I had this recommended to me a very long time ago when I was first starting to get into and review westerns. It has taken this long because the genre still hasn't endeared itself to me for the most part, and I watch them sparsely. Still, I have been going through this western pack of late and the middle entry on it is God's Gun. A western done by Golan and Globus before their Cannon days I am assuming. This meant that the movie is goofy fun at times, and kind of stood out from the other spaghetti westerns I have seen in a good way. Well good for my sensibilities.
God's Gun is about estranged twin brothers, one a priest and the other a gambling shoot first style gunfighter, both played by Lee Van Cleef. When the priest is killed, a young boy from the town journey's to find the brother and get revenge. Sound pretty normal except that for a small amount of the time the gun fighting brother plays it of like he is the specter of the priest to scare and kill the gang that outnumbers him. Those parts were great. In fact, although the movie takes a long time to get set up, the payoff is totally worth it.
It wasn't all great though. As I mentioned, the movie takes its time getting going. It seemed to prefer introducing all the characters in long scenes, drawing out everything until the priest is killed. Jack Palance kind of got on my nerves as well. Although it was funny to see his villainous character slap and laugh his way through everything, he seemed more like a joke than anything else. He acted like a drunken fool and laughed at everything that happened. But, for me at least, the laugh looked so fake and weird...I don't know, maybe Palance just weirds me out. Also, there is a scene where the gang goes into the bar, after stealing two young girls and proceeds to have a sexual assault party that went on way too long. It was off-putting.
Still, flaws aside, I did like this movie. It did feel a bit cheap and fun, while also feeling a bit sleazy at times. The basic premise and Van Cleef's characters make it worth recommending.
