"Grand Canyon Massacre" director Sergio Corbucci made his fourth western "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" (1968) after "Django" (1966) but before "Navajo Joe" (1966), and this represents Mark Damon's first Spaghetti western. Half-American, half-Mexican, the eponymous character is a black-clad bounty hunter with a black mustache who prefers to be paid only in gold. Gold means everything to Ringo who is as fast on the draw and as accurate as a frog catching flies with its tongue. Damon looks rather villainous in his solid black outfit, and he dresses more conventionally like a 1950s' Hollywood gunslinger. Unfortunately, "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" doesn't rank as one of Corbucci's better westerns, and Damon lacks the charisma that Giuliano Gemma radiated in the first Ringo western, director Duccio Tessari's "A Pistol for Ringo" (1965) as well as in Tessari's follow-up "The Return of Ringo." "Ringo and His Golden Pistol" pales Corbucci's other westerns. Ringo (Mark Damon of "Johnny Yuma") wipes out three of the Perez Brothers after they force a defenseless woman to marry into their family. The last remaining Perez brother, Juanito (Franco De Rosa of "Ballad of Death Valley"), wants to wreck revenge on Ringo for the deaths of his brothers. Juanito doesn't wield either a rifle or a six-gun, but he expects his armed henchmen to be crack shots. Juanito aligns himself with a renegade Apache chieftain, Sebastian (Giovanni Cianfriglia of "The Relentless Four"), and they decide to decimate the frontier town of Coldstone. Town marshal Bill Norton (Ettore Manni) isn't amused by their threats. Norton arrests our hero when he defends himself from an ambush within the city limits and relies on a bomb to blow his adversaries into little, bitty pieces. Sheriff Norton rules Coldstone with an iron fist and puts citizens in jail if they refuse to abide by his rules. Meantime, Sebastian and Juanito decide to join ranks and kill as many of the frontiersman as they can. Juanito gives Norton an ultimatum. He must hand Ringo over to him or he will wipe out the town. Predictably, Norton doesn't give up Ringo. The rest of the townspeople leave Coldstone before Juanito and his Apache allies attack. While Ringo sits in jail, Norton and his wife along with another freed prisoner decimate the aggressive Indians. Unfortunately, Norton does something truly inept. He sends his son off on horseback to ride to the nearest cavalry fort and bring back enough guns to run the villains off. Our heroes need not have done anything based on their collective marksmanship. Of course, Norton's son doesn't get far before the Apache seize him. Eventually, Norton comes to his senses and gives Ringo his golden pistol, and our hero polishes off Juanito when he uses Norton's young son as a shield.
"Ringo and His Golden Pistol" refers to the gold-plated revolver that our hero wears tied down to his thigh. Clocking in at 88 minutes, this Spaghetti western isn't as bloodthirsty as "A Fistful of Dollars."
"Ringo and His Golden Pistol" refers to the gold-plated revolver that our hero wears tied down to his thigh. Clocking in at 88 minutes, this Spaghetti western isn't as bloodthirsty as "A Fistful of Dollars."