The Price of Power

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Audience Member Nicely photographed spaghetti western with a stale plot. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member In post civil war America the President, (Van Johnson), travels to Dallas and is assassinated by corrupt officials and businessman interested in installing the vice President whom they can blackmail due to incriminating documents. A gunman (Guiliano Gemma) convinced that his black friend is wrongly accused of the assassination aims to uncover the truth. Tonino Valeri directed this fascinating, if flawed film which obviously is an allegory for the Kennedy assassination. The film may wrongly present blacks as slaves working on plantations in Texas but the film is nonetheless enjoyable and presents an interesting interpretation - that Kennedy's death was the result of a coup de tat- which many Americans could not accept at the time. Oswald's murder is replayed here as the black accused of the assassination is murdered by the men responsible, on route to Fort Worth prison. This moment in the film is more melodramatic than Oswald's death with his various escorts shot down before his over the top death scene. Nonetheless this is definitely one of the more interesting and worthwhile spaghetti westerns. Worth a look! 2 1/2 stars 4-18-14 Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I like the plot of this Spaghetti Western alot going on. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member An interesting spaghetti western that mirrors the Kennedy assassination. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member About as subtle as a sledgehammer, "The Price of Power" is nonetheless is avery entertaining political Spaghetti Western which deals interestingly with the JFK Assassination in allegorical fashion. The movie scores points for its portrayal of 1881 Texas, and the conceit that a group a bitter ex-Confederates would target the reform-minded President Garfield (a very dignified Van Johnson) out of anger towards Reconstruction. The movie's racial and political aspects are well-done, but the more conventional revenge plot and Western plot conventions are hit-or-miss. The staging of the assassination is amusingly done, as is the dialogue that echoes verbatim the JFK Assassiantion ("No one man could have fired that many shots so fast!"). The movie runs out of steam towards the end, as the plot unravels and exactly who is double-crossing who becomes abundantly unclear. But definitely one of the best non-Leone Spaghetti Westerns. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Price of Power

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