Vengeance (1968 film)

98 minutes^[2]Countries

Vengeance (Italian: Joko - Invoca Dio... e muori, German: Fünf blutige Stricke) is a 1968 gothic horror^[3] Spaghetti Western film written and directed by Anthony Dawson. It starred Richard Harrison, Mariangela Giordano and Luciano Pigozzi.

Joko, Richie, Domingo and Mendoza hatch a plan to steal gold from bandits. Domingo, however, betrays them by revealing the attempted theft to the bandits. Joko, Ricky and Mendoza are thus discovered during the robbery: Mendoza dies while trying to cover the escape of his friends. Ricky escapes with the gold but is captured by 5 bandits and tortured in an attempt to be revealed where he was to meet with Joko.

When the bandits understand that Ricky won't speak, they dismember him by tying his limbs with ropes to horses. Joko thus begins his personal war to avenge his dead comrades and first kills Domingo, the traitor, and then sets off in search of the 5 bandits who killed Ricky: to each bandit, before killing him, Joko throws a piece of bloodied rope collected from those used to dismember Ricky. Joko, however, knows only 4 of the 5 bandits: the discovery of the identity of the last one will reserve him a bitter surprise. During the hunt for the assassins, Joko will also have to understand the role of a mysterious detective who follows him like a shadow in all his movements.

• Richard Harrison as Jokko Barrat
• Claudio Camaso as Mendoza
• Špela Rozin as Jane (credited as Sheyla Rosin)
• Guido Lollobrigida as (credited as Lee Burton)
• Werner Pochath as Kid
• Paolo Gozlino as Pinkerton Detective Lester (credited as Paul Lino)
• Alberto Dell'Acqua as Richie
• Ignazio Spalla as Laredo
• Mariangela Giordano as Rosita
• Goffredo Unger as Yuma
• Luciano Pigozzi as Domingo

Vengeance was released in 1968.^[1]

In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin noted that Vengeance had a "strange and colourful Gothic flavour, marred only by a hero clearly turned out on the Italian assembly line of faceless Clint Eastwood substitutes."^[4] The review also noted an "engagingly baroque villain" while "The plot, admittedly, allows Margheriti to do little but dress up proceedings and make the action as taut as possible;" The review concluded that "Margheriti's visual panache and ingenuity lift Vengeance out of the Italian Western rut and lend it a flavour more commonly associated with Bava or Freda."^[4]

• Vengeance at IMDb