800 Bullets

Alex de la Iglesia is probably one of SPain's finest filmmakers. An artist that can deliver such masterpieces as El dia de la bestia is really worth following. Here he derails with a tale the takes too long to unfold nd takes the spectator nowhere. Alex major problem lies always with the scripting of his films. Hs first film spent half of its footage presenting us a group of characters that were then killed so that the story could go in a different different direction. Same mistake here. The story starts and evolves then stops and then starts again in a different direction, etc. We are never heading in a concrete direction. The filmmaker gets lost among all the characters and their troubles never deciding which route to take. He is a good craftsman, and the film is above average in the technical department, still it's pretty boring, unusually so for a De La Iglesia comedy.

Alex de la Iglesia, not one of our favorite Spanish directors, seems to have great ideas for the movies he wants to do. The execution, though, is always problematic. Having said that, "800 balas" seems to be one of the most accessible pictures he has ever directed. Mr. de la Iglesia wanted to pay homage to that era of the sixties in which his country played host to the so called Spaghetti Western genre, which by the way, was an Italian phenomenon, not a Spanish one. The film concentrates in the figure of Julian Torralba, who brags about his friendship with the great stars that participated in the many movies shot around Almeria. Torralba tells, anyone who will listen, about the days in which Clint Eastwood came to the area to work. His friends who take part in the show they put for tourists, don't believe a word he is saying. The arrival of Torralba's grandson, a young boy from Madrid, is the event that turns around the action in that run down place where these Spanish pseudo-bandits stage their gun fights. In fact, the young boy, Carlos, brings Torralba to his senses and helps to reunite the old man with his estranged daughter Laura, who is Carlos' mother. Sancho Gracia as Torralba has some good moments. The young Luis Castro is seen as the sweet boy searching for a grandfather he never knew. Carmen Maura, who has worked with the director before, doesn't have much to do in the film.

Spaghetti Westerns are not really my kind of movies. I only watched this movie because I wanted to improve my Spanish a little bit. The story starts promising with some good acting so that was not really the problem. The problem is just the second half of the movie, that is getting more ridiculous by the minute. I won't spoil anything of the movie though, just find out for yourself. I just don't like stories that don't make much sense. I live in Spain and I can guarantee you that the police isn't that dumb as portrayed in this movie. That said the acting in 800 Balas isn't bad at all, it's just the story that goes nowhere and that is just 100% unlikely to happen in real life.

This movie has its moments, but overall I would say that it's just OK. Being a spaghetti western fan, I couldn't help but want to see this movie after reading its reviews on the IMDb, but after watching the film, I discovered that its relevance to the spaghetti western genre has been greatly overstated. The best thing about this movie is the opening credits and theme song. The first half of the song includes a recognizable melody from the theme of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," but changes the song enough to make it something almost entirely new. Then it breaks off into another great spaghetti western style tune which I didn't recognize any part of. The animated opening credits reminded me of the ones from "Days of Wrath" (aka "Day of Anger"), which have always been my favorite. After hearing and viewing this awesome beginning, I was expecting to be blown away by this movie. Unfortunately, the spectacular opening and the film itself are a mismatch, creating expectations that are not met. The rest of the music score bears very little similarity to those stylish songs that drive the great spaghetti westerns. The music is pretty dull for the most part, and sounds like what you might expect from a recent Hollywood western. The story itself is interesting enough to watch, but doesn't stand out as being unique or groundbreaking among the tons of other more or less pretentious art house films that have been created. It's a story about a broken family, and a boy's desire to connect with his grandfather. Real exciting stuff (I'm being sarcastic, of course). The pacing of the movie could have been better, and the first two-thirds of the film goes by pretty slowly. This story should have been told in 90 minutes rather than 120. There are some funny scenes, especially the ones that occur in the western theme park, some eccentric western characters, and a stunningly beautiful naked woman. The action and comedy contain elements from the old westerns, but the movie doesn't emphasize the "spaghetti" enough. I think fans of Hollywood westerns may actually be more satisfied with this film than people who are expecting an homage to spaghetti westerns. I almost bought this movie, but ended up renting it instead and was glad I did because, although it is interesting enough to watch once, it's not worth the cost of buying.

OK, let's get this clear first: seasoned veterans of the genre might be disappointed by the tribute aspect of 800 Balas. The only spag references are to Leone's films, Clint Eastwood and his poncho. Add to that a score that resembles Morricone, great opening credits in the colourful spag tradition, and excellent cinematography (wide shots and close-ups included) and that's as far as it goes. However it's tons of fun. Although not as outrageous as other De La Iglesias efforts like Accion Mutante, El Dia de La Bestia or Perdita Durango, it still has all the trademarks that made him famous. Black humour, quirky dialogues, energetic pace, fluid camera shots, excellent performances, it's creative and above all entertaining. Sancho Gracia steals scenes and was an original spaghetti western actor himself. Watch it for a great opening scene that (suprisingly enough) is a tribute to John Wayne's Stagecoach, a saloon orgy, a hooker seducing a minor, a spectacular shootout between a SWAT team and spaghetti western stuntmen, the Hanged Man (first screenshot), the Dragged Man (who is constantly being dragged by a rope behind a horse...it is his only trick) and a cameo by a faux-Clint Eastwood.

