A Man Called Blade (1977) User Reviews

A Blade In The Gut

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 8/10 · 14 August 2006]

One of the later Spaghetti Westerns, and often compared to Enzo G. Castellari's "Keoma" from 1976, Sergio Martino's "Mannaja" aka. "A Man Called Blade" is a very stylish, and pretty brutal movie with some minor flaws. The comparisons to Keoma are quite plausible indeed, Mannaja was made only one year after Keoma, both soundtracks were composed by Maurizio and Guido De Angelis, and the leading actor Maurizio Merli actually looks a lot like the great Franco Nero, who played the title role in Keoma. It is often stated that Maurizio Merli only got bigger roles due to his resemblance to Franco Nero. Anyway, Merli's performance as Mannaja is great. Comparing Mannaja to Keoma, Mannaja had a smaller budget, but it makes up for this with graphic violence and genuine nastiness. The performances in Mannaja are great, even though it's pretty hard to come up to Franco Nero, Woody Strode and William Berger. The music composed by the De Angelis Brothers, which some folks seem to have disliked in "Keoma" (I'm not one of them), actually fits into Mannaja very well.

Mannaja, an occasional bounty hunter and gunslinger who is fast with both his gun and his tomahawk, comes to a small town to collect the reward for a bandit he has caught. The town, which doesn't have a Sheriff, is ruled by an aging rich landowner named Mc Gowan, who treats the laborers at his silver mine like animals. Mc Gowan's right hand man, a ruthless killer named Voller, however, even makes his boss look like a nice guy in his sadism and unscrupulousness.

Mannaja has, apart from its resemblances to Keoma, many resemblances to earlier Spaghetti Westerns. Mannaja's back-flashes, for example, remind of movies like Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence", or Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West". Since these resemblances are only occasional, however, they don't make the movie worse. The performances are good, I especially liked John Steiner as the villainous Voller and Maurizio Merli as Mannaja. The character of Mannaja (according to the movie 'Mannaja' means 'blade' in a Native American language) is generally very cool, the fact that he kills with his tomahawk as frequently as with his gun (if not more frequently), makes the whole movie very stylish. All things considered, Maurizio Merli, who is best known for his roles in ultraviolent Italian crime flicks, is probably not as versatile an actor as Franco Nero, but he definitely made a great Mannaja. A nasty, ultra-violent and gripping Spaghetti Western, "Mannaja" is a must see for genre-fans!

A Spaghetti Western Classic!

[kinlan79 · 7/10 · 18 January 2003]

I found this film to be quite inspirational, actually. The movie is about a man who wields a blade for a weapon in fending off the bad guys while rescuing the girl from the evil villain, Voller (brilliantly played by John Steiner). At the beginning of the film we find our rogue hero Blade (played by Maurizio Merli) chasing after a man through the misty swamps. The man looks behind him frantically several times to try to make out the figure of his pursuer. Suddenly there is a swishing noise in the air as a hatchet blade strikes the man, severing his right hand against a tree. Thus begins the tale, and follows our hero into a virtual ghost town, where "sin and vice are not permitted." He enters a saloon where he and his new companion (the man with the severed hand) receive several shifty-eyed glances. This is when Blade first meets the dastardly Voller and wagers a gamble playing cards, to which of course our hero wins. The filming technique used throughout this scene is truly classic, where some shots show a profile of the villain on one side of the screen, with Blade standing in the background. The character acting is superb. I cannot speak enough about how Steiner personifies the classic old west villain to a "T". His snide mannerisms and long, lean stature lend to his overall character appeal. Throughout this film, there is plenty of splendid gunfighting and even a particularly notable scene in which Blade dukes it out with Voller and three of his henchmen in the mud. Yes, the actor actually does 90% of these stunts (as I later found out watching the director interview on DVD)! The director, Sergio Martino, could not have directed a more well-scripted film, complete with all the elements of a traditional spaghetti western! I give this film 3 out of 4 stars, mainly for its overall character appeal and for the simple fact that it's a 70's flick! 'Nuff said...

Very entertaining Spaghetti Western

[charley-54 · 8/10 · 25 March 2008]

I absolutely love this film.

The lead actor, Maurizio Merli, is a handsome man and a decent actor cast in the role of the "Good" Bounty Hunter, with Donald O'Brien as the "Ugly" thief/wanted man, and John Steiner as the "Bad" villain. The acting is top-notch as far as Italian Westerns go. The cinematography is beautiful, the editing great, and the direction superb. The sets are great but shrouded in a mysterious fog that lends to the movies surrealism. This film is like a very Artistic Western Graphic-Novel!

There are a few things in the plot that make you scratch your head (what movie DOESN'T suffer this problem?) but overall I would rank this in my Top Ten Westerns so far...here is the list (only culled from films I have seen thus far)

1. The Good The Bad The Ugly 2. Django 3. Mannaja 4. Fistful of Dollars 5. For a Few Dollars More 6. Tombstone 7. Outlaw Josey Wales 8. Unforgiven 9. Pale Rider 10.Silverado 11.High Plains Drifter 12.Hang Em High 13.Once Upon A Time in the West 14.Fistful of Dynamite 15.The Quick and The Dead

If you are a fan of movies that are as much art as film, then you should love Italian cinema!

