Requiescant (aka Kill and Pray) 1967 Carlo Lizzani

If you're like me, the title of this movie is just a big question mark.  What does it mean?  How do you pronounce it?  What's going on?  It's Latin.  It comes from the phrase "Requiescat in pace", better known as "Rest in Peace".  Make sense now?  The main character's name is a version of "Rest in Peace"!  Awesome!  Bad guys everywhere look out!

Requiescant (Lou Castel, Fists in the Pocket) is the only survivor of the Mexican people who lived around San Antonio/  When he was a small child, they all met at a fort outside of town to celebrate peace between the Mexicans and Americans.  So what do the Americans, led by former Confederate soldier William Bellows Ferguson (Mark Damon, Johnny Oro), do?  They turn a machine gun on the Mexicans and kill them all, except little Requiescant.

He's saved by a traveling preacher and his family, and raised as their son.  One day their daughter Princy runs away to see the world and Requiescant heads off to find her.  This brings him into conflict with the evil Ferguson and his gang, and the surrounding Mexicans just looking for someone to help them get San Antonio back.

This movie has everything - gunfights, lynchings, hookers with a heart of gold, and an underdog hero who just happens to be a crack shot, and the great Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo).  He plays Reverend Juan and his whole life is dedicated to eradicating Ferguson and retaking San Antonio for the Mexicans.

It also has a lot of quirky touches, too.  Requiescant rides his horse backwards sometimes and he spurs him on with a cast iron frying pan instead of a whip.  Ferguson likes to refer to himself in the third person when he berates his servants and friends.  He's also quite the fancy dresser.  Check out his pancake makeup and Dracula cape that he wears for the final showdown.  He's one of the great Spaghetti Western villians.  It's also interesting that he happens to look like Christopher McDonald, Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore.  So if you're not a huge fan of Italian Westers, you could always quote lines from that movie or take a shot whenever he refers to himself in the third person.  You'll be loaded 15 minutes in.

Otherwise, if you do like Spaghettis, you should definitely check this out.  It's on a double feature DVD from Wild East.  It comes with the movie Dead Men Don't Count, also starring Mark Damon, along with trailers, photo galleries, and an interview with Mark Damon himself, discussing these films.