Night of the Serpent (1969) Poster

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7/10
Thrilling and nice Spaghetti Western , well played , compellingly directed and spectacularly shot in Desierto de Tabernas, Almería, Spain , as usual
ma-cortes9 June 2020
¨Night of serpent¨ is an above average a western film with dazzling shootouts between the protagonist his contenders . This is a revenge and justice movie, more Spaghetti Western thrills , and continues in the wake of Sergio Leone . Despicable and manipulative Lieutenant 'The Snake' Hernandez (Luigi Pistilli), commander of a garrison in a small village awares a wealthy inheritance from the orphan Manuel following the accidental death of the kid's daddy . Being the main officer of the location Hernandez ¨The snake¨ joins a group of people , mostly child's relatives , attempting to get their hands on the inheritance with the intention of stealing the valuable legacy of the innocent waif Manuel (Luciano Casamonica) . A serious , smooth-talking , experienced , albeit drunkyard gunman named Luke (Luke Askew) is assigned to execute a grisly mission by revolutionary Pancho (William Bogart) , a villain boss of an oddball bunch of misfit cutthroats . As the troubled Luke having become a drunk following a traumatic event in his troublesome past , is chosen to be the pawn of the conspirators . Later on , duo starring , Luke and Manolo , undergo a strange relation of comradeship and paternal-filial feeling , along with the gorgeous Maria (Magda Konopka) . As Luke prepares a relentless vendetta on a surprising final.

"Night of the Serpent" blends violence , western action , plot twists and shoot'em up with high body-count . This is a first-class Spaghetti Western with interesting plot from Fulvio Gicca Palli &Lorenzo Gicca Palli & director Giulio Petroni himself in which a drunken murderer finds redemption . It is a slow-movement film but enjoyable enough and that's why it is entertaining ; besides , there is thoughtful dialog with an intelligent writing about a disturbing gunfighter with a troubled past which has led him down a path of alcoholism . This charming and clever Western has everything , as it packs noisy action , gunplay , thrills , violent happenings , a variety of foolish roles , a double intriguing storyline and full of style from the classic close-ups of characters eyes . Luke Askew gives a superior acting as Luke, an impaccable killer suffering from a traumatic past and nowadays an alcoholic . Luke Askew steals the show providing attractive performance of getting across his character whilst saying very few words . He is well accompanied by a top-notch cast doing a pretty decent job , with plenty of Spaghetti Western regular as Luigi Pistilli , Guglielmo Spoletini or William Bogart , Benito Stefanelli and other secondaries from B-Italian series as Franco Balducci and Giancarlo Badessi . And it stars two beauties of the Eurotrash genre , such as Magda Konopka as Maria and Chelo Alonso as Dolores.

