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Mannaja - A Man Called Blade

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This review refers to "Mannaja - A Man Called Blade"(DVD/Blue Underground)

I am a lover of the Spaghetti Western. They have ranged from graphically violent to campy and comedy.They have a style of filming that makes them distinguishable from any other Western. By 1977 they had seen their day come and go. So "Mannaja", was one of the last of it's kind, and gives the genre one heck of a send off! It's a brutal look at the West,and it's action packed(and even has a little romance,but just a little).

A man called Blade(Maurizio Merli), gets his name because he is an expert with a hatchet. He's a bounty hunter and catches a very valuable outlaw, by tossing his hatchet, quicker and more accurately then any gunman can draw on him. And... relieving the bad guys of body parts while he is at it. With his prisoner in tow, and one hand short, he enters a mining town, that has no lawman. The silver baron runs the show, and he's bad enough, but his foreman is the really bad Hombre in this group.Blade manages to get the better of these corrupt guys, and a bloody battle of revenge begins.

The story is surprising. There are twists and turns that you didn't see coming.The characters are interesting. The filming is wonderful. Not only is there some great vistas to take in, but Director Sergio Martino,pays homage to Sam Peckinpah. His interweavings of two very different scenes is a fascianting view. You will have the merriment of dancing girls, pleasing the crowd, while at the same time, a bloody mass murder is going on in slow-mo outside of town. Martino is superb at cutting these contrasting events together.

If you think you may not like this one, because you prefer a six-shooter to a hatchet in a Western, don't worry, Blade is plenty good with guns as well. As he puts it: he speaks more then one language!

A fabulous job by Blue Underground with this one.It is presented in widescreen, has a very nice picture, with good colors and sounds great(Dolby Mono). It may be viewed in either the Italian or English language track,and has optional English subtitles. The director talks about the film(this is a short feature, not as commentary during the film), there is a Still Gallery, and there is a nice booklet with informative notes as well.

Get out the pasta maker, enjoy with some vino, and saddle up for one heck of a going away party for the Spaghetti Western.....Laurie

"Blade" is a hatchet wielding badazz mofo bounty hunter who prances into a town run by a rich tyrant who has the entire town working in his silver mine. Blade's an all around do-gooder but is also looking to settle a score with this tyrant. Blade manages to piss of the villians about two seconds after setting foot in town, and the showdown begins. Needless to say this film is hardly original. When viewing this film I can't stress enough to NOT expect anything remotely like Leone. I think that's where alot of the negative reviews come from-high expectations. I went into this film with the same mindset I'd use going into Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. I expected it to be silly, violent, and most of all, fun. And it is fun! Is this soundtrack as dreadful as the reviews below say? You bet it is! It's terrible! But in my eyes that only added more laughs to the film, and I'm glad the soundtrack is as bad as it is. These lesser Italian westerns have a thing with anachronistic music. Remember Django's Tom Jones-esque theme? Mannaja's might even be funnier than that. And I can't forget mentioning a great performance by Italian film regular John Steiner(my homie Longinus from Caligula) as the villian. Don't expect grade-A entertainment and you'll have a winner with Mannaja. Think of it this way: If The Good, Bad and The Ugly is the Gremlins of westerns, then Mannaja is the Munchies of westerns. Check it out and enjoy those tunes.

A man is running through swampy land through mist and trees. Behind him, riding in slow motion comes our "iconic" anti-hero. The man keeps slipping but eventually turns to shoot at the slow motion hero on a horse. He barley raises his hand when our hero throws a hatchet that in turns slices the mans arm right off.

Yes, that is the opening of Mannaja (aka A Man Called Blade), and from that violent opening sequence, you know the film could only come from Italy. Oh Spaghetti films hold a special place in my heart. No other country is this no-holds-barred when it comes to violence and Mannaja is just plum full of Italian film clichés. We get an unlikable anti-hero, bad dubbing, extreme violence, a plot holed story, and a surreal atmosphere. Everything we Italian film fanatics love!

Mannaja, one of the very last Spaghetti Westerns, is actually one of the more entertaining of the genre I have encountered. It actually makes more sense than other films from the Country. Our anti-hero who is known as Blade...yes a man called Blade...travels to a small western town where he gets on the bad side of the towns crooked ruler after betting him in a bet. It ends up this guy tries to kill our antihero.....a bad mistake. Sure it's predictable but what Spaghetti Western isn't other than Leone's? This is just plain and simple Spaghetti Western fun and nothing more. If you like the genre, then you deserve to have Mannaja in your collection.

The major thing is what does the title Mannaja have to do with the movie? The word or name "Mannaja" is never mentioned in the film. How do you even pronounce it? I feel like a fool every time I try to say the name. Also, make sure and check out the theme song to the movie....ifs just hilarious.

