Minnesota Clay
Encyclopedia
Minnesota Clay is a 1965 spaghetti western
directed by Sergio Corbucci
.
. The town continues to be terrorized by Ortiz, who tries to hire Clay to kill Fox.
But Ortiz's mistress Estella turns him against Clay and enables Fox to ambush the pair of them. Fox kills Ortiz, plans to ditch Estella. She helps Clay escape and, despite losing his sight, manages to decimate Fox's gang. He kills Fox, and saves his own daughter, Nancy.
(Various VHS and DVD versions end with Clay lying apparently dead in the street, with Nancy at his side. This is a more pessimistic ending, in the style of Corbucci's later masterpieces, Django
and The Great Silence
. But in the Italian version, there is an afterword in which the Cavalry, having presumably dealt with any surviving malefactors, ride off, and Clay - now wearing glasses - bids goodbye to Nancy and her beau (who are to be wed). He then rides off.
Corbucci lets Clay reach the horizon, then cuts to a medium shot of Clay taking off his glasses, throwing them in the air, and shooting holes in both lenses. His sight, miraculously, has been completely restored.
). All are refined in Django
, and re-used in Corbucci's great Westerns thereafter - where the hero is always crippled, doomed, and dedicated: as in this instance the near-blind and bloodstained Clay, asking for a gun to confront Fox and his five henchmen.
, are featured in the videogame Red Dead Revolver
.
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
directed by Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci
Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...
.
Plot
1883. Clay, a gunfighter going blind, escapes from Drunner Labor Camp determined to prove his innocence - he has been framed by Fox, now his successor as sheriff of Mesa Encantada. Fox has susbsequently been hired by the townspeople to protect them from Ortiz' bandits; instead, he now runs a protection racketProtection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
. The town continues to be terrorized by Ortiz, who tries to hire Clay to kill Fox.
But Ortiz's mistress Estella turns him against Clay and enables Fox to ambush the pair of them. Fox kills Ortiz, plans to ditch Estella. She helps Clay escape and, despite losing his sight, manages to decimate Fox's gang. He kills Fox, and saves his own daughter, Nancy.
(Various VHS and DVD versions end with Clay lying apparently dead in the street, with Nancy at his side. This is a more pessimistic ending, in the style of Corbucci's later masterpieces, Django
Django (film)
Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993, when it was...
and The Great Silence
The Great Silence
The Great Silence , or The Big Silence, is an Italian spaghetti western. It is widely considered by critics as the masterpiece of director Sergio Corbucci and is one of his better known movies, along with Django...
. But in the Italian version, there is an afterword in which the Cavalry, having presumably dealt with any surviving malefactors, ride off, and Clay - now wearing glasses - bids goodbye to Nancy and her beau (who are to be wed). He then rides off.
Corbucci lets Clay reach the horizon, then cuts to a medium shot of Clay taking off his glasses, throwing them in the air, and shooting holes in both lenses. His sight, miraculously, has been completely restored.
Themes
Many of Corbucci's characteristic themes are here: physical disability (pretty mild in that all Clay suffers from for most of the film is intermittently blurry vision), violent mutilations (Clay shoots the earring - and earlobe - off an aggressive bandit; when he is down the gringo bandits stamp on his head), the director's enjoyment of the villainous gang, hanging out in their costumes, looking mean, the two warring outlaw factions both of which want to employ the hero (a la Yojimbo and A Fistful of DollarsA Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
). All are refined in Django
Django (film)
Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993, when it was...
, and re-used in Corbucci's great Westerns thereafter - where the hero is always crippled, doomed, and dedicated: as in this instance the near-blind and bloodstained Clay, asking for a gun to confront Fox and his five henchmen.
Soundtrack
Some parts of the soundtrack, composed by Piero PiccioniPiero Piccioni
Piero Piccioni , was an Italian lawyer turned major film score composer. A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 200 film soundtracks.-Early life:...
, are featured in the videogame Red Dead Revolver
Red Dead Revolver
Red Dead Revolver is a western third-person shooter video game published by Rockstar Games and developed by Rockstar San Diego. It was released in North America on May 4, 2004, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox....
.