Customer Reviews

Man Called Sledge [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Man Called Sledge stars James Garner as Luther Sledge, an outlaw who attempts to lead his gang in a robbery of an enormous gold shipment guarded by a Gatling gun and a cavalry company. Claude Akins, Dennis Weaver, and John Marley as gang members with other recognizable faces from other spaghetti westerns. Not one of the best westerns made in Italy, but very entertaining. Very pessimistic ending. An excellent musical score( as is typical with spaghetti westerns although it isn't Ennio Morricone). Garner is very good as the lead role, a part similar to his role in Hour of the Gun as Wyatt Earp. Well worth the price!

There's a cache of gold stored in that there prison, and notorious outlaw Luther Sledge wants it. The trouble is - how do you rob a gold wagon when it's either locked up in a state prison or is being escorted by forty professionally trained sharpshooters? James Garner plays the title character in A MAN CALLED SLEDGE, a kind of good spaghetti western/big heist hybrid that was written and co-directed by actor Vic Morrow.

The movie treats us to an extended introduction to Sledge before bothering to get to the plot proper. Luther Sledge is the grimmest western character I've seen Garner play, and his foray to the dark side had me worried for a while. Sledge has none of the easy charm of Bret Maverick, or either lead character in Garner's "Support Your Local..." movies. Garner is second only to Cary Grant in his ability to charm his way through a movie. It's that ability - and Jack Elam - that make the "Support Your Local..." movies so much fun. Even cast against type Garner, though, is the best thing about this movie.

If everything in this movie were as good as Garner this one would be a classic. The wide-screen desert location photography, if not quite a feast for the eyes, is certainly a hearty snack. Co-stars Dennis Weaver and Claude Akins were veteran character actors who'd proven in the past they could work up to the material. Unfortunately their characters are underwritten, making of them something less than clichés. The character underwritten to practical invisibility belongs to poor Laura Antonelli, who plays Sledge's love interest. Although their love plays an increasingly important role in the plot, she isn't in the film for more that a couple of brief scenes. Not nearly long enough to sell us on their love, or to care all that much when it's jeopardized. Continuity is another issue that plagues this movie. Some of the action sequences are simply confusing. For instance, at one point in the movie one of the main characters is in trouble. We see the source of that trouble, hear a scream, and then see the injured character tumbling to the ground. But we never see what happened! Whenever it was sloppy editing, not enough second unit film available, or a planned and purposeful exclusion, it doesn't help the movie at all. A tepid endorsement for this one. The story's intriguing, the acting is strong, and it looks pretty.

This 95 minute 1970 western stars James Garner and Dennis Weaver, both with mustaches, both gunfighters, and robbers, is an enjoyable film. Garner is the boss of a gang of seven men, including himself. Garner hears from an old man about three hundred dollars in gold being held in a strong safe in a prison. He figures out that if he were taken as a prisoner, he and his men could release the over five hundred prisoners, and while the officials are trying to collect the prisoners, he and his men can steal the gold. But, as a song sung during the film says, there is a curse that goes along with other men's gold. Matters go wrong because of love, hate, greed, and gambling.

I hear by fully admitt that I love Italian westerns! I have an extensive video collection of them, plus a very large library of books based on them. What does that mean? Nothing except I know my Italian wessterns. SLEDGE is an American film company trying to cash in on the Italian western craze. This wasn't new back then, Eastwood came back to America and made Hang'em High and Burt Lnadcaster's Lawman was made here too all of which were copies of the Italian formula. SLEDGE tried to go one step further and go to Europe and made an authenic Italian western by Americans. If that doesn't make much sense then you now know the problem with this movie. It is too much of a downer even for Italians who loved the down beat plots such as The Great Silence. Vic Marrow the tv actor and first/only time director knows his Italian westerns but his heavy handed scenes put off the viewer. Garner is totally unlikeable here. The hero of an Italian western could be a bad as_, but they usually had some quirk that balanced out their personality so that the viewer liked them. Not here you never like Garner and that is hard to do with a TV western icon such as him. The very depressing ending of this movie leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The Great Silence is known for its tragic and very gut wrenching ending but it has a style of sadness that SLEDGE never gets. As for the music, again it is copy of Italian soundtracks that does quite fit. Maybe that is what it the main problem is the elements of this western don't fit well together. Sometimes when you copy of a painting or drawing the images aren't quite right and the least bit of incorrection stands out and mars the picture. SLEDGE is an oddity of the Italian western period that was dying when this came out.

Often lauded as James Garner's one foray into playing a bad guy, this Spaghetti Western is a pretty mixed bag. There's a tense shoot-out in the opening scenes and a daring gold heist in the middle. But, finally the whole picture turns into a tale of gold fever among badmen. It's colorful, but not very involving.

James Garner in A Man Called Sledge> Certainly a complete change for James ,vicious callous and unforgiving throughout the whole movie> A terrific western. Picture quality and sound were great, and although it was dubbed in places it did not distract from enjoyment of the movie. Great Stuff. A most for all western fans.

Although this is a spaghetti western and overall a good one starring James Garner, Dennis Weaver, Calude Adkins and Wayde Preston. The movie may not be the most famous, but I loved it from the start to the end, James Garner is awesome in this movie. It kind of keeps you in suspense from the beginning to the end when they try to get the gold and then escape. This is a must have for western fans or James Garner fans.

For some reason, this movie sticks with me. I think maybe it has to do with the feelings certain characters have about their situation: bravery in the face of horror, desperation and traitorism (more of an action that a feeling, but you get my point. It was a very good movie for western fans. James Garner doesn't disappoint.

Although there are a lot of familiar "television" names associated with "A Man Called Sledge", there is nothing extraordinary about the film itself or about any of the performances. In fact, the only thing that distinguishes it from a 1960's-70's television series like "The Rat Patrol" is a bigger cast and a lot more violence.

James Garner is the biggest star and apparently thought he should try to break away from all the light comedy stuff he had been doing ("Maverick", "Support Your Local Sheriff"-"Gunfighter" etc.). Unfortunately his earthy likability works against him, as Sledge is a humorless character written to cash in on the popularity of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western anti-hero. But Eastwood's stuff was not this flat and uninteresting.

I suppose that "A Man Called Sledge" could be classified as a spaghetti western although the pacing is too slow to really fit that sub-genre. Fans of the slow-paced "Combat" television series will feel an instant connection as Vic Morrow directed the film and co-wrote the script with Frank Kowalski. Throw in some then trendy slow-mo shots and cross-dissolves, which call attention to themselves rather than serve a story-telling purpose.

The plot is the standard "big heist" thing (insert "The War Wagon" here) with Sledge plotting how to heist a $300,000 gold shipment. His gang includes Claude Akins and Dennis Weaver. The problem is that while on the move the shipment is guarded by 40 outriders and while stopped it is locked in a vault inside the territorial prison. I think there was an episode of "Alias Smith and Jones" with the same plot.

The story would make a decent hour of television but gets old very fast as a very padded feature length film. Garner does not allow any of his charm to leak into his characterization and the film does not generate enough suspense to hold a viewer's interest.

The thing finally crashes and burns shortly after the heist when the gang engages in a contrived and totally illogical card game, gambling away their shares of the loot to provide some lame reason to extend the story.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.