A surprisng Christmas movie in the shape of a Spaghetti Western. It opens with a scene of two gunmen approaching each other, squaring off, legs wide, hands hovering by their holsters, and then…they say Merry Christmas and shake hands and don’t even try to kill each other. I guess life was better in the American wild west than in 2025 ;P
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.
When a team of bank-robbing bandits hold an entire hacienda hostage, Ringo is sent by the Sheriff to infiltrate the gang and rescue the goup. This leads to a single-location DIE HARD-like set-up, but one where where charm and quick wits gets our hero farther than violence. Though violence regularly rears its head. (This is still a Western, after all.)
And folks, I’m not a fan of Westerns, but I LOVED this movie. It came out one year before DJANGO, and much as with the success of that one, Ringo a litany of faux sequels such as $10,000 for Ringo, Ringo and Gringo Against All, Two R-R-Ringos 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 which was retitled Ringo il Texano in Italy, and ALL were released within 2 YEARS of the original movie.
But this is the one that’s truly worth seeing. (And the one official sequel, though even this one isn’t an actual sequel but its the same creative team and cast: THE RETURN OF RINGO.) And I guarantee you won’t be wondering why it was so popular after viewing. Currently streaming for free on TUBI.
Happy Holidays, everyone! We’re busy like you, so we’re going to keep this post brief! Watch the episode above or listen to the episode on your podcast platform of choice to hear more!
Bonus Xmas Movie Suggestion!
Dave also watched 3615 code Père Noël (3615 code Father Christmas) aka Dial Code Santa Claus, or Deadly Games, or Game Over, or Hide and Freak, or I mean seriously why did anyone go with an English title other than Dial Code Santa Claus? Stop while you're ahead!
This is another DIE HARD style movie, perfectky blended with HOME ALONE - equally as whimsical and seriously deadly in equal measure! And like RINGO, it was one of the best Xmas movies Dave saw in a long time. Seek it out.
Wait, Is That Not Enough? You want MORE?!?
Well lucky you we were doing this podcast last Holiday season as well, and we tackled Snoop Dogg’s CHRISTMAS IN THA DOGG HOUSE Album while trying his entire 19Crimes Wines - Cali Red, Cali Gold, Cali Rose, and Cali Smooth. It’s a blast of an episode, listen here:
SEASON 1 FINALE: Wine and...Music: Snoop Dogg Presents Christmas in the Dogghouse
You can also listen on your podcast platform of choice:
TWO WINES FOR RINGO (w/ AI-Free Search Links):
This episode’s “Wine Trivia Question of the Week” mentions the great sparkling wine of Spain - Cava, which is a Champagne style “Tradiitional Method” wine, where the bubbles are made via a secondary fermentation in the bottle.
Well, even in France, Champagne’s home country, there’s lots of Champagne style sparkline wine that’s grown and made outside of the Champagne region itself. And these are called “Cremants”, followed by the region, in this case, a “Cremant du Jura”, the Jura being a part of the Southwest of France and a region that’s popularity has been exploding abroad in recent years.
This Cremant du Jura is a Rose style, so some minimal skin contact with its Pinot Noir and Pinot Muenier grapes to give it some extra fruit dimension, but a Brut style to keep it dry and properly toasty as most Champagne style sparkling wines are. Fruity, effervescent, underlined with the bite of Brut and satisfying breadiness.
Domaine Ligier Cremant du Jura Rose Brut
You can read more about sweet Sherries and how they’re made here.
For Ringo in specific, I went for a “Cream” Sherry, a blend of dry annd sweet, which creates a medium sweet final wine. This “Morenita” (Little Brunette One) is one of the more surprisngly acidic sweet sherries I’ve ever tasted. Bright and fresh with hints of candied ginger to go alongside the usual caramel and toffee Sherry flavors, this was just the right amount of sweet, while being layered, full, but containing the freshness of Ringo himself, full of charm, buoyoncy, and verve.
