A Spaghetti Western Xmas: A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965) Paired With Cremant and Cream Sherry

A surprisng Christmas movie in the shape of a Spaghetti Western, A PISTOL FOR RINGO is written and Directed by Duccio Tessari, who co-wrote A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS with Sergio Leone, the film that kick-started the Spaghetti Western genre and was thhe first of the Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" films.

Inspired by the succeess of that film, Tessari decided to make his own. He had already made a "sword and sandal" film with actor and ex-stuntman Giuliano Gemma (here credited as "Montgomery Wood".) Gemma plays Ringo, a character that is in many ways an exact contrast to Eastwood's Man With No Name: he's charming, talkative, joyful, clean shaven, well dressed, and drinks milk instead of whiskey.

THE WINES (AI-Free Search Links):

Domaine Ligier Cremant du Jura Rose Brut

Emilio Hidalgo "Morenita" Cream Sherry Jerez

Chapters

• 2:13 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
• 4:03 A Pistol For Ringo
• 10:11 Our Personal Histories with the Movie
• 15:15 Movie and Wine Discussion
• 45:09 Dallas' Ringo / Rango Theory
• 49:45 Domaine Ligier Cremant du Jura Rose Brut
• 54:48 Emilio Hidalgo “Morenita” Cream Sherry Jerez
• 59:17 Wrap up! Happy Holidays! Now Go Away and Stop Ignoring Your Family!

Transcript

0:00

See if I can connect my brain. cannot. I'm not even gonna try I turned my honestly, mine just decided to go into low power mode a few days ago and it's over. It's just. Merry Christmas, everybody. You get the worst of us today. Let's do this. We are hanging on by a thread. We have worked too hard, drank too much wine, to too many events, helped too many friends with their independent film shoots at way too early of an hour, then worked at wine events to way too late of an hour, gotten way too little sleep, eaten too much food, drunk too much booze. I already said that. See, this is how well our brains are working. And here we are. for our special Christmas episode of entertainment. So on that note. Are you not entertained? Yes sir! Real good time! He's Dave, and I'm Dallas, and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment. The wine and entertainment pairing podcast. Welcome back everybody to another episode of entertainment to another wine and entertainment pairing for your entertainment. This is of course the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It's as simple as that. We always know what we like or dislike but man we rarely know why so what better way to learn about that than by comparing different wines to different types of entertainment and compare and contrast how they both hit us and affect us the way that they do. As always, I'm Dave ex film and TV creative executive ex Sundancer and currently your W set level three certified wine professional. And I'm Dallas, your professional world builder, writer and wine outlaw. ah And now for the wine trivia question of the week. Our film today takes place in Texas during the Christmas time, but was actually filmed in Spain with a predominantly Italian and Spanish speaking cast. Which Spanish wine is consumed the most during Christmas more than any other? Is it A, Cava, B, Rioja, C, Sherry? or D, Alberino from Riasas Bayas. That's how I say it. It's wrong, but you'll get over it. There you go. I said it technically, Those, the question again is which Spanish wine is consumed the most during Christmas more than any other? Is it A, Cava, B, Rioja, C, Sherry, or D, Alberino, Gris, Bayasas. That's what we're gonna go with. I like the way that sounds. Actually, I like that. m the vowels are all in the wrong place. The vowels are all in wrong place. but I like the way it sounds. comes off better. Anyway, choose your answer. No takebacksies. And we will reveal the answer in exactly three, three, two, The answer is a Cava. The great sparkling wine of Spain and of course, sparkling wine sells during the holiday season more than any other category, though Rioja is also a very popular choice. A close second during the holidays. in Espana. All right, Dave. Hope you got that right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now for me, I'm probably like, uh I'm not a sparkling wine fan. I know it's the holidays and whatnot. So I think I would probably drink a lot of sherry during the holidays. think that's where it goes. And that's going to give you a hint of where this episode is from, where I'm going to go with this episode. But with that hint given, let's introduce today's movie, a surprising Christmas movie. uh in the shape of a spaghetti western. This movie is a pistol for Ringo written and directed by Duccio Tesari who co-wrote A Fistful of Dollars with Sergio Leone, the film that kickstarted the spaghetti western genre and was the first of the Clint Eastwood quote unquote man with no name films. This movie, inspired by the success of A Fistful of Dollars, Tesari decided to make his own. all on his own written and directed by him. He had already made a sword and sandal film with actor and stunt man Giuliano Gemma here credited as quote unquote Montgomery Wood was such a because you got it. You got to have that like masculine uh John Wayne Montgomery Wood doesn't sound like it sounds like two street now like Montgomery Street Montgomery Wood. Gemma plays Ringo, a character that in many ways is an exact contrast to Eastwood's Man with No Name. He's charming, talkative, joyful, clean shaven, well dressed and drinks milk instead of whiskey. Now Ringo, a pistol for Ringo, this film was a hit in Italy and spawned a sort of sequel, The Return of Ringo. Once again written and directed by Tesari and starring Giuliana Gemma. Most of the original cast actually returns. though everyone is playing a different character than this original film, including Giuliana Gemma, who plays a character once again called Ringo, but it's not the same Ringo. So if you watch this film based on our suggestion today, and we definitely suggest this film, or I do anyways, we're gonna find out what Dallas thinks about it in just a moment. But once again, it's a quote unquote sequel, it's even called The Return of Ringo, not a sequel, not the same characters. They're just playing something completely different. The tone is even very different from what I've heard. I haven't watched the sequel yet. That said, much like the success of Django, which dropped one year after A Pistol for Ringo, this spawned many sequel in name only movies. You know, if you ever saw Django, you've got Return of Django, you've got, you know, I don't know, Django Goes to Texas, uh Many Kills for Django. There are all sorts of weird names. Some of them are Some of them are worth seeing. Most of them are really cheap and shoddy and cash-ins and not really. And just like that, this spawned $10,000 for Ringo. Ringo and Gringo against all. Two rumor Ringo's from Texas. A woman for Ringo, which was a musical. Ringo and his golden pistol, Ringo of Nebraska, Ringo the face of revenge and the Texican, was retitled Ringo il Texano or Ringo in Texas in Italy. They were all