In Madrid, the boy Carlos (Luis Castro) never gets satisfactory answers about the life and death of his father and also about the work of his grandfather and former stuntman Julián (Sancho Gracia) from his executive mother Laura (Carmen Maura) and from his grandmother Rocío (Terele Pavez). While traveling on vacation to a ski station, Carlos escapes from the group of students and travels alone to Texas-Hollywood in Almeria, Spain, to know Julián, who works with his colleagues making shows in the decadent set of the old Western for small groups of tourists and telling his participations in movies like "Patton" and mostly as the stunt of Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's trilogy "Per un Pugno di Dollari", "Per Qualche Dollaro in Più" and "Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo". When the bitter Laura discovers that Carlos is visiting Julián, she decides to buy and destroy the studio using the place for a tourist resort. However, Julián buys eight hundred bullets to protect the village with his unemployed mates. With "800 Balas", the cult director Álex de la Iglesia makes homage to those that made the desert film studios Texas-Hollywood in Almeria and to the end of the Spaghetti Western Era. The engaging dramatic comedy has great performances, well-developed characters and an unexpected tragic conclusion. I regret the absence of the cameo of the real Clint Eastwood, but Constantino Romero does a good job; and the corny change of decision of Laura in the end of the story, typically to give a commercial end to the great story. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "800 Balas" ("800 Bullets")

"800 Balas" is another funny and cool movie from Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, the guy who did the absolutely wonderful "El Dia de la Bestia", one of the best comedy/terror movies ever made. But I must tell you, people, if you don't speak Spanish, no matter how accurate the subtitles will be, you're missing half of the fun. And I mean Spanish from Spain, literally, because here in Argentina we speak Spanish too but in a complete different form and mood. Spanish people are hilarious when they insult each other (and there's a lot here) using some expressions that just can't be translated, like "me cago en la puta leche". But it's a funny and well delivered film no matter the language. A kind of homage to spaghetti westerns and all those little cheap movies from the 60's done with an excellent cast. Recommended.

This homage to Spaghetti Westerns (those films made mostly in the 60s in Spain under Italian directors and actors using English names) could have been a bit better. Directed by Spanish director (and infant terrible) Alex de la Iglesia, it starts as the story of a boy who leaves his home in order to search his paternal grandfather, Julian (Spanish veteran actor Sancho Gracia), a former movie stuntman who worked in those westerns and whose main claim to fame is to having been Clint Eastwood's double in some of those movies (he even had speaking parts in some of those, he claims). Spaghetti westerns are long gone, but the grandfather still ekes out a living working as a stuntman in a decrepit theme park in southern Spain dedicated to the American West. However, as the park attracts few visitors, developers (including the boy's mother, played by Almodovar regular Carmen Maura) are planning to bulldoze the place and build a new park. Julian, who originally received his grandson reluctantly, decides to fight back among his coworkers, with 800 real bullets, and a real gunfight erupts. The movie is not bad, but it becomes less interesting at times, and it fails to hit the right tone. Best bit: "Clint Eastwood"'s cameo at the end. Note: the film contains a scene where the boy is fondled by a naked woman that would be considered illegal in most countries (I don't know how they did get away with that).

800 Bullets (or 800 Balas) is the story of a young boy about 12 years old named Carlos Torralba (Luis Castro). Carlos thinks his life is boring and has become quite a handful for both his mother and everyone else he comes in contact with. Eventually, he discovers he has a grandfather named Julián Torralba (Sancho Gracia), who was a movie star in the 60's. Now Julián no longer acts in movies but he works in a daily, western type live show for tourists, kind of like something you would see at Universal Studios or something of that nature. Carlos is infatuated with the fact his grandfather was an actor and decides to sneak off to meet him while he is supposed to be on a ski trip. He uses his mother's emergency credit card and he's off. At first, Carlos has the time of his life and even has his first experience with a hooker! It must have been fun filming that one for young Luis. Anyhow, he eventually sees his grandfather as the has-been he really is. This movie was a hard one for me to get all the way through. Usually subtitles do not bother me so much so I just think it's the fact that this movie was just uninteresting... boring even. It had it's moments, but most of the time, even after half an hour into it, I was just hoping it would either pick up or end. When it finally did, I felt I had wasted my time. The best part of this movie was Yoima Valdés, who played Sandra, the hooker. She was absolutely exquisite and makes me feel as if my time was not entirely wasted.