Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold (1971) User Reviews (7)

"Vengeance Is a Dish Eaten Cold" is a passable Western about a bloody vengeance against Indians

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 28 March 2014]

Acceptable Spaghetti dealing with usual theme : a relentless revenge . La vendetta è un Piatto Che Si serve Freddo" (Italy original title) or "Death's Dealer" (USA title) deals with a small boy named Jim Bridger saw his father (Enzo Fiermonte) killed by Indians . Years later Jim (Leonard Mann) has grown up to be an outlaw and is killing Indians whenever he can. Many years later, he aware how to shoot as he kills any Indian he meets for blind vendetta . He seeks vengeance and carries out a cruel slaughter . As Bridger pulls off his vengeance by means of a cruel manner , scalping and selling long hairs , as he executes a massacre and atrocity , he proceeds a single-handedly revenge , and kills each Indian involved on his way . He is relentless in his vendetta , deadly in his violence . When Jim find out the true executioner of the grisly killings occurs the predictable battle of wits . The conflict is simple , one between avenger Jim Bridger against also relentless killers such as the baron land Perkins (Ivan Rassimov) and editor Prescott (Klaus Kinski) never hesitating to kill.

It's an exciting western titled "Vengeance Trail¨ with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Leonard Mann and the enemies Ivan Rassimov , Klaus Kinski and hoodlums . Both of them are fine, they ravage the screen , kill , betray , hit and run , and ultimately takes places a final surprise . This thrilling western titled "Three Amens for Satan" or "Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold" (USA title) contains a story full of violence , good dramatic pace and slick direction though packs some flaws . Enjoyable Spaghetti Western ; it follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a moving western with spectacular outdoors and breathtaking confrontation among heartless protagonists , Leonard Mann , and his nasty nemesis and slimy , menacing underlings . Decent action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts at the end . Charismatic performance for whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Leonard Mann , is good in his usual tough as well as silent role, he starred 3 decent Spahetti : ¨Gunmen of Ave Maria¨, ¨Ciakmull¨ and this one . His contender played by Ivan Rassimov starred some Western as "Don't Wait, Django... Shoot!" , ¨Cjamango¨ , but subsequently played Cannibal movies . Fantastic performance by the always great Klaus Kinski here in his ordinary role as a villain and in a cruelly baddie character as an ambitious editor . There appears as habitual secondaries in Italian Western such as Steffen Zacharias who acted in classic "They Call Me Trinity" , Enzo Fiermonte and Pietro Torrisi who as Peter McCoy played in the 80s several sword and witchery movies .

The musician Piero Umiliani composes an attractive soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie , as it's plenty of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background and with agreeable leitmotif , including catching songs and ballads sung by Monica Miguel . Nice cinematography by Angelo Lotti , including good sets, filmed on locations in Rome, Lazio, Italy and Elios studios . The motion picture was decently directed by Pasquale Squitieri , under pseudonym William Redford , though contains some gaps and flaws. Pasquale was longtime companion of actress Claudia Cardinale , who usually played his films , and father of Claudia their daughter . He is a writer and director, especially known for Atto Di Dolore (1990), Russicum (1988) and Mussolini's lover (1984). He also made another Western titled 1970 ¨Django dares Sartana¨ as William Redford and wrote/ directed a lot of movies dealing with Italian Mafia such as 1988 Russicum , 1985 "Il Pentito" or "The Repenter , 1978 L'arma , 1978 Corleone , 1977 Il Prefetto di Ferro , 1975 El Ambicioso or "The Climber" , 1974 I Guappi , 1972 Camorra ; many of them starred by his wife Claudia Cardinale and notorious Spaghetti actor Giuliano Gemma .

Enjoyable, In Spite Of Many Weaknesses

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 5/10 · 11 August 2006]

"La Vendetta È Un Piatto Che Si Serve Freddo" aka "Three Amens For Satan" is a rather tough Spaghetti Western, that certainly has its qualities, but lacks in many departments. On the one hand the movie could maybe have been a lot better with a higher budget, on the other hand there are a lot of excellent low-budget Spaghetti Westerns, way better than this.

After witnessing the brutal murder of his entire family by Native Americans as a child, Jeremiah Bridger becomes a merciless Indian-killer and scalp hunter. After saving the life of a beautiful Native American girl named Tune, however, the lone and silent gunman slowly reconsiders his hatred. He starts to doubt his former persuasion, that it was really Indians, who killed his family, and soon has to find out that a greedy and unscrupulous landowner usually blames Native Americans for his own crimes.

