
