The Film (3/5)

The Stranger (Tony Anthony - Blindman) is dragged by a horse into a ghost town where he meets a group of people who pay him $50,000 to take the rightful ruler of Spain, Princess Elizabeth Maria (Diana Lorys - Blue Eyes Of The Broken Doll) back home to reclaim the throne. Spain has been taken over by Barbarians and are fighting against the crown aligned Moors. The Barbarians have actually made it to America in search of the in-hiding monarch and The Stranger and the Princess escape their clutches and head back to Spain.

Upon landing they are caught in the middle of an epic battle between the Barbarians and the Moors, the Princess is captured and The Stranger is left for dead. As he fights his way to rescue the Princess he learns of a treasure, meets a Shakespeare quoting hunchback, a lovely Spanish gypsy, curses, explosions, ghosts, double crosses, ran amok bulls, triple crosses, caves, and cannonballs all leading him to take charge and Get Mean!

Whoa. This one is a doozy. This is not your typical Spaghetti Western. No Old West towns with saloons and hotels here folks. Anthony had already starred as The Stranger in three films and this one was made long after the genre's popularity had gone. I'm not even sure it is a Spaghetti Western. There's a lot of one liners, scenery chewing, slapstick and just plain oddness to the film.

Apparently, from what I can tell, it was never released in America until now in any format other than bootlegs. I think it could have easily been a cult film or a midnight movie with it's anachronisms and it's 'you never know what's coming next' screenplay.

Audio/Video (3.5/5)

Blue Underground presents Get Mean in a MPEG-4 AVC 1080p transfer in 2:35.1 aspect ratio. The colors are pretty solid, but the grain did appear to frozen on the screen throughout the presentation. It didn't diminish from my experience but it is definitely there.

Audio is presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio mono track that sounded very clear. English subtitles are included.

Extras (5/5)

Blue Underground loads up Get Mean with: an audio commentary from producer/star Tony Anthony, co-writer/star Lloyd Battista, and executive producer Ronald J. Schneider, an interview with Tony Anthony titled The Story Of The Stranger, an interview with co-writer and co-star Lloyd Battista titled Looking For Richard, an interview with executive producer Ronald J. Schneider titled Beating A Dead Horse, and finally an interview with director Ferdinando Baldi titled Tony & I.

Also included are deleted scenes, a theatrical trailer, a French trailer, radio spots, a poster and still gallery and a booklet with writing from Spaghetti Western expert Howard Hughes.

Overall

Get Mean is an odd film. If you are looking for something outside (way outside) the norm for Spaghetti Westerns, I'd give it a shot. Blue Underground has done a great job presenting a film I'm willing to bet a number of you hadn't heard of before. I hadn't. It's different and worth a look for cinematically adventurous types.