The Film (4/5 - Average)

    Duccio Tessari was an uncredited screenwriter on Sergio Leone's classic a Fistful of Dollars. As such he was essentially at ground zero for the spaghetti western boom when it happened in Italy in the mid-60's, and was at the perfect place and time to get his own series up and running should we choose to, which he did. The director/screenwriter would concoct his own hero "Ringo" for a series of 2 films (officially, and then like Django, the name would go on without him) which are now seeing release on an excellent Blu-ray edition through Arrow Video this month.

    Both films star Giuliano Gemma as a character who is known as Ringo to those who know him  well. The first film sees him in jail for murder in self-defense, when he is tasked with saving a group of hostages that are being threatened with death 2 at a time by a group of bankrobbers unless they are given safe passage out of town. At first he manages to befriend the group, until they find his true mission, and then things go wrong quite a bit for Ringo.

    The second film The Return of Ringo isn't so much of a literal return unless you count him returning as a soldier from the Civil War. This film could be considered a prequel, but it also features Fernando Sancho, who was the lead villain in Pistol in another role. In many ways this is just another Ringo story with a similar cast to the first film.  Return of Ringo sees Ringo returning from the Civil War to a hometown that has been disrupted by a group of gangsters, and his own home being taken over directly by them. He poses as a Mexican drifter and works for them until he can get his revenge, and save the town.

    The first film in the pair is a more light-hearted film, which is odd, as spaghetti westerns by and large have a reputation for being darker and more brutal then their American western counterparts. The film has more comedic touches, and gives the Ringo character a more family oriented vibe, such as playing with children on a playground, even if he murders in the midst of it.  It is also a largely bloodless film. Return of Ringo is comparatively darker, and more atmospheric.  Both films have wonderful scores by Ennio Morricone, though not quite as memorable as his Dollars trilogy work they are still excellent and quite memorable.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Both Ringo films are presented by Arrow in a 2:35:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer, and both look quite solid. Detail is excellent throughout, and we get wonderful color reproduction for both. I could not find much in the way of issues for either film minus the occasion bit of scratching and source related damage.

   Audio is handled by a pair of mono tracks in English and Italian that sound quite solid. Again with no issues to report.

Extras (3/5)

    Arrow has put together quite a decent extras slate for their Ringo Blu-ray release. We get 2 commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke that go deep and informative on the films.  We also get Revisiting Ringo a new interview with Tony Rayns that goes in deep on the Ringo films. There are also a pair of archival featurette with the cinematographer and Giuliano Gemma.  The set also has a promotional gallery.

Overall

    The Ringo films are a pair of solid and fun spaghetti westerns from director Duccio Tessari. They are not top tier as far as the genre goes, but they are interesting and belong on any spaghetti western fans shelf. The Blu-ray's from Arrow look and sound quite fantastic, and have some solid extras. RECOMMENDED.