Cutthroats 9

"Cut Throats Nine" is a film thats gained a cult reputation simply because of its status as the most graphically violent spaghetti western made. Thats a huge claim and I'm not sure if "Cut Throats Nine" quite lives up to its billing. There's more violence than many films of this nature sure, but its nothing desensitized gore hounds haven't encountered. Even hardened exploitation buffs will find it difficult to be shocked by this. Still, its a surprisingly well made western. It shouldn't be seen because of its reputation preceding it as being a bloodbath, it should be seen because its a quality film.

For one, the character development here is much better than most spaghetti westerns. There aren't any actual heroes, because the supposed good guys often commit self-serving actions nearly as despicable as the villains. The only actually sympathetic character is the daughter (played by the absolutely gorgeous Emma Cohen). Even more interesting is the consistently grim tone. Maybe its the snowy landscape that gives it a cold, detached feel (I also noticed this in "The Great Silence"). It certainly has a downbeat world view thats only driven home by the nihilistic conclusion. The violence is shocking not only because of its graphic nature, but because of the lack of humanity on behalf of the characters. Maybe thats what lends this film it's reputation. The violence, as said earlier, is harsh but not anything exceedingly so. However, its the actions of the utterly unlikable characters that make it more impacting. The only flaw here is the occasionally inappropriate music, which seems like it would be more at home in a 40s Monogram murder mystery than a spaghetti western. Outside of that, this ranks with "The Great Silence" and "Django" as the best non-Leone examples of the gritty subgenre."

Is this in print? I've heard about it for years, but never seen it.

It's OOP but there is a region 1 disc of it out there.

Thanks for letting me know about this flick. Sounds like my kind of thing.