"Three Amens For Satan" is not really a bad movie, but it's not really good either. As a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns I personally kinda liked it, although it's definitely one of the worse movies of the genre. The acting differs throughout the movie, Kinski, who plays a villainous and racist journalist, is great as always, though his part is quite small. I also found Leonard Mann to be quite good as the silent and lonely avenger. Some of the characters in this film, however, are a little annoying. The movie is not at all one of the humorous Spaghetti Westerns (no dark humor either), the character of Doc, Jeremiah's savior and buddy, who was only added to make the movie a little 'funnier', is very exaggerated, and therefore a bit annoying. Furthermore, Tune, the Indian girl, keeps talking in very stereotypical Indian wisdoms, not to mention she talks about herself in the third person throughout the whole movie.

"Three Amens For Satan" is certainly not a very good movie, but, apart from its several weaknesses, and the doubtable part of the plot, in which a racist Indian-killer suddenly changes entirely, and becomes kind of a hero and Indian-savior, the movie is certainly enjoyable.

Cheap 'spaghetti' lacks flavour

[Poison-River · 4/10 · 7 March 2004]

This is a very cheap and rough looking movie, even for a Euro-Western. What makes it worth catching is that it doesn't follow the usual plot of most Spaghetti Westerns, i.e. it doesn't feature the American Civil War or the Mexican Revolution as it's backdrop.

Jim(called Jeremiah in the version I saw) is the only survivor of an attack by Native Americans on his homestead. His entire family are killed, and he grows up to be a hate-filled Indian killer. This changes when he saves an Indian girl from a humiliating 'tar-and-feathering' in the local town. We later find out that it was evil property developers who organised the raid on his homestead and made it look like Indians did it. Jim/Jeremiah takes his revenge.

This has an excellent sub-Morricone guitar driven score, but is ultimately let down by it's cheap look.

And a word of caution; avoid the DVD version that's around at the moment. It claims to be widescreen but is horribly cropped and renders certain scenes nonsensical. 4/10.

Had Potential

[Falconeer · 4/10 · 11 September 2017]

"Death's Dealer," another Western that had potential, but was wrecked by slapstick comedy. In this case the project was absolutely trashed by really dumb, unfunny slapstick humor. Actor Leonard Mann, who did a few Westerns during this period, has great screen presence, and he is good here, as a man who has been deceived into thinking a pack of Indians murdered his parents when he was a boy. It turns out that greedy, white men massacred his family, over a property dispute. Then...cue the sidekick buddy and the endless set pieces of inane stupidity, that completely sinks the production. As soon as the movie begins to get good, the momentum is quickly destroyed by more comedy. Of course humor can work..if it's well- written, and actually "funny," such as in films like "Ben & Charlie," a Western that is successful in it's comic attempts.

It seems like the creators of "Death's Dealer" couldn't decide if they wanted to make a serious film, or a light comedy/action/Western. The end result is a disappointment. And it was almost painful to see the Great Klaus Kinski in such a flop, although he is barely on screen. Skip this one and seek out "Forgotten Pistolero," another film with Leonard Mann in the lead role. Now this is a truly excellent movie, with an intricate tale of revenge and family drama, as well as some impressive action sequences...and no comedy. And for Kinski fans, look no further than "The Great Silence,' which is a true masterpiece of the genre..

Three Amens for Satan

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 22 August 2020]

Pasquale Squitieri may have started in the Italian Westerns, but he eventually moved into crime dramas and working often with Franco Nero. Probably his best-known films are l prefetto di ferro and Corleone.

This movie stars Leonard Mann, who was often cast because he resembled Nero. He's also in The Humanoid, Night School, Weapons of Death and Death Steps in the Dark.

He's up against two absolute maniacs - Ivan Rassimov and Klaus Kinski, making this instantly a movie that I screamed in glee at the screen at every time this twosome appeared.

Bridger has blamed Native Americans for his father's death, but once he saves a young girl named Tune (Elizabeth Eversfield, who only has this movie on her IMDB page), he starts to learn that perhaps he was wrong to feel such hate.

This movie is also known as Death's Dealer, Vengeance Trail and - perhaps one of the best titles ever - Three Amens for Satan.