released within two years of this original movie. Just to give you a hint of how good they possibly are or are not. it done. Get it it done. Though, while we cannot say much about those multitudes, the original loose duology of Pistol for Ringo and The Return of Ringo, while not sequels of each other per se, are thought to be the worthwhile gems of this series. Now, Ringo takes place during Christmas time in Texas. This is our Christmas movie entry of this year. But before we get started officially talking about this movie, the necessary housekeeping, please be sure to hit that follow or subscribe button if you have not done so already. That sincerely helps this podcast grow also, especially if you're already a subscriber and so completely useless to us in that regard. Do this instead. Recommend us to a friend or family member give this podcast to them as a Christmas gift. anyone you think who will like deep dives into movies, sometimes TV books, comics and or music, but mostly movies all paired with wine and a little bit of wine edumacation. And don't just follow this podcast also follow us and interact with us on sub stack. Just head to entertainment studios.com that'll take you to our sub stack where you'll find all our podcast episodes broken down by subject matter articles on wine and entertainment bonus pairings. and be a part of wine stack and film stack two of the fastest growing movements in online writing and community going on right now. If you are here for the wine or film side of things or both, you absolutely must follow the wine and film stack communities on sub stack or you are seriously missing out. 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Kate does survivesonwine.substack.com where she does visual wine. tasting notes where she paints a wine tasting note for different wines. They're gorgeous. You've got to go check her sub stack out. And last but not least, Paul Kalmkearian. He has never been a guest on this podcast yet. But he does use no G podcaster. He is no G podcaster. And he does wine talks with Paul K. Check that podcast out where he interviews different people in the wine world. He's been doing this for a long time. His podcast is superior to ours. So go check out Paul Kalmkearian at Wine Talks with Paul. And once again, us that's entertainment studios.com. That's where you can support this podcast become a producer if you'd like. Merry Christmas everybody. And now let's talk about our Christmas movie. A Pistol for Ringo. Dallas had you ever seen this film before? I had not seen this film. was familiar, however, with the film and Giuliano, who also stars in uh Fort Yuma Gold, I think was one of the American titles of uh the old film, which came out in like 66 or 67, another sort of Western, Western parallel. um Had not seen this film. uh Did not know I was going to enjoy it as much as I fucking did. uh But in general, I'm a Western guy because that's usually what my dad that or war films my dad had uh playing around the house and that was kind of his thing. So I got uh introduced to a lot of these spaghetti Westerns because of that uh and kind of have an affinity for the Western genre and all the sub genres because of it. So hadn't uh come across this film specifically in terms of like watching it, but knew it existed um and was excited to see it again. How about you? When did you first see this? So I first saw this about two weeks ago, I believe two, three weeks ago or something of that nature. was a selection of, there's a letterboxed uh action movie club that we do a movie every week. And when Christmas month started, we of course doing all Christmas themed action movies. And we try to do the ones that are off the beaten path a little bit. So, you we're never gonna do Die Hard. We're never going to do Die Hard 2. It's like too obvious, too obvious. So we've got to look a little further than that. Another movie that we did this week, I'll probably do a substack right up about this, is Dial Code Santa Claus. yeah. Fucking awesome. Oh, so good. Oh, so good. My friends, my friends. But we started with a pistol for Ringo. And I mentioned this to you when we were doing our previous episode, the trailers, coming soon to drinkers for December. And I mentioned this in passing and you were like, why don't we do an episode of Madden? was all for it because man, I'm not the biggest spaghetti Western fan. Honestly, I'm not the biggest Western movie fan at all. um I hate the Clint Eastwood man with no name films. I do not like them. Why? I've just offered. Off the Boring as shit, boring as shit. I've never been able to finish a single one of them. And I love Once Upon a Time in the West of Sergio Leone. So it's like I can't I do love some Once Upon a Time in the West. The West, think, is one of the best Westerns ever made. Django. I love Django. The O.G. Django. This is the best Western since the O.G. Django I think I've ever seen. I think I might even like this one slightly better on the whole. Django can be a little plotting in places, but then that ending you're just like, Whoa, you will never forget that finale in Django. And this one, this one, it just it charmed the shit out of me. um I loved Juliana Gemma as Ringo perfection. And the fact we'll talk more about the movie as we go. But the fact that it becomes this sort of diehard setup one location, you know, kind of like infiltrate and fight your way out and this one guy kind of like and juggling all the many camps and people and that he's trying to save and not have killed while the bad guys are like a little off the cuff like you know they're they're a wildcardy and like they if they if they clocked what was going on and what the dangers were they might just kill everybody. And so that was such a diehard setup in a spaghetti western uh setting that I loved it, I loved it and it's so well done. All the scenes are so expertly crafted. The script is shockingly nuanced and good. And I'm just like this, this had levels that I feel the man with no name films don't have. They're so one note, they're so directly this from minute one to minute last. And I find myself not really enjoying them for that reason. Alright noted. We'll keep that in mind as we progress with our our deep dive. And I will say one other thing when I, on my letterbox club, when I posted a review for Pistol for Ringo on letterbox and they saw two people, two different people recommended Day of Anger as a Juliana Gemma. One to follow up with because he's next stunt man. And I noticed a couple moments in this show. like, yeah, I'm like, ooh, boy can move. I'm like, what's going on here? And I didn't know he was next stunt man. And then they're like, if you want to see him get some, a few cool action beats watch day of anger. So that's one for everyone to go look up. If you watch this and you're like, yeah, this guy, who's this guy? Day of anger is apparently the one to follow up with. I've not, I have not followed up with it yet. But yeah, that's my backstory. And I fell in love with this thing. And especially because I'm not a spaghetti Western guy, that was pretty meaningful. I think I have a working theory as to