The spaghetti western genre goes out with a bang...

[chaos-rampant · 20 June 2008]

By 1977, the spaghetti western was already on its death throes and if I'm not horribly mistaken, Mannaja is the last major release in the genre. These latter day spaghetti westerns are all visibly different from the 67-71 ones in that they tried to push the envelope in different ways. Ironically the vast amount of tired, quickie Django and Sartana clones that sprung in the late 60's weren't the final nail in the coffin. It seems that after westerns like Mannaja the genre had nowhere to go, having explored every nook and cranny of the old west and milked every bit of potential in the process.

Sergio Martino was not a regular spaghetti western director. He made his name through a series of fantastic giallo thrillers in the early 70's (All the Colours of the Dark, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh etc) but he was generally a genre director who dabbled with anything that came his way. As a testament to his talent, he was usually successful, often with stunning results. He had tried his hand on the western once more in the Anthonio De Steffen vehicle Arizona Colt Returns, which was a pleasurable entry but business as usual for the most part. Mannaja is markedly different in that it strives for more. It has ambition and the means to pull it off.

Strangely, Mannaja takes its cue from Enzo G. Castellari's incredible Keoma (or as it was retitled for commercial purposes, Django Rides Again) from one year earlier. Maurizio Merli's Mannaja bears more than a passing resemblance to the dirty and grim looking Keoma played by Franco Nero, there are several beautiful slo-mo shots, a dream-like atmosphere in places, it's quite brutal (a hand is chopped, a woman is whipped, a man gets an axe in his head, old ladies and other innocent bystanders are shot and killed) and the score is very weird by spaghetti western standards and it can be as annoying as Keoma's (although I didn't mind the latter). Just as Keoma, it doesn't shy away from taking risks and luckily it pays off, no least thanks to Martino's skillful directing. There's visual awesomeness to be found throughout the movie. Striking compositions are enhanced by great set design lending a gritty feeling to everything from the dilapidated town to the dirty clothes to the muddy streets. Nature plays a big part in how the movie looks: rain, mud, fog are all used to great effect, the last shootout in the fog adding a surreal, ghost-town quality to it. The look of the first half hour reminded me of Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller for some reason, with a dash of Django. It also appears to be very much influenced by the work of Sam Peckinpah, whom Sergio Martino himself cites as an inspiration. Generally it's equal parts gritty and atmospheric and with enough budget to hold everything on the seams.

Maurizio Merli made his name in the Italian movie business by playing violent Dirty Harry-esquire cops in polizioto crime flicks and was quite successful as a genre actor. He can play the mean machine effortlessly and it's a real pleasure to watch him as a badass bounty hunter here. A real shame that he didn't do more westerns and even more so that he passed away 4-5 years after making this one. The rest of the cast all turn in fine performances.

Mannaja might have come during the twilight of the spaghetti western but it's easily one of the best it has to offer. A must-see for fans.

An excellent knock-off of "Keoma"

[Samoan Bob · 7/10 · 11 March 2003]

In the early 70s, Spaghetti Westerns were going through a dry spell. Countless crappy parody films had flooded the market and strangled the life out of the genre. Then Italian crime maestro and occasional Spaghetti director Enzo G. Castellari came along and directed the psychedelic, action-packed masterpiece "Keoma". Gone was the cynicism and nihilism that seperated early Spaghettis from American Westerns. Instead there was an injection of emotion. The silent hero of the past was now a heartfelt warrior who wasn't above crying in between bouts of ass-kicking. Needless to say, it revived the genre briefly and led to a few knock-offs. "Mannaja" is probably the most obvious with it's similar visual style and music score, but Sergio Martino's keen visual sense (though not as good as Castellari's) and Maurizio Merli's excellent performance allow the film to stand on it's own two legs. There's a lot of well-staged slow motion shootouts and a fistfight in the mud here and there, along with an interesting if not compelling plotline. All in all, this is a great knock-off that has just enough originality to be a good stand-alone piece. Recommended.

The movie gets the usual Western issues , such as avenger antiheroes , violent facing off and exaggerated baddies

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 26 June 2020]

Italian production full of action , excessive characters , shootouts and lots of violence . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . It deals with a dramatic story of a feud between implacable enemies . After getting the bounty of a villainous outlaw known as Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) , a tough bounty hunter named Blade (Maurizio Merli) arrives in a mining city called Suttonville , where is hired to track down the abducted daughter (Sonja Jeannine) of the town's crippled owner (Philippe Leroy) who has a corrupt right-hand-man (John Steiner) . Meanwhile , a bunch of bandits are looting shipment of silver from the silver mines that are run the mine owner McGregor. But Blade is double-crossed and imprisoned by the nasties and submitted to cruel tortures . Later on , there takes place some exciting scenes of men fighting to the death . At the end happens a bloody vendetta and reckoning , as usual . Sharp shoots, gun and axe with great accuracy!