The motion picture was well directed by Giulio Petroni , though too focused on style over substance , at times . It contains colorful and evocative cinematography by Mario Vulpiani with heavy use of shadow when it comes to interior frames , as well sunny exteriors filmed on location in desert of Tabernas , Almeria , Andalucia , Spain . And sensitive and moving musical score by prolific composer Riz Ortalani in Ennio Morricone style. The yarn being professionally made by Giulio Petroni who filmed another classic Italian western as ¨Death rides a horse¨ , though also shot other inferior but acceptable Spaghettis such as : ¨La vita, a volte, è molto dura, vero Providenza?¨, ¨A sky full of stars for a roof¨and ¨Tepepa¨. Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average , notable and decently made S.W. Worthwhile seeing .
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7/10
A character driven spegetti western, with a rare lead appearance by Luke Askew.
b_kite10 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Luke Askew is one of those actors that I always enjoyed watching. He never was really lead material and was mostly that guy in the background who you recognized and thought "yeah I've seen him before". That's why one night while adventuring threw Amazon Prime I managed to find a spegetti western with him in the lead and was more intrigued that is was helmed by director Giulio Petroni (who directed the classic Death Rides a Horse). The movie has the typical spegetti style including, face closeups, dark interior shadows, and Petroni even uses a fish eye lense during some of Luke's flashback scenes. The problem however is that that sometimes it falls prey to style over substance, it runs to long at 101 minutes, and the first hour has a lot of filler and Askew doesn't officially "gun up" to the 64 minute mark. Even with those problems aside if you can stick with Night of the Serpent there's some enjoyably good filmmaking behind it.
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7/10
An Above Average Tale of Redemption
zardoz-134 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This brooding Spaghetti western is all about redemption. Despite several recognizable filmmakers behind and in front of the camera, "Nest of Vipers" is not a ride' em, cowboy, shoot'em up, sagebrusher, with a double-digit corpse count. Riz Ortolani provides a signature orchestral soundtrack that more than adequately serves its purpose. "Tepepa" director Giulio Petroni spends his time cultivating atmosphere in this western set in Mexico about a group of relatives. They want to kill a child, Manuel (Luciano Casamonica of "Tepepa") so they to steal a fortune from him. Spaghetti western stalwart Luigi Pistilli plays a greedy Mexican army lieutenant named Hernandez, while American actor Luke Askew of "The Magnificent Seven Ride" is cast as a drunken gunslinger with a tragic past. Aside from a flashback of his character shooting rowels off spurs and six-guns out of hands, Luke wallows in drunkenness during the first half hour, recovers during the second half and then in a night-time shoot-out before evil Lieutenant Hernandez captures and tortures him. Hernandez uses a metal ring around the top of Luke's head to squeeze the information out of him. The last quarter hour is reminiscent of "Death Rides A Horse." Hernandez and his troops ride off and leave Luke locked up in jail. He manages to escape by blasting the jail locking mechanism. When Hernandez and his men return, Luke has prepared a reception for them similar to what Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law arranged for Walcott and his desperados on their return to the village in "Death Rides A Horse." Peplum heroine Chelo Alonso of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is cast as a colorful prostitute who doesn't get to live happily ever after. Another Spaghetti western regular, Benito Stefanelli, doesn't look like his usual self. Askew kills him and leaves his body in a water trough. Everything boils down to Luke confronting Hernandez who wields Manuel as a shield in the middle of the desert. On the other hand, this Italian western differs from your typical revenge drama, and the action doesn't really warm up until the final half-hour. Petroni and co-scenarists Fulvio Gicca Palli and Lorenzo Gicca Palli don't reveal the reason for Luke's drunken stupor until the last five minutes. Luke's six-gun is neat looking with elaborate designs on the panels of the handle. Of course, Luke guns down nefarious old Hernandez. The production values are solid, and Mario Vulpiani's cinematography looks fantastic. The sun-baked Spanish landscape resembles a surreal work of art, especially when seen in the background with the mountains marching off into the distance.
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Really slow moving spaghetti western
Wizard-89 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
As expected, famed Italian movie music composer Riz Ortolani managed to give this particular spaghetti western a solid score. But what might not be expected is that for the most part, the rest of the movie is a long and hard slog. If you are looking for action, you better forget it. The first true action sequence does not come until almost two-thirds of the movie has passed by. While there are a few more sequences of action that follow, none of the action is particularly exceptional, being routine at best. Instead, the movie seems more interested in the plot and the characters. Actually, I could have easily accepted that had the plot and characters been interesting, but instead they are a gigantic bore. The plot is really slow-moving, and has some details that might prove confusing to some viewers if they haven't read the plot description on the back of the DVD case. And the characters aren't particularly engaging; Luke Askew's character seems to be sleepwalking for much of the movie. In short, if you're craving action and/or good writing, this oater simply doesn't deliver.
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3/10
Booze Hound Comes Up Snake Eyes
marthahunter30 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Dreary, slow moving, sleazy characters and dull plot. Luigi Pistilli plays Lt. Hernandez who recruits his revolutionary friend, Pancaldo (Guglielmo Spoletini) to kill a nino who is an heir to $10k. Franco Balducci has a thankless role of a loser who meets an early demise. Even worse off, Luke Askew is stuck playing an unbearably, unlikable, alcoholic (Luke) in an extremely annoying role. After fever dreams of his earlier life (where he shoots a young boy through the head in a thoughtless stunt), the alchi Luke unconvincingly sobers up. At least Benito Steffenelli plays a lively character (although forced to wear an ill fitting fright wig) as Pancho. With the blessing of Pancaldo, Luke kills Hernandez in duel. What a pretentious pedestrian bore!
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8/10
Good Spaghetti Starring......Luke Askew!
heybhc28 August 2008
Giulio Petroni directed some very good spaghetti westerns during his short career, among them DEATH RIDES A HORSE, TEPEPA, AND FOR A ROOF A SKYFULL OF STARS, and this very obscure 1970 story of intrigue and murder, NIGHT OF THE SERPENTS (NEST OF VIPERS, RINGO KILL) starring the little known American actor Luke Askew and genre regulars Luigi Pistilli and William Bogard. Luke plays Luke, a gringo saved from death in the desert by bandit leader Bogard, whose men treat the Americano like the drunken fool he is. He's been inside a tequila bottle for a long time (later on we find out why) and is chosen to be a sacrifice in a plot hatched by Federale Lieutenant Hernandez (Pistilli). The plot? Kill Manuel, a kid who stands to inherit 10,000 dollars, and all of Manuel's relatives want a piece of it. Askew is good as the drunk, nervously rubbing his lips and eyeing bottles of tequila he can't afford. When he decides to sober up and take a stand the hair on your neck will stand up. The drunk fights like he's ten feet tall, says one of Bogard's men. Chelo Alonso is along for the ride as Manuel's immoral aunt, and the entire cast is good, as is the music by Riz Ortolani. The English track for this was very elusive, finally surfacing in a nice South African widescreen print released by Global under the nonsensical title RINGO KILL. Definitely worth a watch by fans of the genre.
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9/10
Not a well known gem.
tcaramela13 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I was so impressed with the 1969 "Night of the Serpents". People will think, I am crazy but this movie is as good as Death Rides a Horse but not better. I believe this movie is underrated and if watched by more SW fans it would be easy a top 20. The music by Riz Ortolani, who did Beyond the Law, Day of Anger as well as many others was amazing throughout this movie he definitely in my opinion can hang with Bacalov, Morricone, Pregadio, etc. The director Guilio Petroni famous for Death Rides a Horse is top notch also in this one and to me is among the top directors in the genre.