why you enjoyed this one so much compared to the others. We'll definitely get into that later on. All right. So the film opens with two men in cowboy hats squaring off a few feet from each other, a sure sign that we're in a Western and a gunfight is about to break out. But then they exchange Christmas greeting. Yes, that's right. We think we're getting into a duel, but we get Christmas greetings. And we of course realize we're in a Christmas movie. We are claiming it. We are owning it. It is now officially on the Christmas movie list. That's right. You have a Christmas Western. they don't Keep moving. It's beautiful. ah We then meet the sheriff and the deputy of this town. They discuss how Angel Face, quote, uh AKA Ringo, our titular character, has been acquitted of murder. The sheriff then moves to find Ringo as he fears the family of the murdered will be out for vigilante justice. And guess what? He's not wrong, because this is a Western. We then meet Ringo playing hopscotch with schoolchildren. The family of the slain show up and without halting his hopscotch, game, a true sign of a badass. Ringo kills all of them. The sheriff then appears just too late and takes Ringo to the local jail to await trial for his latest killing. All right, Dave, up until this point. What you got? What you thinking? So this was the part of the movie where I was rolling my eyes a little bit and I was not into it quite yet. I was like, God, it's a fucking Western. It's just a Western, right? It's like you've got, you know, the Christmas greeting thing. was like, oh, right, right, right. Christmas movie. Cute. OK, fun. um the hopscotch thing too was something a little bit unique. Where it's like, but he's supposed to be this sort of devil may care cavalier type character. So he's like, I'm playing with. kids but I'm also a badass and I'm like okay I mean you know the guy had some some charm charisma but at this point I was still like yeah sheriff small town you know the the the the the the clan shows up for vengeance yeah our badass you know main character just wipes them all out then goes to jail like okay I go to trial now but you saw that self-defense sheriff once again self-defense and then he goes so I was like, yeah, okay, I don't know how much I'm gonna like this movie yet. um This was the part where it all seemed very uh run of the mill. George Martin is the guy who plays our Sheriff Ben. And uh Sheriff Ben, I thought he would be the hero, right? And Ringo is essentially, he's the titular character, but I thought he'd be the bad guy. at this point, I was still pretty convinced that's where we were heading for kind of like a three 10 to Yuma thing, where it's like you got the bad guy, you got the sheriff, they're going to be squaring off. So again, I was ready for this to be totally straightforward by the numbers. How about you? What'd you think at this point? Honestly, the same I I've been being such a fan of the Western genre, you can always pick up on the little signatures and little sort of, the nuances. And from that first exchange, when those two characters walk past one another and exchange Christmas greetings, I knew from that moment, OK, this is going to have some slapstick, some comedy, if not some slapstick in it. And it absolutely does. This is this is a funny little film in parts as well. I didn't pick that up that early on I was I was ready for this to be such a straightforward like the slapstick stuff it definitely comes later but yeah I was not picking up on that yet Yeah, yeah, that was was clear for me. And so that's that's, you know, from that point, I was like, oh, yeah, this is going to be a good time. This is going to be a good time because they they took those tropes that everyone is familiar with. Even if you're not a huge fan of the Western genre or the spaghetti Westerns, you understand that the opening images are really important because they set character and tone. And when they opened on that image, it was like, OK, here are all the tropes. Here's everything you were expecting. You've got the two guys with the guns on their hips squaring up past one another. Something's about to go down and boom. Merry Christmas. I'm like, OK, that's the OK. That's a nice little cheeky bit of humor. And if that's where we're starting, I knew at that point it was going to be a good ride. So I honestly had, you going in at zero expectations. So I guess the bar is a little different, but. But also being a huge fan of the Western genre. that opening image. I had my biases to get over. They were still in the way. My wall was up. And I was like, I'm not gonna enjoy this. And it hadn't melted yet. So I was still, and in my head, I'm still thinking like, yeah, okay, this is gonna be, I need some kind of like a rustic red to go with this movie. I'm gonna need maybe a rustic orange, but it's like nothing. There wasn't anything quite. fun. Even though yes, that hopscotch scene happens. was still like, I don't know. I wasn't having fun yet. And so I wasn't I wasn't on the fun train yet. And for me, um and sometimes I do this route with with with pairing where it's not necessarily what I want in the moment. It's like it's sort of like what would pair well in general. That's kind of how I start sometimes. And for me, because of that fun thing, I was like, I'm not a huge fan of Rosé, but ah that moment was very sort of, OK, this is a little in the margins. This is a little blended with the comedy there, just from that first, the first sort of scenario for seeing that opening image. I was like, okay, I may be walking into a bit of a rosé here. Let's see if that sticks around. But okay, all right, something a little, a little in between a little not confusing or confounding still palatable, still sort of pleasant, but okay, all right. So that's where I started. So um All right. As Ringo relaxes in jail, we meet Major Clyde and his daughter Ruby who are Christmas shopping in town. We learned that the sheriff and Ruby are courting each other and that they all plan to celebrate back at the majors ranch later that night. Meanwhile, a bandit posse robbed the local bank. They then get the better of the law and escape but not before their leader Sancho is wounded by the sheriff. So here's our first big action scene. Right, Dallas? ah So how did this hit you? The whole scene up to the bandit's escaping. Oh, it's again, they deal in the textbook and the cliches and the tropes so that again, even if you aren't familiar with Spare the Westerns or Westerns in general, there are no there's nothing really confounding or confusing. You've got, you know, a couple of characters who are pretending to be something else to kind of act as diversions. And you've got the bandits who are robbing the thing across the street. So that's all sort of textbook. uh I will say the. character interplay here, the kind of back and forth. It was real jazzy. It was real jazzy and really quick and really sort of bubbly. And uh this was the moment when I was like, OK. maybe there's some bubbles here, maybe there's some fizz here, there's some agitation, there's a little like, there's something on top of just the sort