This Western contains action-packed , ruthless characters , quick-fire , violence , rapacious revenge , slaughter , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . A good example of twilight Spaghetti western genre from Italy ; it is daring , a notoriously violent Pasta movie , so extreme in every way , it is one of the handful of Italian Western that abounded in the 60s and 70s . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , crossfire , twists and turns with exciting final . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the ending and the unusual conclusion . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some violence , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes , including agreeable soundtrack with Morricone influence . Well starred by Maurizio Merli as a bounty killer , armed with a hatchet instead of a gun , Merli may be a name best remembered by Poliziesco aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'70s to the late 80s, Maurizio was one of the most popular actors of the genre where he found his niche - at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics. The handsome, Italian-born actor began in Western genre in White Fang series (1974) and worked well enough for Marino Girolami and Fabrizio De Angelis to cast Merli as the lead in the crime drama Rome violent (1975) a year later. Much like before, Merli was cast because the film vaguely resembled the Franco Nero Film Streets of eternity (1973) ("High Crime") . Violent Rome (1975) turned out to be a huge success both in Italy and abroad and Merli found himself inexplicably catapulted to national stardom. Very similar to how Terence Hill found his niche in comedies after being discovered out of the crowd of Nero stand-ins , Maurizio Merli established himself as the leading man in the Italian crime film genre of the period . Over the brief span from 1975-1979, Merli starred in no less than a dozen crime films from the likes of noted Italian directors Umberto Lenzi , Stelvio Massi, and Fernando Di Leo including such classics as Naples violenta (1976) , and From Corleone to Brooklyn (1978) . Merli also followed Nero's footsteps once again in the Keoma-inspired Mannaja .From there, Maurizio began acting in others genres until his early death at 49 . Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Franco Nero or Clint Eastwood, however, Maurizio never became a top international box-office attraction . Mannaja is a thrilling western with screenplay by the notorious Scavolini and Sergio Martino himself , including a breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Maurizio Merli against the heartless John Steiner and his hoodlums . Exciting Spaghetti Western and it is proceeded in violent style and ordinary narration . The film packs thrills , gunplay and high body-count ; it's fast moving , quite entertaining and including bursting with explosive violence . Here appears familiar faces from Macaroni Western such as : Donald O'Brien , Rik Battaglia , Enzo Fiermonte , Antonio Casale and special mention for Philippe Leroy as the wheelchair bound mayor McGowan and the extremely baddie John Steiner as co-starring playing the corrupt and sadistic associate.

Good production design creating an acceptable scenario with muddy outdoors, rocky landscapes from Campo Imperatore, L'Aquila, Abruzzo in the Stagecoach/Horse Riding scenes , Lazio , Rome and interiors in Elios studios . Adequate and atomspheric cinematography by Federico Zanni. Nice and sensitive musical score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis , furthermore , catching and emotive songs performed by Cesare De Natale as Dandylion. Mannaja was competently directed by the prolific filmmaker Sergio Martino who usually uses pseudonym as Martin Dolman . Talented and versatile writer/director Sergio Martino has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, Giallo , comedy, Western , and science fiction in a career that spans over 40 years . He was especially expert on Western as proved in ¨Mannaja¨ and this ¨Arizona returns¨ and Giallo such as ¨The case of scorpion's tail ¨ , ¨Torso¨ ,¨the scorpion with two tails¨ , ¨The strange vice of Mrs Ward¨ , Cannibal movie as "Mountain of the Cannibal God", Italian crime thrillers as "Violent Professionals" and ¨Sci-Fi as ¨Destroyer¨ , "2019: After the Fall of New York" . Rating: 7/10 , above average Spaghetti , this is a great Ravioli Western in which the camera stalks in moving style throughout a story with decent visual skills . This is a bewildering story , enjoyable as well as violent , and it will appeal to Spaghetti hardcore fans .

Late entry in the genre but above average.

[tankjonah · 6/10 · 28 January 2006]

A bounty hunter (Maurizio Merli) arrives in a town to confront the man responsible for his father's death years earlier. He finds him broken down and agrees to take the ransom gold to get the man's daughter (Sonya Jeannine) back who has been kidnapped by the man's most trusted guard (John Steiner), planning to keep it for himself. However, he finds the daughter in cahoots with the guard and are lovers. Blade is captured and left for dead. Although the hey day of the spaghetti western was long finished this typically violent example of the genre was made and is actually quite decent albeit derivative, with music similar but inferior to Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and clichéd (flashbacks depicting the reason for revenge) elements. There are stylish moments such as the juxtaposition of massacre scenes with boisterous dance sequences and Blade's reneging on his quest for revenge is refreshing if unlikely. The most violent scenes include Blade's first victim having his hand severed by the flying tomahawk, his weapon of choice, and Blade left for dead, buried up to his neck in the sand, in the desert his eyes pinned open and made to stare directly at the sun, whilst his head is kept up by a spear protruding from the ground aimed at his throat.