It's a story of relatives who are set to inherit 10,000 dollars and one accidentally murders a dispatcher with a telegram the heavy bad guy in it is no other than Luigi Pistilli, who plays the Federale Lt. Hernandez, who is just as rotten as the bunch of relatives for he too wants the money. One by one the four relatives die but before there deaths Lt. Hernandez wanted a gunmen to finish off a fifth relative so he visits an old acquaintance a bandit leader named Bogardo who gives him the drunkard Luke Askew, who was very good as the indifferent self loathing drunk haunted by his past as a cocky show off exceptional with a gun, I do not want to spoil it but Luke does something to make himself the drunk he is today. I really loved the flashbacks of his character to make you feel more connected with the character to see who he was and what made him a drunk. The bad scene, I don't want to spoil makes sense with the connection and protection of the fifth relative a young boy. I feel the child actor did a descent job and was a good fit for the movie. The movie had a nice pace to it with story and action and overall very solid, I was not bored at all. Check this one out you will not be sorry...
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9/10
Plot! What a concept. Well worth your time.
adrianswingler15 November 2015
I was really surprised at how well constructed this one was, but not overly so, as I'm a fan of the director's other Spaghetti Westerns. Great plot without twists and turns for their own sake; simple yet compelling, it drives the action along. A fan of the Zapatista subgenre, I really enjoyed watching this.

And then I had to wonder about why it's not rated higher. Bottom line, I think it's a lot like recipe sites. Many simple, really tasty recipes are overlooked because snooty types see certain elements- or are offended that certain elements aren't just the way the book says they should be- without ever evaluating the bottom line; "Does it work? Is it tasty? Is it good cooking?" That's too bad, because they rob themselves of so much doing that.

Fans of the genre won't want to miss it. Casual observers of the genre will enjoy it. The snooty will always find a way to make themselves bored and miserable.
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