of body of the wine, And so I did, I started thinking about, there's a little carbonic situation, a little sort of, you know, little titillation happening on the tongue and the back of the palate. um But in terms of narrative and the story, um this was where you start to see them onboarding their audience you know, from that the sort of tropes of traditional spaghetti westerns and westerns. And you start to see them playing with the different colors and textures, because this is about the point where we actually get to see Ringo's character and how he's kind of defining himself. He really is just making up his fucking own rules. Right. And uh and so, yeah, yeah, I this I was definitely sold by this point. How about you? Nope, not yet. So this was this was one last part of the film where I was like, it's not until we get to the diehard setup that I was really like, hey, now. But I will say this. You're not wrong about the character in a play like this is where Ringo like the hostage or not the hostage taking the hold up of the town and the robbery of the bank. And then there is, you know, actress I do not know how to pronounce her name, but she was a big Italian actress for a while and model a neve. in the event. Nieves? Nieves, Nieves, Nieves Navarro uh plays the one female character of the bandits. yeah, yeah, mean, she, ex model and you can tell, right? And she plays Dolores and she holds up the jail and keeps like the sheriff and the deputy sheriff kind of held up while the main bank robbery is happening. And it's great cause she even like one of the people in the jail goes for a gun, one of the cops and like she just shoots him like square on the spot. One thing I love about this movie this is the one thing that I love and hate about Westerns too is like the guy just like it's shot and goes down and man the sheriff and deputy sheriff like no like just Yeah, face. Yeah. Yeah, they're like completely like not even like stern grim poker face like not even grim just Dead in the eyes. They're like, uh-huh You know, that is definitely a sort of cornerstone, particularly with spaghetti restaurants, but the Western genre in general. It's that death is cheap, it is dire, this is the dirty, dirty West, death will happen, the guy standing next to you is going to fall and you have to fucking keep going. Cry when you're dying, but keep moving. And what I will say about this film is it does this very well. It allows both comedy and levity and the sort of direness of death. to exist in frames right next to one another. They just coexist seamlessly and you know that's kind of you know exemplified by your point in that scene. Go. Yes. So I was going to say those then Ringo like, know, while he's holding up, you know, the guy gets shot, he falls down and he's like, Well, you mind if I keep playing my game, my card game in my jail cell? Like, he's like, I don't want to stop because I'm winning. And he just keeps going. And that's the first hint that you're like, Wow, this fucking guy, this fucking guy. um He is like nothing seemingly nothing faces him. Right. And he's he's very cavalier about Absolutely. Like I told, I said the sheriff was cavalier because he was poker faced. Right. But Ringo is not, he's not poker faced. He's just like, you know, let's celebrate. Let's have fun. It's like that guy's dead, but we're alive. Let's keep going. Here we go. Exactly. right. And then the sheriff is like, you know, again, no emotion version of that. And Ringo is like, let's actively celebrate a version of that. So that was a fun thing. And then of course the whole shootout, which again, it still felt a little too cliche for me where I'm like, We got to shoot out. They're going to do a chase. It's a Western. Yippity yippee-kay-yay, mofo. It's like, uh-huh. Got it. So that part, I was like, okay, I was still like, this is still mostly my brain was still on that like rustic red or orange or something. I'm like, he's going to be a Western type drink or something I need with a Western, something heavy, something that I'm really going to enjoy and is really going to give me a lot. Because the movie. I don't get much out of Westerns for whatever reason. I was still, eh. Now that said, Ringo starting to become more of a character. ah Nieves Navarro as Dolores, have Fernando Sancho as Sancho, the leader of the gang. And Sancho is, he's over the top leader. Like this is no, this is not, this is no Alan Rickman, as the head of the robbers. this this guy, this is the Donald Trump of robbers. He is just like big, boisterous. shouting like shouting and like, know, blustery. Yes, he's a very blustery leader and whatnot. Big heavy drinker, heavy lover, big everything, big guy as well. And then the one other guy I want to mention is Alfonso Alicantara as the deputy sheriff, this scrawny little skinny guy who is I think kind of one of the unsung MVPs of this movie where he's like this little skinny chicken guy who just kind of runs, but he's also one of the most like insightful and actually moving the gears where everyone else is a little too focused in their own needs and wants. And he's like, let's actually make everything happen the way we need it to happen kind of a thing. He was great. He's one of my favorite characters in this whole movie. But yeah, the shootout, it's very well staged. It's wonderfully action packed, but holy shit, the senseless death here. Like so many people just. Like they're like just running out with guns and getting shot and mowed down and you're like, pardon me though, is I'm like, maybe don't run out into the open. What the fuck guys? Like, come on, just, just like get some cover, get some cover. But there's so many red shirts. That's actually a very good point. Those old films, unfortunately, they had to do that. It's okay. So one of the sort of theories behind that is those characters that run out into the mayhem. Generally, you find that they're just sort of the average characters, you know, like the nobodies, because they're running for their lives, right? They end up out in the open. The red red shirt. Yeah. Exactly. um but it is one of those things. like, I don't know if I'm in that situation. I'm just going to take off running in an open field, but okay, we'll go with that. Yeah. Yeah, no, you duck and cover and you wait, you survive, right? And that's the thing. It's like if survive, it's all about survival. There's so many actions taken where you're just like, what are you doing? What is the point of that? But anyway, that was my that's my one critique. And another thing that I'm not the biggest fan of when it comes to Western death is too cheap sometimes. But let's continue. What's next? All right. So, Major Clyde and his daughter Ruby are celebrating Christmas with several guests on their lovely little ranch out in the middle of a field in a valley surrounded by mountains. By the way, the moment they showed that panorama of that place, I was like, I would really like to live there. I would really like to live in this massive place in the middle of a valley, you know, but also it will come into play because this film is a testament to a single location and