Like I said in my review of HAMNET yesterday, I struggle with understanding the Shakespeare works. That movie was historical fiction depicting the play Hamlet as Shakespeare’s weird way of processing the death of his son Hamnet. Although I kinda liked the movie I felt like I didn’t have the background to properly appreciate it, so I am correcting that by watching JOHNNY HAMLET, a 1968 spaghetti western version of the Hamlet story directed by Enzo G. Castellari (THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS) and written by Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO).
We’ve already established that I’m no expert on the subject, but this was way more upfront about being Hamlet than I expected. The Italian title wasn’t even Hamlet related, it was Quella sporca storia nel West (That Dirty Story in the West), but the movie opens with Johnny Hamilton (Andrea Giordana, THE DIRTY OUTLAWS) stained with blood, standing in an eerily foggy cave, slowly approaching a mysterious caped figure, calling him “father.”
