Content: As Deek’s (Carlos East) wife Sarah (Barbara Angely) with their little son and her lover Sonny (Sonny Vandeusen) flees from home, the cuckolded husband starts the chase. The denouement is fatal: Deek and Sonny die of their bullets, whereas Sarah dies of thirst. Only the boy survives, because he is rescued by the travelling undertaker John Applebee (James Westerfield), who passes accidentally and who calls him simply John.
As Johnny (Glen Lee) is grown up, he still travels the desert with his “stepdad”, whom he helps burying corpses. When they are running out of bodies, what is possible even in the times of Civil War ;-), Johnny, who is a psycho before the Lord, provides for some new bodies with his fast hand.
Both men dream of a better life: a funeral home of their own up in the north. Whereas Applebee wants to reach this aim with legal methods, Johnny would prefer to go on the fast lane and rob a bank. But then luck seems to be on their side: Just as they arrive in the “province capital” to visit the local brothel, the Yankees obviously had the same idea and burn the city down. After Johnny has killed a man in the turmoil during one of his violence attacks, they find a nice amount of gold in the dead man’s pocket.
The signs bode well for them, to say Adios to their miserable life. But unfortunately Johnny felt in love in the meantime, namely with Maria (Venetia Venello), who he only ”knows” from afar and a drawn warrant. Maria is an ex-hooker, who robs or better tries to rob banks with her lover Jack (Virgil Frye). The problems is, that the banks don’t hold any money because of the war. And this unreachable Maria engrosses Johnnie’s dreams more and more.
| The Gunslinger says: Quite unusual and unknown SW, produced in Mexico under Mexican control. Because of its meditative character and the veeeery fluffy staging, it seems as if the involved persons have awarded to certain country-specific, fungoid refreshments during the shooting. That means: not bad, folx.
Strictly speaking he plot tells three different strands, which converge not until the end: the undertaker story, the strand about Jack and Maria plus a short digression to Lucius, the black deserter. this could be irritating over large parts, because one doesn’t know, where the hell the story’s going to. If you’re over such a critical analysis or if you haven’t started at all to make considerations like this, the real nucleus of the flick comes to light: puuuure atmosphere, brothers and sisters.
The film plays only in the desert: the towns are deserted, the humans are completely beside themselves – morally degenerated, without even traces of respect. Material wealth is the only thing, that counts, and because this is out of reach, there’s nothing left, what counts. The two undertakers bury on credit, what means on payment forms of an authority, which has ceased to exist. For them a human being has his worth not till he’s dead. Because of an early trauma Johnny gets the urge to kill, what he does without hesitating and emotionless. Strange government representatives – soldiers – can’t hardly be hindered to rape Maria; others – a Commissioner Jorge(Jorge Russek) – engage in chasing “niggers” and outlaws. Great “end-of-the-world-atmo” without hope for improvement, and finally also the film’s title turns out as an euphemism.
The score is quite bizarre too. With its Wah-Wah-effects, strings and horns or in its piano passages it remembers me more on a 70s-crime-flick then a Western. In my opinion you love or you hate this film which stands in a row with glimmering masterpieces as “Kill him!”: there’s nothing in between. Thumbs up from me!
| Rating: $$$$+
| Bodycount: ca. 16, 2 women
| Explicit Brutalities: The Commissioner und his right hand (Tony Monaco) enjoy the show, as Lucius and a white cell mate (Billy Joe Rouck) fight for live and death in the Black Maria
| Luv': Johnny adores Maria, but they never really meet: 0/10
| Gore: There are some nice bullet holes: 4/10
|
| OT:
Lucky Johnny
AT:
Lucky Johnny: born in America
Arde, Baby, arde (MEX)
Il Serpente a Sonagli (I)
Year: MEX/I 1973
D, S: José Antonio Bolaños
S: Pedro Miret, Tony Monaco
C: Alex Philips
M: Luchi de Jesus
with: Glen Lee, James Westerfield, Venetia Venello, Evaristo Márquez
 | James Westerfield createsputs the child in a good humour with a snake's rattle
|  | blindA new customer gets on
|  | blindEverything hunky-doryt, mate? Glen Lee and Billy Joe Rouck
|  | blindThe public servant of your trust: Jorge Russek
|  | With best regards of the shotgun
|  | Venetia Venello: You really wanna get me in my underwear?
|  | | Virgil Frye plays the bigshot |
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