exploiting the absolute fuck out of it. And it is fantastically done for that. Anyway, they are interrupted by the bandit gang who stormed the Hacienda and take them hostage in a desperate attempt to deter the sheriff and the bank enforcers who are in hot pursuit. They decide to hold the family hostage. threatening to execute to a day until they are allowed to go free. The sheriff fears for the safety of the hostages, including his fiancee, Ruby, if he attempts to free the hostages by force, but the banks enforcers care only to recover their stolen funds. They give the sheriff a deadline before they storm the Hacienda, no matter the innocent bystanders who might die in the attack. The sheriffs then decide to enlist the aid of Ringo. who agrees to infiltrate the gang and free the hostages in exchange for his own freedom and a percentage of the stolen money. By the way, a little note here. You'll notice if you guys watch this film and I highly recommend you watch this film, before Ringo actually decides to take on this task given to him by the sheriff and the other people in town, he requires a trial in the moment. And the reason is because back in the day, This would actually happen. They would enlist criminals to go on raids for them, you know, the sheriff and the other people in law, uh and would softly uh offer them their freedom. But when they would return back from the mission, they would just try them on the original charges. uh So in order to make sure that didn't happen, you actually had to have a trial on the books legally before you would take this mission. And it's a great little moment. uh Ring goes like, no, no, I want a trial right now. I want it right now in front of all these witnesses because once I get over there and get that money, I'm fucking off and you can kill yourselves anyway. Right. All right. Let's discuss. All right, so yeah, this is where I perked up. This is where I'm like, hey, now, this is different. You know, when they when they take the whole compound hostage, and then the laws on the outside, and then they enlist Ringo, and they're like, you're gonna go in there and figure this out for us. I'm like, wait, this is a different story that I'm used to in a Western. And that setup that whole setup, and it's a very diehard setup. And fun fact, you know, this is a diehard set up I mentioned earlier that I also watched Dial Code Santa Claus, which is another really, really fun late 80s French film that takes place during it's very home alone. Like it's like Die Hard meets Home Alone, which sounds weird, but it is like, you know, it's not a kids movie like Home Alone. It is serious like Die Hard, but is a kid home alone having to fend off a killer intruder um with traps and weapons and so on and so forth. But It's funny how all these Christmas movies have this diehard setup and these all predate diehard, which is fascinating. for me, these are some of the best Christmas movies I've seen in a long time. Pistol for Ringo, Dial Code Santa Claus. So I'm like, okay. And somehow they're not, I think because they predate diehard, they don't feel like someone trying to cash in on a diehard trend. They're all a very unique uh flavor, even though there's similar diehard setups. So it doesn't get boring. It's not something where you're like, I've seen this movie before. Pistol for Ringo does not play out like diehard at all. It's just a similar setup. So this is where I perked up and I was like, okay, this is super cool. I'm engaged all of a sudden. so this is when I was not sure what I wanted to pair with it. I didn't have any new ideas yet, but I'm like, this is different. And now I'm in, now I'm in, I'm all in. All right, I'm I I've definitely the sort of I Know where I am now, I know exactly what I want with this film at this point um And it basically blends the two things I just said basically blends sort of the that rosé kind of Middle-ground um I know there are lots of rosé fans who will take umbridge with the fact that I call rosé middle-ground But guess what? I'm a wine outlaw and you can get over yourselves. and the kava. Damn it, I gave it away. I meant to say bubbles. Cut that part. That's okay. Kava, I totally get it. I was even gonna say if you didn't do bubbles for this episode at the end, I'm not doing bubbles. But I would have said Kava is gonna work with this movie. think that's a real, that's a true pairing. It's not for me, but that is an authentic pairing. I I would recommend that to anyone else. so that's where I started. went I went Rosé and I went to Cava and it kind of evolves a little bit. Well, that will unroll and unravel as we move along. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. All right. Ringo manages to successfully join up with the gang posing as a fellow outlaw on the run. However, Ringo's plan quickly becomes complicated as Sancho begins ordering the execution of hostages, as well as the tension created when Dolores, Sancho's woman, that's Nieves Navarro, encourages Major Clyde's romantic feelings towards her. That's the father of Ruby, the fiance of the sheriff. Meanwhile, one of Sancho's men begins making advances towards Major Clyde's daughter, Ruby. So this is where we start to get all this weird romantic entanglements going on in this film. Levels! Oh, so good. But the best part is it handles them well. Here's like the... Yeah. Here's what's amazing about the, I think the filmmaking from previous era eras and specifically the filmmaking of these like on the go spaghetti Westerns is they're always sort of layers, right? There's always great layering with the characters, right? There's always some good romance and all this stuff, right? um And they don't necessarily take too much time setting up the relationships. They just sort of weave them. in and it just feels natural and organic. you know, in a film today, this would take, you know, it'd take forever to kind of set up all these sort of romantic sort of entanglements, but it just comes off so fluidly and it doesn't seem forced or artificial. And all the character, everything the characters are doing seems completely plausible in the world. And it's just kind of fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. This is where I started to really rethink what this movie was in terms of tone, style and aesthetic. OK. Where one, had a certain heart to it. Like there was a sweetness here. There was a like real humanity. Like after all the seemingly senseless death of the opening, all of a sudden it's like the romance is being taken seriously. Ringo seems to care about the hostages. Right. A little bit like he's. Well, also, like being very realist about how much he can do or not do. And, you know, he tries to save a kid from dying worries. And he even tells the kid like some hostages get shot and ring and ring goes like there's nothing you can do for them. You know, and says a very point blank. And he's like, you need to he's like, you need to forget about them. It's so hard. It's I know. but also. But also he does it with that. He's like, no, no, no. He's like, I'm being serious. Now that I've said my serious thing, let's go live. And la la