Not a great deal of originality, but still a brilliantly entertaining western!

[The_Void · 6/10 · 9 June 2008]

Sergio Martino is one of my favourite directors, and the reason for that is mostly down to his excellent Giallo films. While Martino did a lot of work in other genres, he was not especially well known for his westerns despite making a handful of them. A Man Called Blade is the last western that Martino made and also the only one I've seen. However, on the evidence of this film; I have to say that he makes a fine western! The film did come rather late on in the Spaghetti Western cycle and as such won't be remembered for it's originality, but A Man Called Blade is entertaining throughout and that's the main thing. The film takes up the common basic western plot of a nameless man drifting into town and causing a stir. The man is named Blade, called such because his choice of basic weapon is a hatchet instead of a revolver. He arrives in town looking to claim the bounty for an outlaw but winds up getting involved with the town's wheelchair bound mayor and his corrupt associates. Naturally, the outlaw ends up causing a disagreement and fighting ensues!

I didn't know a lot about this film going into it, but was very pleased when I discovered that Maurizio Merli was the leading man. He's an actor I know best for his roles in crime films, and although a lot of his stuff is quite similar; I have noticed over the more recent Merli films that I've seen that the actor does actually have quite a good range, and he fits into the gritty western star mould very well indeed here. Westerns are often best remembered for their scores, and indeed the music here is very memorable, although more because it's so unusual compared to what I'm used to from westerns! Action is a very important element of a successful western and this film doesn't let its audience down on that front as we get a constant stream of it which entertains throughout. Martino delivers fistfights and gun fights in droves. The locations used are excellent and the film does have a rather dirty feel, despite the cinematography being crisp and clear. The biggest flaw of the film as far as I'm concerned is the fact that there isn't all that much to separate it from the rest of the genre; but if you're just looking for an entertaining western, you can't go far wrong with this one!

Excellent spaghetti western

[TankGuy · 10/10 · 6 December 2011]

This is my fourth spaghetti western review.

I was really pleased with Mannaja,it's one of the last spaghetti westerns and it was released at a time when the western as a whole was dying and people were becoming more interested in action movies and comedies.

The acting is good, the main soundtrack is excellent and the action is brilliant. There is a lot of ear blasting action which includes several shootouts and brawls. There's scenes where wagons are chased and shot at and there's shootouts in the middle of the street,there's also plenty of explosions including an entire mountain blowing up. Mannaja also uses his weapon of choice(an axe)to take out his enemies.

The character of Mannaja is a typical spaghetti western anti-hero,he's a bit similar to Django and Sabata, but he's a brilliant characters played brilliantly by Maurizio Merli. The soundtrack is excellent,i highly recommend this movie and if you can get hold of it,watch it.

Keep checking my account for more spaghetti western reviews, there is a lot more on the way.

Keoma copy with plenty of hard-hitting action

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 August 2016]

After the relative success of Castellari's KEOMA, with Franco Nero, Italian director Sergio Martino decided to attempt to best his fellow countryman's movie so made a rip-off very close to the original. This film sees everyone's favourite Franco Nero lookalike Maurizio Merli starring as Blade, whose trick is to kill people with hatchets as opposed to a gun – although as you can imagine, he packs a pistol too, as he doesn't have an unlimited supply of those hatchets.

The film is eventful rather than ground-breaking, with a fair few twists and surprises to keep viewers engaged, and there's plenty of action and violence going around for genre fans. The plot contains the usual genre staples, from ruthless and greedy mine owners to the prostitute with the heart of gold, but the script is deeper and more real than one would expect and Martino is a sure bet as director, taking everything in his stride. In addition, the camera-work is pretty darned great and the score memorable – including a Nero impersonator wailing on the soundtrack as in KEOMA (Merli himself, perhaps?).

The acting? It's fun, excitable stuff, typical in Italian genre films such as these. Merli kicks backside as usual but also goes a bit deeper, doing plenty of soul-seeking. Leroy is a veteran actor who puts in a hounded turn as the old bloke with a conscience and John Steiner is evil incarnate as the sadistic, arrogant villain Voller. Aside from some turns from Italian regular players, kudos to Donald O'Brien, putting in a wry, expressive turn as criminal Burt Craven, who stars in the opening scene as he loses a hand to Blade. Packed with requisite explosions, shoot-outs, muddy fist-fights, and a rather nasty torture/burial in the sand, this is typical stuff, but always interesting even at its lowest ebb.

by this time the Speghetti Western genre was dead

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 13 April 2005]

Sergio Martino directed Western yawn-fast that wants so desperately to be 1976's "Keoma", but can't. Maurizio Merli (Franco Nero look a like) plays the role of a hatchet-wielding bounty hunter out for revenge, or something. Martino should have made the wise choice and stuck with making qiallo films. This was made in a time that the cynicism of Italian Westerns was gone and the genre was sadly loosing steam. It's main flaws, a horrid soundtrack (not nearly as bad as "Keoma"'s though) and a wholely unsatisfying rushed ending

My Grade:D+

Blue Underground DVD Extras: 'A Man called Segio' Featurette; Poster & Stills Gallery; Talent Bios for Sergio Martino & Maurizio Merli; and Theatrical Trailer

1 Easter Egg: hidden hatchet on the Extras menu for Trailers of "Django", "Run, Man, Run" and "Django Kill, if you live Shoot"

Last Hope!

