Fury Of Johnny Kidd (1967) RE-UP

It's not the first time that a drama of Shakespeare or another classical is adapted and free interpreted for a Spaghetti Western.Spanish-Italian co-production with Spaghett-hero as Peter Lee Lawrence as Johnny Kidd against Campos family . An Italian-Spanish co-production full of action , exaggerated characters, gun-play and lots of violence. California, two families , the Mounter (Montescos , formed by Luis Induni , Ana Maria Noe and Peter Lee) and the Campos (Capuletos, formed by Peter Martell, Jose Rubio and Rufino Ingles) live in eternal facing off. FURY OF JOHNNY KID is the only western directed by Gianni Puccini who is better known for his work on more sophisticated movies.

Fury of Johnny Kidd is an impressive film for a director who only made one western. Puccini's tragic death aged only 54 the following year meant that we will never know if it was a feat he could have repeated. What we can say is that he assembled an impressive creative team for this film and, as a result, it offers more than the average oater of its time while still delivering a satisfying genre feast. Cinematographer Mario Montuori (later to work on Ciak Moll and Forgotten Pistolero) produces some great work here, with some beautifully constructed visuals and the aforementioned scriptwork of Baratti and Martinez Roman means the dialogue is by and large free from some of the cornball excesses all too common at the time. Gianni Amelio's contribution as assistant director is always difficult to guage but his later celebrated career would suggest he didn't do any harm and his similar role on Giulio Questi's Django Kill suggests that he was a very useful player in the team. Gino Peguri's score is effective and, in places, memorable but for me was damaged by the unneccesary use a sort of sliding stylophone effect at times.
Finally, the cast was a good one and used very well. For me this is one of Lawrences best performances, almost the perfect part for his looks and screen persona. He is convincing as the young romantic hero and in hindsight bears an uncanny resemblance to Leonardo Di Caprio who was to play Romeo in a more recent and well known version of the story. Lawrence also enjoys an obvious chemistry with Cristina Galbo and it is interesting to note that the couple were actually married a couple of years after meeting on the set of this film. Galbo is fine as Giulietta but her thunder is stolen in the female stakes by Maria Cuadra who is both sexier and more effective in the role of Roselyn. Piero Lulli is perfect in the role of Sheriff Cooper with his mad blue eyes while Peter Martell is given carte blanche to play Rodrigo with as much open shirted, virile abandon as he liked.