Initially, we’re dealing with a Western that doesn’t seem to be that highly appreciated by many critics from the extensive variety of mid-70s spaghetti carousel. While being at the tail end of the genre, aside from it being Lee Van Cleef’s second last spaghetti western, it does prove itself to be rather entertaining. It is not as bad as it is usually depicted as, and in fact is, rather funny like the others, co-starring Jack Palance as the villain. Finally, like other spaghetti westerns, the shooting sequences are staged in an amusing manner alongside the distinct European cliche where it was really filmed in Israel as opposed to Almeria. Junior celebrity Leif Garret also plays a part.
Just like with Sabata and Return of Sabata, director Gianfranco Parolini dresses Van Cleef in a cool black costume and makes him a laconic character full of heroism and overpowering tricks in God’s Gun too. He performed the same thing with Van Cleef in 1976. However, as he takes the main hero’s part in God’s gun, he doesn’t quite possess these ultimate gadgets. Unfortunately, van Cleef’s two characters don’t have the gimmicked rifles and special treating pieces.
The film starts with an outlaw group led by Clayton (Palance) arriving in Juno City, pillaging its resources and steeping the women in town. Thankfully, no one loses their life during the raid, but with such a cowardly sheriff (western fame Richard Boone), the only thing the townspeople could do was stand there terrified. Young Johnny (Garret) who helps his mother run the saloon decides to take matters into his own and goes to look for Father John, the local priest. Father John (Van Cleef) manages to find the bandits and their camp but ends up disarming them instead. He tries to bring them to justice but the naive sheriff has other ideas, watching the town get raided. After killing Father John outside the Church and further rampaging, the bandits pursue young Johnny as he makes his escape to Mexico with the intention of finding John’s brother, gunfighter Lewis (Van Cleef again).
Now, the violence begins in a dry fashion, with Johnny ambushing and dispatching a couple of thugs tailing him, and naturally, vengeance and punishment are extremely vigorous when Johnny locates Lewis and ultimately comes back with him to restore order to the Warzone which Juno City. One of the most disturbing scenes is and I will limit the build of this film one bandit rapes a saloon girl during the orgy in the saloon. Quickly after, we see Lewis dressed as a dead priest to take out the renegades. The last stand of the outlaws against Lewis in the town is both highly entertaining and disturbing, as is his final battle with Clayton and the final scene when Clayton captures Johnny and his mother and brings them out into the desert. This part of the movie creates a rollercoaster of emotions, building excitement, eliminating it fast, and reestablishing it all with the perfect face-off.
A few scenes in the movie at first seem a little silly and “fake.” Such as the one where Lewis, for example, Appears behind the bandits in a church and disarms them. The editing of this scene was bad, as it extended the setup and made it uneventful. And then there is the music. While it is good and evokes the feel of spaghetti, it surely is the most annoying thing you’ve ever heard. Lee Van Cleef’s Father John wig is one of the worst wigs I’ve ever seen in a spaghetti, alongside Tomas Milian and Benito Stefanelli who I think rank as the three worst.
No extras on the disc, but the version being discussed here is the one I would definitely recommend. It is the MGM UK region 2 DVD, which has mid pricing and provides a good sharp picture quality, and decent range of subtitles in multiple languages.
In my opinion, God’s Gun may not be the best spaghetti western, but it is surely not bad and given what I have shared, I would recommend it. It added value to my personal spaghetti collection and genre fans will adore it!
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