"A Man Called Blade" is probably the most perfect, textbook western film of the 70s. It has a "good" soundtrack, beautiful settings, smart and stupid bad guys, and a great protagonist. Merli is different from most western heroes, he seems like a nice fur trapper or mountain man, but he is very good at what he does,killing people. There is not much to criticize here. This is a fun, action packed, traditional Italian western
R.I.P Mr Merli

This one came well after the Spaghetti Western had rode off into the sunset (in fact, I think it was the last one ever made). And it's a doozy - probably because it's a throw-back to all those silly, action-packed spaghetti westerns of the sixties. Gunfights and brutal fistfights punctuate the tried and true tale of revenge every five minutes, so you can forgive the trite dialogue and the occassional sequence that doesn't make any sense. The hero, who comes across as a nastier version of Patrick Wayne, is perfectly balanced by gaunt-faced John Steiner as the villainous foreman who is not adverse the wiping out the hired help and even bumping off his boss in his quest to become the big cheese. The film is similar in look to Keoma (the Franco Ndero western that is a must-have for Spaghetti enthusiasts) - the same sets are used and it sounds like they've brought in the same singer for the "you've got to hear it to believe it" soundtrack. The only drawback is the obvious lack of budget in some of the bigger set-pieces and a climactic gunfight that falls strnegly flat (in fact, in several of the shootouts, the director simply has the bad guys all standing still in the same place and being picked off one by one by the hero - but what the hell, they did the same thing in Road to Perdition didn't they?). This is consistently rated among the top 10 spaghetti westerns ever made so it's worth a place in your collection.

Made in '77, this Spaghetti was late in the genre's cycle and shows much more craft than earlier films which were cranked right out of the assembly line. It's still a bloody exploitation pic, but with just a touch of Leone style here and there. Maurizio Merli, looking like a Barry Gibb-type of cowboy with flowing blond locks, brilliant white teeth, and piercing blue eyes, is your hero. He is an effective if not riveting presence. "Blade" (never referred to as Mannaja) is a loner/bounty hunter back in his old hometown to settle an old score with an evil developer and his goons. Perfunctory story is made interesting with numerous flashbacks, and with gruesome elements frequently intercut amongst lighter, colorful scenes. Photography is lovely, even (actually *especially*)in scenes caked with mud and rain. Score is very unusual, done by the same team as KEOMA. A ridiculously deep baritone sings songs which sort of narrate the action onscreen---unique but a little offputting. Actually the film as a whole reminded me of a more action-oriented, less dreamy version of KEOMA. Generally very good of its type. The disc includes a great making-of featurette (12min) featuring an interview with director Sergio Martino.

The master of the Italian giallo, Sergio Martino, also helmed some excellent westerns. One of his best is "Mannaja - A Man Called Blade." Similar to his mystery thrillers (gialli), this Western is gory and ultraviolent. Even if Westerns are not your favorite genre, you will enjoy this one. It has romance, betrayal and nonstop action from beginning to end. The bloody stage coach massacre is one of my favorite scenes. The photography is beautiful. Blue Underground deserves a hearty applause for the film's excellent restoration. I watched it with Italian audio and English subtitles.

Blade (Maurizio Merli) is a bounty hunter who is an expert axe thrower as well as an expert marksman. He uses his axe to seek justice and revenge for the murder of his father and the stealing of his family lands. The man responsible is McGowan (Philippe Leroy), the wealthy, corrupt owner of a silver mine. However, for a huge sum of money, Blade agrees to help McGowan rescue his kidnapped daughter. Meanwhile, Blade falls in love with a dancer of a traveling troupe.

Along with being ultraviolent, "Mannaja - A Man Called Blade" is sad and bittersweet. It is one of the last great Spaghetti Westerns made in Italy. Critics say that Martino's overuse of fog and mist was to hide the dilapidated condition of the last Western studio in Italy. A memorable era in film making is long gone.

"Mannaja - A Man Called Blade" is highly recommended viewing for all fans of renowned director, Sergio Martino. From this film, one will clearly see that he excelled in all genres. I bought this for my dad who collects Westerns, but I'm thinking of keeping it for my own collection of Sergio Martino films. (I'm only joking.) This film is on a par with Lucio Fulci's "Four of the Apocalypse," starring Fabio Testi. In fact, I highly recommend watching them both as a double feature.

I just received this title and boy! I am impressed! The transfer quality is FLAWLESS! The packaging is bee-yoo-tiful! After being burned on horrible, horrible' horrible quality transfers of spaghetti westerns released by Mill Creek Entertainment and Good Times Video, I am pleased I turned to Blue Underground!!! They are the answer to my fetish for Italian Films!!!

I'v herd allot of good reviews from this SP Western.I got it along with the Spaghetti Western box set. The movie was entertaining and you can expect cheesiness, but the Bayou Billy looking Hatchet character was cool and the DVD was restored very well. If it wasn't for the corny theme song they chose for this movie I would actually give it 3 stars, but every time that annoying murky theme song that didn't fit in played, It ruined my attention to the film. Overall I recommend this(although overpriced) movie,just push mute when the corny theme song plays and enjoy.

It's commonly said - and with good reason - that the movie 'The Man Called Blade' is the last entry in the interesting genre named 'western spaghetti' that dominated the Italian movies in the sixties and seventies. But, unfortunately, this movie is a very sad farewell to an otherwise exciting genre. This movie has a simple plot - like almost all the other movies of the same kind - but so full of flaws and absurd situations that the viewer - even an addict of spaghetti westerns - will be tired and boring before the middle of the story. In fact, 'A man Called Blade' is quite a rip off of 'Keoma', a huge sucess with Franco Nero, directed by Enzo G. Castellari. Maurizio Merli was picked up by director Sergio Martino to live Blade because of his resemblance with Nero, at these times completely out of westerns movies. A routine and poor imagined story of vengeance and hate, the movie goes on and on until an old fashioned 'finale'. Good performance by John Steiner, as the villain.