[steeplejack17 · 8/10 · 10 February 2006]

This movie which was done in 1977 was the last hope for the Genre which was the Spaghetti Westerns. So much crap was produced through the later years. Mannaja ( A Man Called Blade) was one of my favorites the only two things it really lacked was the opening score was a bit weak and the whole Donal O'Brien Character (Craven) coming back to nurse Blade back to health to betray him????? That was the only problems, I had with the movie. The rest was awesome great job on behalf of director Martino and very impressive camera work by Federico Zanni. Maurizio Merli played the blade character to a tee great job especially for his only contribution to the genre.

I really enjoyed the music with the beginning love stages with blade and actress Martine Brochard a very well choreographed scene. Also who can forget the rotting eyeballs scene. The story was great so was the acting an overall interesting tale of a mountain man bounty hunter out for revenge. It's a shame such a great movie came too late to change things for the genre.

MANNAJA: A MAN CALLED BLADE (Sergio Martino, 1977) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 8 September 2006]

When this film was released as part of Blue Underground's "The Spaghetti Westerns Collection" Box Set with 3 other prime examples, I had actually held back from purchasing it - consequently allowing the "Limited Edition" Set to go out-of-print! - mainly because, since MANNAJA stemmed from the dying days of the subgenre, I assumed that it would be a second-rate effort. The fact that it starred Maurizio Merli - the "poor man's Franco Nero" - whom I had only watched, up till then, in WHITE FANG TO THE RESCUE (1974) added to my skepticism...but, then, the film itself turned up on late-night Italian TV: I watched it and actually liked the film quite a bit though, at the time, I was perfectly happy with the recording I made and felt no urgent need to own it on DVD! However, when I recently rewatched THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966) and decided to purchase its sequel RUN, MAN, RUN (1968), I noticed that it was available as a "two-fer" with MANNAJA at practically the same price as the single edition...!

Anyway, let's get to the subject at hand: Merli here exchanges his customary modern outfit for a Western garb, but he's still the resolute - and unconventional - man of justice (even if he's officially a bounty hunter); this was his only out-and-out Spaghetti Western which is no surprise, coming so late in the game - but he cuts a good enough figure! After an arresting opening sequence (a chase through fog-ridden swamps with Merli, armed with an axe, on horseback - riding in slow-motion as if he were one of The Blind Dead! - going after a disheveled Donal O'Brien), the film settles down to being an enjoyable and stylish - if highly derivative - entry in the genre (which also happens to be director Martino's second and last such effort). Being a film from the late 70s - as was KEOMA (1976) - the color stock utilized is less garish (and, therefore, less attractive) than it was during the Euro-Cult heyday, but this actually suits the generally bleak outlook provided in these two outings!

As I said, the plot line plunders several of the earlier Spaghetti Westerns: the unusual weaponry from DJANGO (1966); the crippled landowner from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968); the traveling show from A SKY FULL OF RAIN FOR A ROOF (1968); the hero left to rot in a hole out in the sun (from DEATH RIDES A HORSE [1968]) and is then rendered temporarily blind (from BLINDMAN [1971]); the hero's backstory, revealing his thirst for revenge, presented as intermittent flashbacks (of course from any number of Sergio Leone films) - but there's no denying that all these various bits and pieces manage to blend together very well indeed! Besides, the many action sequences - augmented by a good score from the ubiquitous De Angelis brothers (although it, too, sounds awfully similar to that of KEOMA...down to the irritating male baritone!) - certainly deliver the goods.

The supporting cast is also above-average: apart from O'Brien's unusual role (he turns up again later on in the film with a hook for a hand - and who even gets his own song, characterizing his slimy 'qualities'), we have Philippe Leroy as the corrupt boss who has an account to settle with Merli but whose power is slipping away from him, a couple of girls (Sonja Jeannine - from Sergio Sollima's THE BLACK PIRATE [1976] and who reveals herself to be less innocent than one would have thought! - and Martine Brochard) and, best of all, John Steiner in one of his finest roles as Leroy's vicious lieutenant (flanked by a couple of mastiffs!) who harbors ambitions of taking over the latter's empire and bears a grudge against Merli's hero all through the film...until he receives his just desserts in another fog-laden showdown!

The main supplement on the DVD is an interesting interview with a typically down-to-earth Martino (I saw him at the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival).

Not bad

[arfdawg-1 · 4/10 · 26 April 2014]

Arriving in the mining town Suttonville.

After claiming the bounty of a outlaw known as Burt Craven, a bounty hunter named Blade (armed with a hatchet instead of a gun) is hired by the town's wheelchair bound mayor McGowan and his corrupt associate Voller to track down McGowan's daughter Debra who has gone missing.