la. Yeah. Yeah. I love that attitude of his where he's like, but you know, and of course he's also a bit of a great, he's a charmer and you really quickly realize he's a manipulator for good or for ill. He like knows how to run circles around people. gets there. He gets their number and is like, okay. I know what you need to hear and I'm going to say it and I'm going to say it in a way where it's like, yeah, yeah, you know. And the best part is when he gets cornered, the way he gets out of it every time is he's like, you're absolutely right. All right. You know, he's like, yes, that is exactly what I did. And I'm going to tell you why. Yep. Right. But then he's going to be like, and now I'm to tell you why I did that. And sometimes he'll even be like, well, of course, because I get more out of it. So of course I tried. Right. You know, then he's like, even though you don't like that, I tried. It's like. why wouldn't I have tried because I would have gotten more money. So he's like, and you still need me. So you're not going to kill me. That's right. And just explains that to them very casually. And he's like, you still need me. So you're not going to kill me. And how about this? So I tried that it failed, but here's what's going to happen. You still need me. So you're still going to give me what I tried to get because you need me that bad. And you're like, and of course you see the bandits being like, fuck, we do still need you that bad. And they're like, so maybe we will still give you what you want, even though you tried to get it in a devious way. It's so well written, and keeps doing the thing you don't expect. And then the romances that are going on, you're like, okay, this, this isn't actually going to go anywhere. It's going to be for a no. it goes somewhere and you're like, what is happening? This is such a cool movie. So this is where I did not, I still didn't know what I was going to pair with it. But at first, you know, there's a scene where the major even pulls like uh a burgundy off the shelf and you know, bandits want to all drink. And I'm like, okay, a lighter, more delicate red, like more, more perfumey, more floral something around that nature, something lighter, like maybe, yeah, I could go in that direction. But I was definitely the whole like big, powerful, ah rustic wine. I'm like, yeah, no, now that's not right. Now that's not right. I got to find something else. So we'll get there. We'll get there. That's where my brain was. All right. Yeah, I think for me, I'm definitely honing in. I know kind of exactly what I what I wanted uh watching this film. And again, it's one of those pairings where it's not necessarily something I would reach for on my own. But in pairing, if I were trying to put a glass of something in front of someone to watch this film, that's how I approach this pairing. All right. So Ringo soon reveals that he may be out to double cross the sheriff in exchange for a slightly larger cut of the money. Should Sancho agree, he even outlines a plan to take the law and then the bank enforcers unawares and dynamite their escape route so no one can follow. But Ringo also shows signs of sympathy for the hostages and the sheriff's own girlfriend, Ruby. That's right, guys. Don't forget Ruby. who's now one of the hostages, is the sheriff's girlfriend. So Ruby begins to uh suspect that Ringo isn't the cad he claims to be. ah And this is where we'll leave you, which side does Ringo ultimately come out on? Is he only in it for himself? What happens to the romance between the bandit Dolores and the general butch? By the way, I'm just gonna say it. This little relationship between these two. Yeah, the best. Even though it is so I honestly it's probably seven or eight minutes of screen time in terms of the relationship between totally between those two. But it just keeps getting more and more real and serious and sincere and you're like, what is that? What? Really? Really? And yes, really. is absolutely fantastic. But on that note, no spoilers. But we will now discuss in broad strokes how and if this movie pays off. First of all, it pays the fuck off. That's I'm just going to it pays off in spades. It is fantastic. Force your family to watch this film. Every, every, every side thing that it tried to introduce every character, every twisty, all the plot twists that seem to be happening all at once near the end, it all just comes together. there's, there's some decent action. There's a, there's a nice little, I will even say this is when I was like, who is this Julia Gemma guy? Cause there's a fight scene where he even gets like, he gets knocked down. And in one take, the camera doesn't cut. He gets knocked down, falls on his back, kips up. And you're just like, wait, what? And it's him, right? It's not a stunt man. It's him. And I was like, who is this guy? And there's one where he's like climbing on mountain. He's like running through the mountains. And it's like, he's plainly actually on this little tiny ledge and kind of skirt. And that's him climbing it. And you're like, who is this guy? And it turns out he is next stunt man. So I'm like, OK. That makes sense because wow, this guy, he's climbing on roofs up the house, jumping down, rolling. uh The only thing that was kind of like I was not the biggest fan of, there is a fist fight between him and one of the bandits at one point. And it's a little too telegraphed, know, Western action where it's just a bunch of like big roundhouses and Like it's fun up to a point and there's a lot of falling and crashing through things and whatnot. But the actual choreography, I was like, man, I can, I now see this guy can move really, really well. If only he had a real choreographer that could have given him something better to do. That would have been amazing. can't disagree with that. I can't disagree with that. But nevertheless, entertaining enough and yeah, the whole final act. everything pays off, not everything happily, but everything but in ways that are apt and are satisfying. Yeah, this movie was by the time it ended, I was just like, that's one of the best westerns I've ever seen. ah without question, was um not a single beat was out of step for the rest of the film. mean, it just the writing alone, I'm kind of floored mostly by the writing. I know, I know the I know a lot of the heavy lifting was done. uh Sort of in response to or as an inspiration of Leone's films and all the other sort of spaghetti westerns. So I can't discount that there's a whole lineage that sort of led to this. ah But with that said, I've never seen another spaghetti western or western that was this sort of fluid in terms of the comedy and sort of death and sort of dire situations. And you felt the levity. You felt the romance. You felt the love. You felt the death. You felt the danger. All of it was so authentic and real. And it's yeah. Yeah, buddy. um This is yeah. Yeah, so good. So good. It's hard. It is hard to discuss the final act without spoilers because so much happens and so many disparate plot threads of all these different characters. One single plot, but each character really these characters have arcs, which is and