Good Italian Western With All The Usual Elements

[rmahaney4 · 7/10 · 20 July 2007]

La Vendetta è un piatto che si serve freddo (1971) is one the better Italian westerns from late in the Eurowestern film cycle. It combines a naturalistic cinematographic style with an excellent score and the classic Italian western plot. Except for some ridiculous 1970s platitudes about Native American, it is intelligent scripted though the character dynamics seem unintelligible to many viewers. This is due to the fact that the ideology which informs this movie is not that of the American western or other film genres but instead the special ethos and logic of the Italian Western, of its makers, and of the culture in which they were living. This movie is actually a distillation of many early preoccupations within the genre. Many late cycle Eurowesterns are distilled versions of earlier narratives developed in the genre, with the most notable being Sonora (1969), Keoma (1976), Grand Duel (1972), or California (1977). The significance of the cinematic gestures and images is embedded in that historical ethos. Approaching it from another is to misunderstand it a senseless jumble of incoherent images.

Basically, the film is a rendition of the Fistful of Dollars(1964) plot with elements borrowed from other Leone films and political westerns (such as Tepepa (1968) or Faccia a Faccia (1969)). Very generally, in this basic plot the hero is usually more skilled and dangerous than those around him. At first, he follows his own narrow interest, but he becomes involved in the wider society and ends up shot, stabbed, beaten, and sometimes literally crucified. He is then resurrected, returns to purge the society of those who are using their power and prowess to corrupt and oppress. This plot is liminal, which means that its crisis (the near-death/return) represents a point in which the hero is transformed in some significant way.

Recurring tropes from Leone's movies (and Dario Argento's such as in Profundo Rosso (1975)) are flashbacks that are mystery to either to the audience or, more often, to both the hero and the audience. There is uncertainty as to what this memory means and it is returned to again and again with it's resolution being pivotal to the plot. This movie is structured around a memory as well, but in a slightly different way that makes it somewhat unique. The initial scene in the film, ending with the family's massacre, comprises the memory whose changing meaning to the hero provides the narrative drive to the movie. These scenes are shot as though seen at a distance, sometimes through windows or frame din other ways. As such, they are similar to a flashback sequence.

The basic liminal plot together with the pivotal memory of Jeremiah's family provides the scaffolding for the political western plot. This is a West in which the powerful use the newspapers to manipulate the public with fear and racism. Jeremiah, who has become sociopath scalp-hunter, believes that his family was murdered by Native Americans. He is an outcast who barely utters a word through the first half of the movie. The near-death is accompanied by clues that his understanding of what happened was false and the second half of the film is about his accumulation of evidence that his family was murdered so the rancher Perkins would have an excuse to seize his family's land. The truth revealed, he can redirect his action in a manner that does not support Perkins but destroys him. This action is reproduced for the community and they do the same.

This widening of awareness beyond the bounds of Jeremiah's own experience to the wider social manipulations of power and perception are what this strange little Eurowestern is about. The movie lacks psychological realism, instead opting for a leftist view of the dynamics of society and politics. Of course, this is not an art-film not is it Salvatore Guliano (1962) or La Battaglia di Algeri (1966). However, even Pasolini played a revolutionary priest in Requiescant (1967) and Franco Solinas wrote a number of Italian Westerns. These movies were intended for export throughout the 3rd world and the filmmakers were sincere about their politics. In a sense, this modest western may have been portraying on the screen what it was trying to reproduce in the audience – the transformation of people's political consciousness. I don't know if Pasquale Squitieri had the same intention with this film or whether he was simply following the conventions of the genre, but even if he was just following the formula he understood it well enough to execute a decent and entertaining spaghetti western.

Leonard Mann plays the same wounded, haunted persona that he did in Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria (1969) and Ciakmull - L'uomo della vendetta (1970). Perkins (Ivan Rassimov) is a sadistic semi-feudal land-baron in classic Italian western fashion, dragging Chinese slaves to death behind his carriage in street. Klaus Kinski is enjoyable as the scheming newspaper editor Prescott.

Typical spagwest, but not without merit

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 24 October 2017]

VENGEANCE TRAIL is a typical spaghetti western with a few twists on the formula to keep it interesting. There's a racism subtext to the storyline with the hero being the sole survivor of an Indian massacre as a child. As an adult, he's drawn into a plot when townsfolk start dying at the hands of some equally ruthless Native Americans, but he soon finds that a ruthless landowner is the one really responsible. There's plenty of plotting and action here to take your mind off any of the story's limitations, and Leonard Mann is a likable hero. Ivan Rassimov is excellent as the villain of the piece and Klaus Kinski pops up to play another oddball character. This one's no classic, but it gets the job done well enough.