Blade is unaware that Voller kidnapped Debra and is secretly working for a group of outlaws who are looting shipment of silver from the silver mines that are run the mine owner McGregor.

Caught up in Suttonville's affairs, Blade not only has Voller and the outlaws to deal with, he also goes to settle a score with McGowan (who was responsible for the death of Blade's father) and takes on Voller and his gang who are out to gun him down.

Worst opening song in history.

I'm not a huge fan of spaghetti westerns but this one is not bad.

But I really can't take the zooming in and out.

Shoulda been more blood and guts.

[coldwaterpdh · 6/10 · 26 March 2008]

I was really looking forward to this one. From everything I've seen of Sergio Martino, I thought this was going to be over the top. 1977 was late for this type of film. In fact, I've never seen a Spaghetti western this recent.

The opening scene of "Mannaja: A Man Called Blade" is so wicked. I was like wow this gonna be awesome! A dude gets his arm chopped off with a hatchet and that is maybe the most gory thing I've seen in a western movie so far. But, the fun pretty much stops there.

A lot more people get killed, but no violence is as gory as the first scene. The final dude who Blade kills in the end is such a rotten human being, we want him dead so bad, and he dies in a pretty boring and largely unsatisfying way.

All in all, I stayed entertained, but I was expecting a little more. I'd see "Django" instead.

6 out of 10, kids.

Dull

[poolandrews · 20 October 2002]

An italian western from the late seventies. The start of this movie is set in a swamp/forest somewhere. A wanted crook is running away from a man on hose back. He trips, he stand back up and backs up against a tree. He see the unknown man, the crook draws his weapon but before he can fire the man on the horse takes out a hatchet and throws it, cutting one of the crooks hands off. The man on horse back is balde, he is named blade because of his hatchet throwing. Blade rides to a nearby town to collect a reward on the crook but finds no sheriff, only trouble. The rest of this dull movie consists of blade getting involved with some very bad people and having to save the day. The plot twists are unoriginal, dull and uninteresting. There is not much action or violence and the ending is also rubbish, the final showdown between blade and the main villian is pathetic, too short and very dull. On the plus side its well made, has nice photography and is atmospheric, overall the negatives outweigh the positives. Disappointing.

Worth watching for Spaghetti Western completists.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 11 July 2019]

Eurocrime regular Maurizio Merli headlines this Italian Western about the title bounty hunter, who wields a hatchet rather than a gun. He comes upon the town of Suttonville, which is presided over by a mining boss, McGowan (Philippe Leroy) who supposedly doesn't allow any sort of "sin" or "vice". Mannaja gets caught up in the affairs of the town, going head to head with the crooked and deadly Voller (European exploitation veteran John Steiner) and seeing to some unfinished business that he has with McGowan.

"Mannaja" is directed by Sergio Martino, who was nothing if not versatile, moving from Gialli ("Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key") to post-apocalypse schlock ("2019: After the Fall of New York"), to the cannibal genre ("Mountain of the Cannibal God"). Martino gives the tale some real style, beginning and ending it with very atmospheric sequences. The violence is pretty vicious, but offsetting a certain grimness is a tendency towards levity at times. A case in point: Johnny-Johnny (Salvatore Puntillo) and his dancing girls. The music further adds to the atmosphere, having been composed by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. Martino gets down to business with an eerie succession of scenes in which outlaw Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) is pursued by Mannaja.

The charismatic Merli, who does indeed bear a resemblance to the more famous Franco Nero, does a capable job in the lead. He's extremely well supported by Steiner, who looks right at home in this genre; Steiner is a great villain. Leroy, O'Brien, Martine Brochard as dancing girl Angela, and Sonja Jeannine as McGowan's daughter are all fine as well.

Overall, "Mannaja" is pretty good of its type, offering up nice photography, lovely ladies, decent action sequences, a few laughs, and a plot where the hero doesn't always have the upper hand.

Seven out of 10.

An Entertaining Spaghetti Western

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 31 July 2019]

This film begins with a bounty hunter who goes by the name "Blade" (Maurizio Merli) riding into the small mining town of Suttonville with a criminal named "Burt Craven" (Donald O'Brien) as his prisoner. Unfortunately, when he gets there he is informed that there is no real sheriff there which makes it impossible for him to claim the bounty. To make things even worse, he is also told that the entire town is essentially owned by the wealthy owner of the local silver mine named "Edward McGowan" (Philippe Leroy) and that nothing gets done without his approval or that of his chief enforcer and bodyguard by the name of "Voller" (John Steiner) . To that end, when Blade volunteers to help Edward McGowan with a problem he is experiencing with some local bandits, Voller doesn't take it too well and this results in a serious rift between Blade and everyone else-and Voller is not a man to take things lightly. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining "Spaghetti Western" which managed to keep my attention pretty much from start-to-finish. Admittedly, I didn't especially care for a couple of the twists and turns taken and the musical score was a bit odd. But even so I liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Youuuu, alóóóóneeeee.... a sóóóóóóóólitaaaaarie man!!!!!

