The Stranger Returns

I'm usually up for a good spaghetti western, but I found "The Stranger's Return" for the most part to be a below average sampling of the genre. While most other spaghetti westerns were able to take low budgets and squeeze every last penny out of them to make solid production values, this time around the low budget really shows. That would be a minor quibble had the movie been given energy and speed, but the movie feels very, very tired. It moves really slowly, and there is no feeling of passion at any moment. Instead, there is a crude and clumsy feeling, like the filmmakers were making things up as they went along and didn't have the time or resources to think things over carefully before shooting. As for the title character, Tony Anthony has absolutely no charisma. Oddly, his facial expression for most of the movie makes it appear that he's about to burst into tears at any moment. There are a few good touches that manage to come out here and there - the musical score, for one thing, isn't bad at all - but the movie as a whole is a tough slog to sit through.