(you will tremble notice-ably when near the sight-less gun-man who kills by sound)

OMG, WFT, it looks like passions in the raw......are men pitted against men for the spoils? I think men are risking their lives for pleasure and profit...... OMG

Made at the same time as Fistful of Dollars and premiered shortly thereafter (without having much success), this early SW already shows mostly the typical trademarks of the genre. Only the aging hero is more modelled after American standards, but here he has also to deal with his diminishing eyesight. Not the last SW hero with a physical handicap. It was Corbucci's real SW debut (after working more or less on the average Massacre at Grand Canyon) and was the first Italian Western on which the director didn't hide behind an American sounding pseudonym.

Two endings of the film exist, one which ends directly after the final shootout, while the other one has 4 extra minutes, including a final shot not less absurd then the unused alternative end of The Great Silence.
by Stanton

It would fall to the puckish and dynamic composer Piero Piccioni to deliver the magnanimous and stupendous score for Minnesota Clay: The Movie. Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His was the first Italian jazz band to be aired in Italy. Piero Piccioni had listened to jazz since he was a child and had learned to play the piano without having been to the Conservatory. As a self-taught musician, his father used to accompany him to visit the E.I.A.R. in Florence, to listen to orchestral recitals. As he began to write some songs of his own he was able to get some published by Carisch. Having written nearly 300 soundtracks and pieces for radio, television, ballets and orchestra he was deeply influenced by 20th century classical composers and by American cinematography. Amongst his favourites were Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Alex North, who had greatly influenced him in his use of jazz.

Piero Piccioni had come in contact with the world of movies during the fifties when he was practicing as a lawyer in Rome and sealing movie rights for Italian Italian distributors as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called him to create music for a documentary for one of his apprentices, Luigi Polidoro. His first feature film was Gianni Franciolini's, "Il Mondo le Condanna"(1952). Piccioni had found a close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi (More Than A Miracle, Le Mani Sulla Citta', Salvatore Giuliano, Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and Alberto Sordi, and had also cemented strong personal and professional bonds with them. Many directors had wanted Piero Piccioni for the music for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and more. "Swept Away"(David Donatello prize) and "Tutto A Posto Niente in Ordine" by Lina Wertmuller, "Il bell'Antonio" by Mauro Bolognini , the "Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, with Marcello Mastroianni Ursula Andress also bear his name. His very distinctive style of Jazz, Bossanova, Orchestral and Contemporary Classical will not be easily forgotten.
By: Jason P

It will stir you to the roots of your heart.

I reckon.

There are too few Westerns with Minnesotans as heros. Desperados who mess with Minnesotans are sure to regret it, I kid you not.

Here's a public service message (and a word to the wise) from the Northfield MN Chamber of Commerce:

"On September 7, 1876 the famed American outlaw, Jesse James, and the James-Younger gang met their match in the good people of Northfield Minnesota as they were attempting to rob the First National Bank. For more information see the local customs tips!"