[buchass · 6/10 · 26 April 2010]

"Mannaja - A Man called Blade", its a 70's late spaghetti western by Sergio Martino. Its not a great movie, but its fun to watch, and have some good details. Light years away from Sergio Leone movies, or even "Keoma"(Enzo G.Castellari), which by the way "Mannaja" is greatly inspired by.

It is a typical Western Spaghetti, with a main character( "Blade" ) with the characteristic of a macho super-hero. Thats the all point of this kind of films, all the main characters in various Westerns Spaghettis like "Blondie", "Django", "Navajo Joe", "Cuchillo", "Keoma" are bigger than life, capable of doing the impossible. They know everything, they do everything, kill everything, they are bad ass, and they love action and hate talking, but they always have a good heart. "Mannaja - A man called Blade" is not a masterpiece, far from that, but its entertaining, have good moments and a epic\comic soundtrack that fits like a glove. For all Western Spaghetti aficionados this one is pretty good. If you like this one, i recommend: All Sergio Leone's Westerns(the finest); "Django" (Sergio Corbucci) and "Keoma"(Castellari)

Martino + West = Magic

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 19 August 2020]

Also known as A Man Called Blade, this late in the game Italian Western was directed by one of B&S About Movies' favorite directors, Sergio Martino. Yes, we tend to discuss him pretty frequently here, but look - the guy made Torso, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, All the Colors of the Dark, 2019: After the Fall of New York, Hands of Steel and many more.

I've been really looking forward to this film and it did not disappoint.

Maurizio Merli (Violent Rome) stars as Blade, a bounty hunter who favors a tomahawk as his weapon. After all, Mannaja means hatchet. I have no idea why they didn't just call him that instead of Blade. Anyhow, our hero comes to the mining town of Suttonville with Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) as his captive, but he just wants to kill mining boss Ed McGowan, who he blames for the death of his father.

However, when he meets the man, he's in a wheelchair and "not worth it." However, he will take the man's money and decides to rescue the man's daughter from Theo Voller (John Steiner), who is really working with her to take over the mine. They kill a prostitute who is in love with Blade right in front of him and bury him up to his neck in the desert, leaving pins in his eyes to force them open, blinding him. He's rescued by Craven, even after he took that man's hand. Now, that vengeance that Blade has always been looking for will finally be his.

This movie stands out - not just for its prog soundtrack (which sounds a lot like the music in Keoma) by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis (Oliver Onions!) - but for the foggy ending and the sheer weirdness of the proceedings. It doesn't feel like any other Italian Western you've seen and credit is due to Martino.

Speaking of that theme song, let me share the lyrics with you: "You're alone. A solitary man. And when the sun goes down, your memories back around with you and your heart is breaking down. This here was your father's land. Nothing bad, you can't pretend. You love justice and you love peace. When the time will come to kill, to destroy who loves to kill and your hand will stop the axe and your conscience will be satisfied. Yes. You're a good man, no one will put you down. Your feel is right, down worry man. Keep going, you know the way. That's the right way. Keep going. You're alone. A solitary man."

I loved every single second of this. If only all movies could make me this happy. Also, this has more fog than The Fog but less than Conquest, because no more can ever have that much fog.

Terrible music

[bobbydiet · 2/10 · 15 August 2022]

Whoever was the lead singer in this movie truly SUCKS. IT took ALOT away from the storyline, which also SUCKED! I'm just sorry that I spent my entire afternoon watching this P. O. S. Movie. What a complete and total WASTE OF TIME this was.

Entertaining Latter Spaghetti Western

[FightingWesterner · 8/10 · 10 September 2009]

Although very much late in the game for an Italian western, (the bulk of which were made between 1965 and 1972) Mannaja (A Man Called Blade) is no slouch. It's actually a good muscular western with lots of violence and dark atmosphere, with the sun blocked out and everything bathed in a fog of dust.

Maurizio Merli plays Blade, a mysterious hatchet wielding bounty hunter with unfinished business to take care of regarding a puritanical mine owner and his psychotic number two, played by John Steiner, who's excellent at portraying nasty weasels.

Also memorable is (the late?) Donal O'Brien, who would later gain infamy as the title character in Doctor Butcher M.D. (Medical Deviate), as a scroungy fugitive who gets his hand cut off by Blade in the first scene and features prominently in the film's finale.

Director Sergio Martino is a master of Italian exploitation and really knows how to deliver the goods, especially in action/adventures. Another of his films I really enjoyed was Slave Of The Cannibal God with Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach.

Also, I really enjoyed the title song even though it was repeated way too often in the course of the film.

Eat your heart out, Wesley Snipes!

