Blindman

The blind hero is a rare, but not unknown, heroic trope seen through out history.  No matter how ridiculous it may seem, it is what it is.

I liked Blindman because it had enough rather original elements to keep things interesting.  It has a blind heroic(ish) gun fighter.  It has a damsel in distress.  It has the classic spaghetti bad guy (this time using the well worn Mexican bandit trope).  This movie also has 50 mail order brides who have been kidnapped and who need rescuing (well, because the blind gun fighter has a contract to deliver them to some miners, of course).

Yea, re-reading that paragraph, it does seem a little odd to me too.  Still, watching the movie you go along for the ride for reasons which are entirely unexplainable.

When I "over think" this movie it looks not unlike Return of the Jedi.  The Blindman is Luke.  The damsel is Leia (a stretch). The evil Mexican bandit is Darth Vader.  The 50 mail order brides are the Ewoks.  Sorry, I thought it so I wrote it.

Blindman is a standard quality B-level spaghetti western with enough oddness to keep you interested.  Along with the standard heaps of gun play and explosions.

Blindman was released in 1971 and was directed by Ferdinando Baldi (The Forgotten Pistolero and Texas, Adios).

Okay, I have to make the obligatory comment about the fact that Ringo Starr is in this movie.  Here it is: Thank GOD he has few and very short lines.  Ick!  Nuff said.

The version of this film I have is on a DVD called "Gunslinger Western Collection."  While I have not seen all the movies in this 2-disk set, the copy of Blindman is decent; fan-freakin-tastic for $6.98 on Amazon.com.

Check out the review on FistFullofPasta.com and IMDB.com.

Also, find more info at Spaghetti Western Database (we like them).

Louis Stone-Collonge
stonecollonge@gmail.com