Diamante Lobo (1976)

Director:

Gianfranco Parolini

Writers:

John Fonseca (screenplay)
Gianfranco Parolini (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Priest turned vigilante Father John (Van Cleef) hunts down a gang of criminals, led by Sam Clayton (Palance)...

Plot Keywords:

Gunfighter | Coward | Young Boy | Cigar Smoking | Catholic

Cast

Lee Van Cleef	...	Father John / Lewis
Jack Palance	...	Sam Clayton
Richard Boone	...	The Sheriff
Sybil Danning	...	Jenny
Leif Garrett	...	Johnny
Robert Lipton	...	Jess Clayton
Cody Palance	...	Zeke Clayton
Ian Sander	...	Red Clayton
Pnina Rosenblum	...	Chesty (as Pnina Golan)
Zila Carni	...	Juanita Lewis
Heinz Bernard	...	Judge Barrett
Didi Lukov	...	Rip
Ricardo David	...	Angel George
Chin Chin	...	Willy
Rafi Ben Ami	...	Mortimer

Also Known As:

A Bullet from God
God's Gun
Pistola di Dio (Italy) (alternative title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Italy | Israel

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:R | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Dunamis Cinematografica

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scene, when the Clayton gang rides into Crane City to rob the bank, there's a barn to the right of the bank with the sign 'JC McCormick, Blacksmithing, Wagon Repairing' with a large wagon wheel in the center. Later in the movie, when Lewis describes his past to young Johnny, there's a flashback scene to Abilene. Outside the Abilene Gambling Hall, right across the street, there's a barn with the same sign!

Quotes:

Father John: Mine is the vengeance, sayeth the lord.

God is a Spaghetti-Cowboy!

The indescribably poor DVD-quality almost ruined the entire movie for me. "God's Gun" is part of a Three-Pack DVD of Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western films, the other two being "Kid Vengeance" and "Death Rides a Horse". The box looks nice and it's a great initiative to release more of Van Cleef's work on DVD, but the picture and sound quality are terribly, terribly poor! The colors are faded and most of the time you can't even make out the eyes or the expressions on the characters' faces. It's far worse than a VHS which stood on the bottom shelf of a videostore for the past 20 years, so watch out in case you consider purchasing this puppy on DVD. The film itself is fine, and I don't really understand all the harsh and negative comments by the other reviewers. The plot isn't exactly original and the film clearly lacks the touch of a professional genre director like Leone or Corbucci, but as long as you're simply expecting to see macho cowboys wiping each other out with pistols and shotguns, you can't possibly be disappointed. Any western that combines the talents and charisma of Lee Van Cleef and Jack Palance is worth tracking down if you ask me, and even more so if it also contains guest appearances by Richard Boone and Sybil Danning. Van Cleef plays the priest of a peaceful little town that suddenly gets invaded by a sadistic gang of criminals led by Jack Palance. The priest is killed when he tries to uphold justice in the little town, but his youthful acolyte escapes and seeks the help of twin-brother Lewis who lives in Mexico. Together they return to avenge Father John's dead and clear the town of crime once and for all. The script of "God's Gun" is very clichéd and contains too many stupid improbabilities. For example, Johnny finds Lewis in less than two days even though he only knew he lived "somewhere in Mexico" and – moreover – he can't even ask for directions because he's struck mute. For some reason, there are also two totally redundant and overlong flashback sequences that don't add anything to the story. Naturally, the cast of characters are dreadful stereotypes, including the drunkard Sheriff and the gorgeous, voluptuous wenches in the local saloon. The music and many of the inventive camera angles are directly stolen from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Oh well, at least the gunfights are violent & nasty, and Jack Palance is the ultimately cool baddie.