[Coventry · 9/10 · 4 February 2007]

The titular character thankfully isn't an ancestor of overrated vampire-hunter Wesley Snipes, but a genuinely old-fashioned and testosterone-laden spaghetti western hero who furiously wanders around the deserts like a one-man-army, hunting down wanted criminals for the rewards on their head. Blade is relentless but fair, he has an imposing charisma and wields hatchets as professionally as he fires shotguns. In short, he's the ideal guy to dedicate another magnificently violent, imaginative and nasty euro-Western to! And, oh yes, Sergio Martino's film can easily compete with the absolute greatest efforts in this sadly extinct sub genre of cult cinema, like Sergio Corbucci's "Django", Sergio Sollima's "The Big Gundown" and perhaps even some of Serio Leoni's lesser known movies. "A Man Called Blade" is a very eventful and exciting film, chock-full of outrageous gun & fistfights, mean & treasonous bandits and wild ambushes. When arriving in the little town of Suttonville to claim the reward on a killer's head, Blade encounters the vicious & corrupt sidekick of a prominent businessman. Blade offers his services to McGowan and Voller, because despite exploiting the local miners, large troops of outlaws continuously steal the silver. Voller wants to get rid of Blade as soon as possible, because he plots to take over the empire, but Blade is tough and has an extra personal score to settle with McGowan. The plot twists perhaps aren't the most original ones ever, but bear in mind "A Man Called Blade" got released during the dying years of spaghetti western cinema. And even though not always original, Martino's film is fast-paced and doesn't feature a single dull moment. The fights are dirty (literally) and the violence is rather graphic, with several cowboys dying from hatches in their foreheads or bullets between the eyes. The outdoor locations are sublime and I absolutely loved the moody theme song that gets repeated during the film's most essential sequences. Other fans seem to disapprove of the music in this film, but I thought it was excellent. Maurizio Merli makes a terrific macho hero. Perhaps not as legendary as Franco Nero or Tomas Milian, but close enough. The film sadly doesn't have a strong female lead, only a sympathetic go-go dancer and the silent daughter of the mayor. The most memorable performance is given by John Steiner as Blade's sadistic opponent Voller. With his ugly face and almost natural aura of arrogance, Steiner gave image of multiple villains in Italian cult films. His role here definitely ranks among the best! Highly recommended.

Great director, great cast, great film

[Zar · 10/10 · 9 February 2000]

"Mannaja" ("A Man called Blade" is a case of great director + great cast great film. One of the most stylish of all spaghetti western it stars several veterans of the Italian crime/action genre: Maurizio Merli, John Steiner and Donald O'Brien. Merli is the tough macho hero as always, John Steiner a delightfully slimy villian and Donald O'Brian is fun as a small time crook. Highly recommended!

Another grim classic

[Bezenby · 9/10 · 6 February 2014]

You've got to love a Spaghetti Western that opens like a horror film and begins with a guy losing a hand to a tomahawk. Better still, the guy losing his hand is Donald O'Brien of Zombie Holocaust and Ghosthouse, and the guy throwing the tomahawk is Maurizio Merli of Violent Naples and Fear in the City. I nearly fainted when I discovered that John Stiener of The Last Hunter and Tenebrae was in this too!

Mannaja is one of a handful of twilight era Spaghetti Westerns full of vicious violence and dark imagery filmed in the latter half of the seventies. This one is directed by Sergio Martino, the guy who brought us Torso and 2019:After the Fall of New York, and this might possibly be his best film.

Mannaja (the name of Merli's character), brings Obrien into some run down town permeated by the stink of the nearby Silver mine. After discovering he can't claim a reward for OBrien, Mannaja beats Steiner in a game of cards and lets OBrien go. Stiener's not the greatest loser in the world however, which leads to several showdowns with Mannaja (including him getting blown up at one point).

Some generous dancing ladies find a wounded Mannaja and nurse him back to health, and they all head back into town, where they meet McGovern, pious and religious owner of the silver mine, who doesn't know that right hand man Steiner is in cahoots with a local bandit. Many double crossing and switches of allegiance follows (as usual for an Italian Western).

There's many shootouts here, not all of them involving Merli's character. I've got to say I've never seen John Steiner act better than he does here, coming across as an overconfident slimeball. Rik Battaglia helps as the religious nutter and land owner McGovern, wheeling around in his wheelchair in a permanent huff. Merli holds his own as the enraged Mannaja, with the always dependable OBrien backing things up.

As this is the late seventies, the violence quota is high, what with hands being cut off, many innocent people being gunned down and one character being buried up to his neck in sand, with his eyes stitched open so the sun can burn out his corneas. Martino films just about every frame really inventively, with a lot of wide angled lens work, fog and rain adding to the atmosphere.

I'd say Keoma has the slight edge on this one as it comes across as more poetic and Shakespearean (no, really), but Mannaja is a heavyweight film that should be viewed as a classic in it's own right. Similar music from the same composers too (just try and sing along to the guy with the amazing baritone who sings "You're…alone…" – you'll have a sore throat in no time).

If you grabbed a few beers and watched this, Keoma, and Lucio Fulci's Four of the Apocalypse, you'd have a fine, fine, night in. Why these films didn't revive the genre I'll never know – instead, Martino turned his hand to cannibal films and made Mountain of the Cannibal God ("Because you never forget the taste of human flesh!").