the side, the supporting characters, some of the bandits have arcs like it's fascinating. So, yeah, yeah. Go watch this movie. We don't want to give anything else away. But this is where I was like okay what are we pairing with this but first you have an announcement out. Hey guys, listen up. Listen up. Listen closely here. Okay. Before we actually reveal our wine pairings, here's a brief but totally related detour. By the way, disclaimer, the views expressed in the following are solely the views of the brown one and not necessarily the views of the white one. This is entitled The case for the character Ringo from a pistol for Ringo being the actual primary influence for the character Rango from the 2011 animated feature Rango by Gore Verbinski starring Johnny Depp. I'm going to give you a minute to let that sink in. OK, follow me here. While a pistol for Ringo is certainly a response to Leonis work and the other. works of the spaghetti western era, is, it also deviates from those works in specific ways. The animated films director Gore Verbinski himself has made mention that Rango is built from the DNA of spaghetti westerns. And it is clear that a pistol for Ringo is clearly a part of that lineage, right? Number one, let's start topically here with why I think a pistol for Ringo is the cinematic father of the character Ringo. Ringo becomes Ringo with one letter change. Very simple. That's it. That's all. It's just a vowel adjustment, right? Coincidence? Maybe. Number two, the trickster hero archetype, which both Ringo and Ringo personify stands in direct opposition to Leon's protagonist. Leonis leads are dour stoic and clam shelled while both Ringo and Rango use almost foppish humor to maneuver through their worlds. That's point two. Point three, the blending of comedy with real Western danger is on full display in both Rango and Ringo, both in Leonis work danger, but in Leonis work danger is just danger death. is just death and humor is almost non-existent at least from the POV of the lead character. Point four. The idea of identity as performance. Both Rango and Ringo have exaggerated reputations. Ringo has exaggerated his own reputation which allows others to build atop its myth. While Rango has a myth built atop him. uh which then imprisons him. Also, the spaghetti western and general western trope that the fastest gun in the town saves the day is completely abandoned in both Ringo and Rango. Because ultimately Ringo wins through his wit and Rango wins by abandoning ego. Point five. A playful, ironic, spaghetti western tone is the centerpiece of both films as both Ringo and Ringgold learn that the greatest weapon in the Old West isn't a gun. It's the story your enemies and allies believe about you. Reputation. Because like the myth of Billy the Kid, right? Right. Kind of a thing. That's the heavy lifting, right? And finally, thanks for coming to my TED talk. You will probably get more of these in the next season. uh And now back to our regularly scheduled program. oh I'm actually surprised you thought it required that much argument. mean, Ringo, Rango, spaghetti western, like, yeah, no, obvious. It honestly- There's no other. There's no other. It's like, of course, of course it's based on Ringo, especially now that we know that Ringo created spawned all those sequels like Django, right? So that the name Ringo became such a spaghetti Western centric name. That's right. And it's like, and this is based on spaghetti Westerns and it's one letter change off. like, of course. Of Of course. Of course. What's amazing, that guy I've never heard of, or Benz, he actually mentioned that because he does mention all the other films, you know, of course, but he never mentions. officially set yourself up for a lawsuit? Just be like, it's not it's not influenced by anything in specific. Just spaghetti westerns as a genre. Yeah. So yeah, that's what you got to do. It's true. Yeah, 100%. Alright Dallas, so wine pairings my friend, you've already kind of revealed yours so why don't you just wrap that up. Kava, I agree with you, this is a sparkling and effervescent feeling kind of a western because of Ringo as a character and where goes with the romances, where goes with the comedy relief, where it goes with its action. So do you have a specific Kava you wanted to bring up or what's going on? I do I do I do. Oh, did I put it in there? Oh, I didn't put it in there. All right. So I actually went with a crema started with kava, you know, just the idea of kava, right. And yeah, so started, of course, with the rosé, because it kind of, you know, it's it's a little like, it's an intermediary. It's not guys, I know. But just walk with me here. We make up our own rules here. Or at least I do. ah and uh started with the Rosé, um but as things started to coalesce, this film just really kind of titillates, it vibrates, just, there is something extra about this film because everything is just done so fucking well and so expediently and so expertly that it's more than the sum of its parts. And for me, that was definitely a bubble. That's a bubble. That's a bubble. That's a little fizz on top of something. And so I started thinking, of course, um well, what about some some sort of bubbly rosés? What about what what's what's a bubbly rosé? What's the what's the where we going with the rosé? um And I eventually found a uh brute rosé cremant. um from a leisure day. You and I went to K and L once the last time we were there. We spent like two hours there. By the way, this is a year and a half ago. But I had a bottle, got a bottle there and just drink it. But it is a blend of the trousseau and trousseau and Pinot Noir. It is a lovely crema. It is the So blanc de noir. All red grapes, all red grapes. done in the champagne walk style. And, know, that was essentially Dave will correct me on this, but essentially it's a second fermentation, um which gives you in bottle that gives you the little a little bubbly a little a little extra thing and It definitely requires a little age. I think 30 months on the 30 months on the lease. And like this film, you know, this film was done. What this film is 66 or 60. What is it? Five to five. And everything about this film holds up. Nothing feels dated. Nothing feels tired. You know, all the characters are plausible and real. And it just it's. kind of perfection and I think again not necessarily my style, then not something I'm reaching for on my own. But if I'm sitting someone down and I say to them, here is a glass of wine that I think pairs perfectly with this film. It's going to be this Ligier Brut Rosé Cremante de Jura. By the way, it's from the Jura region. And it's beautiful. It is about 25, I think I paid 25 bucks for it at K &L. But you can find it anywhere from like 25 to 30, I think. So just to be clear, this is not technically a kava then. No, that's why I said I said that it will will evolve as we move. Yeah, I started with Kava. Yeah. So we started with Rosé, then I thought Kava then I was like, all right, what's what's what's the sort of halfway point? What's the actual name of this wine? Let's get that out the gate. It is the Ligierre, L-I-G-I-E-R, Brut