In this third installment of my irregular series looking at the early careers of iconic composers, we take a look at an additional eight scores written by the legendary Ennio Morricone between 1961 and 1967 which were not included in the first two articles. This group of reviews includes the first ever western that Morricone scored, several other spaghetti westerns from the Fistful of Dollars era, and several comedic and dramatic romance scores – one of which was for an early film by one of Europe’s most esteemed directors.
DUELLO NEL TEXAS [GUNFIGHT AT RED SANDS] (1963)
Duello Nel Texas, sometimes known as Gunfight at Red Sands, was one of the first ever spaghetti western films, and the first western movie scored by Morricone, a year before A Fistful of Dollars. It was directed by Ricardo Blasco and Mario Caiano and stars Richard Harrison as Ricardo ‘Gringo’ Martinez, the adopted son of a family of Mexican sheep farmers, who witnesses the murder of his entire family by bandits. Bent on revenge, Gringo teams up with a local lawman, Corbett (G. R. Stuart) to track down the killers – but soon discovers that not everyone in his hometown wants the killers found.
The score is anchored by an absolutely fabulous song, “A Gringo Like Me,” which has music by Morricone, lyrics by Anne Carol Danell and Tino Fornai, and is performed with golden-voiced authority by folk singer Peter Tevis under a galloping, lyrical orchestral undercurrent. It’s the first song that Morricone wrote for a western film, and set the standard for all those that followed it. The score proper is actually surprisingly conventional, much closer in tone to the western scores of Moross and Bernstein than anything Morricone would himself write. Nevertheless, conventional Morricone is still good Morricone, and there is a lot to recommend. There are numerous cues full of intense and percussion-heavy rattling action music, moments of trumpet-led introspection and beauty, some soothing and folksy guitar solos, and some pseudo-comedic honkytonk saloon music that breaks the flow but probably works in context.
“Part 7,” “Part 14,” and “Part 18” reprise the melody from the ‘Gringo Like Me’ song with good-natured rambunctiousness. “Part 4,” “Part 11,” and “Part 12” are probably the pick of the action cues, and feature some stark, insistent piano chords underneath a shrill orchestra and rapped snare percussion. The lilting guitar melody that floats through several tracks, notably “Part 2,” is sometimes transposed to a lonely harmonica, as in “Part 8,” or a bank of emotional strings, as in “Part 10”. The more reflective side of the score is also illustrated by a soulful trumpet solo that can be heard in “Part 5” and especially the superb “Part 13”. The whole thing climaxes with overt emotion in the beautiful “Part 17,” a bank of lush strings. While not as creative as any of his later iconic spaghetti western scores, Duello Nel Texas is a fascinating look at the genesis of the entire genre, and is well worth exploring for devotees interested in film music history.
The score was released on CD in 2012 by Italian label Digitmovies, with eighteen unlabeled cues, and the main title theme song has been included on several compilation album over the years. Just remember: there’s just one kind of man that you can trust – that’s a dead man, or a gringo like me!
Track Listing: 1. A Gringo Like Me (performed by Peter Tevis) (2:28), 2. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 1 (1:04), 3. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 2 (2:34), 4. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 3 (2:00), 5. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 4 (2:04), 6. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 5 (1:53), 7. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 6 (0:58), 8. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 7 (1:02), 9. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 8 (1:37), 10. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 9 (1:45), 11. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 10 (1:23), 12. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 11 (2:14), 13. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 12 (3:03), 14. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 13 (1:18), 15. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 14 (1:14), 16. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 15 (4:10), 17. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 16 (1:58), 18. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 17 (3:40), 19. Duello nel Texas, Pt. 18 (2:42), 20. A Gringo Like Me (performed by Dicky Jones) (2:49). Digitmovies DPDM-2005, 41 minutes 54 seconds.