Rosé, Cremont um Jura, by the way, guys, it's southwest France. So it's in France like champagne. The Champenoise style, champagne style of sparkling all Cava is also champagne style. It's basically the champagne of Spain specifically. And then the Jura, any sparkling wine, even if it's made in the champagne style, if it's not in champagne, it's going to have a different name. It's generally like Cremont Day, wherever it's from exactly. Yeah. But again, it's it's it is fun I'm again not my not my go-to but it is a lot of fun to drink and this film was a lot of fun to watch and I Sweet would highly highly recommend both. So go and get yourself a bottle of the leger Brute Rose a criminal do Jorah. All right, Dave. Talk to me. Yeah, what We'll have an AI free Google search link down in the description of this episode. So if you click on that, that'll take you to Google search, see if there's any near you that you can find of this exact bottle and AI free. So you will not be destroying the environment by making that search. right. So for me, by the time I was done with this, was like, ooh, I want to, I do still want something that was layered that had a lot of flavor because there was just a lot of flavor in this film. m Ringo is a character and the romances and the way he played everything, even though there's violence and there's death and it's very serious and all that fun stuff and it's a diehard type setup. So yes, very serious and very violent in its way. It still felt incredibly sweet to me. And so I'm like, want it, you know, it's got that seriousness to it. It's got the violence. I don't want it too sweet, but I'm like, I want a rich layered, just, you know, bouquet of flavor and aroma. But a little bit of sweetness at the very least a little like something medium sweet would be perfect So and then thinking of Spain the fact this was shot in Spain with most half Spanish cast I'm like, you know what? got it. I got to go for a sweetie sherry. Okay, I'm going sherry all the way I'm going for a cream sherry. Oh cream sherry is a blend of sweet and dry sherry So the unsweet and the sweet and they blend it so that it's not too much of either Right and for those of you have tried sherry in the past like dry sherry It's challenging. I'm still trying to get my palette around that. It can be a lot without the sweetness because it's very nutty, very oxidized, very, you know, all those very brown fruit and woodsy and tobaccoy. And when I say nutty, it's like pure nut skins. Like it's the stuff where you're like, ooh, is that, do I really just want a mouthful of that? I'm not so sure. And it can be very challenging to adapt to. But with the sweetness, it becomes very much like just the right amount of sweetness, becomes more creme brulee. You know, get those challenging flavors, then that sweetness just polishes up. And it, God, it goes down so easy. Even though it is a cavalcade of flavors, and they're layered, you've got nuts, you've got the brown fruit, you've got the wood, you've got the tobacco, you've got the leather, you've got these kind of earthy, almost mushroomy kind of things underneath it all, where it's like, you know, that stuff where it is. It's oxidized. Sherry is, so you're going, and you also have the stuff where it's oxidized, it's a little bit oxidized, and usually there's going to be a bit of yeastiness in there from the way they age it with what they called before. I'm not gonna go into it, it's way too complicated. um That'll be its own episode another day, I'm not gonna, Sherry is one of the most complicated things to explain in wine in terms of how it's made. So that is something, I will devote an episode to it maybe one of these days, but not today. So it's Christmas. No, everyone does not need a uh lesson of that depth today. So I went with a cream sherry that's actually a little bit on the lighter, brighter side, a bit more acidic than you're going to get in a lot of cream sherrys. So it's got that acidity to balance, counterbalance that sweetness and keep it a little lighter because this movie is so buoyant. It's so it just moves. It's such a clip that I'm like, I don't want a heavy cream sherry. So I got a cream sherry. It's Emilio Hidalgo cream. Moranita, which means little brunette one, which grows great for all the ladies in this movie at the very least. So um the Amelia Hidalgo cream, Moranita, bright for a cream sherry. It's got almost this like green tea like note to it. And like this sort of like candied or spiced ginger in there that keeps it very bright and alive while it also has that sweetness to it. And then you've got those, you know, the date raisin. caramel and toffee notes that always come with like a sweet cherry. um And then just has this very sleek finish, just very smooth. It was everything I wanted in this movie. So I've never had a cream cherry that was quite this bright and acidic before. So I thought that really made this one the choice. But if you find a cream cherry out there, guys, go for it. It's going to match this movie beautifully. If you can find a nice champagne was style sparkling, even a kava. Go for it. But these specific ones will have an AI free search link down below in the description of this episode. So click on that if you like and see if you can find it. This one, Scream Sherry, it's like 15 to 20 bucks for a full bottle. So it's pretty affordable. It's wonderful. it. All right, guys. So that is our Christmas episode. We are pretty much, we're going on holiday. We'll be back, won't be back next week, that's for damn sure. But we will be back in a couple of weeks or a few weeks or something of that nature with another wine and entertainment pairing, four year of entertainment. By the way, if you need more of us, we last year did a whole Snoop Dogg in the dog house Christmas album and we tasted through all of Snoop Dogg's wines for Christmas last year. So go listen to that episode for our Christmas episode. It's the one, Snoop Dogg and the Doghouse. You will find it under Ventertainment. Check that one out. We love that episode. It's actually getting a lot of love all of a sudden. was just talking to Dallas earlier that it spiked in listens this week where just out of nowhere, you're like, boom, I was like, whoa, okay, because we don't have the Christmas episodes out yet. This one's gonna drop tomorrow. I'm gonna edit this tonight and just get it out the door. So here we go. ah But Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Happy New Year. You will not hear from us until the new year after the new year. But this has been a blast. This has been quite a bloody year. It's been a year. been a year, man. It's been a year. Podcast has done amazing, but everything else in the world is not. So we all hopefully are getting something out of this podcast is a little bit of fun. And, you know, we have so much coming in the new year. We have so many irons in the fire right now. uh So Yeah, we look forward to giving you more of this and to announce everything as we go. happy holidays, guys. Happy New Year and we will see you next year. drink some Watch some movies. Love you guys. See you I can't