China 9, Liberty 37

1978 [ITALIAN]

Action / Drama / Romance / Western

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 45% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 45% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 1599 1.6K

prostitute hitman dynamite ranch hanging spaghetti western

Plot summary

Gunslinger Clayton Drumm is about to be hanged when he is given a chance to live if he agrees to murder Matthew, a miner who has steadfastly refused to sell his land to the railroad company. Matthew’s refusal is a major obstacle to the railroad’s plans for expansion.

Director

Monte Hellman Photo
Monte Hellman

Top cast

Sam Peckinpah Photo
Sam Peckinpah as Wilbur Olsen
Ivonne Sentis Photo
Ivonne Sentis as Whore
Jenny Agutter Photo
Jenny Agutter as Catherine
Sydney Lassick Photo
Sydney Lassick as Sheriff's friend
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
946.9 MB
1280*546
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
59.94 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 2
1.71 GB
1910*816
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
59.94 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by hrkepler 6 / 10

Existential Spaghetti

'China 9, Liberty 37' is last of Monte Hellman's westerns, and his weakest attempt in that genre. The film tries to combine elements of spaghetti western with Hellman's usual existential vision. Although entertaining and thrilling at moments, the film falls into mediocrity as there isn't enough spaghetti nor existentialism.Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) is a gunslinger waiting to be hanged, but is given last minute pardon when men from railroad company hire him to kill Matthew Sabinek (Warren Oates) who used to work as a hired gun for same men years ago. Sounds interesting? Clayton rides into the farm where Matthew lives with his young wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter). The younger and faster gunslinger, who has grown weary of the killing, decides not to complete his mission when he starts to like Matthew and two men become sort of friends. And then enters farmer's gorgeous looking wife.There is the feel of growing tension in the first quarter of the film, that promises to become tense thriller, but then falls flat as generic love triangle and revenge story. Fabio Testi's lack of charisma against the talents and gravely looks of great Warren Oates becomes obstacle that doesn't allow proper chemistry to evolve between two main characters. Monte Hellman's other westerns (or western type movies) weren't always very thick and original on plot either, but they were executed with fascinating ways and ideas.Recommended to the fans of Warren Oates and Monte Hellman, and when you do, try to get the uncut version as there are some meaty lines (an nudity) to juice things up a little bit.Also, another great western director Sam Peckinpah treats the fans of the genre with wonderful cameo as an author Wilbur Olsen who wants to write story based on Clayton's life.
Reviewed by mitcj 6 / 10

Interesting, if far from perfect, Western.

This moves at an unhurried pace, and you may feel as if you've seen much of it before, especially if you're a spaghetti western fan. But it's worth seeing for the character played by Warren Oates, a former gunfighter whose behavior swings from the sympathetic to the unforgivable and almost back again. In a modest Western like this, it's a pleasant surprise to see ambiguous characters. So that his conflict with Fabio Testi, a younger gunfighter who steals Oates' wife, is full of uncertainty. For all the familiar trappings, you're uncertain how it will end; and that should keep you watching. As the object of desire, Jenny Agutter is constrained by a mumbling Irish brogue and an under-written part. But you can see why Testi is smitten with her. Bottom line: see this for Oates, a great actor in a worthy role.
Reviewed by mgtbltp 7 / 10

One of the last Spaghetti/American Westerns

This is a Western that, as another poster mentioned, has sex as its driving force.Spoilers It's basic Western cliché story line is hired gun Clayton Jones (Fabio Testi) is about to hang for some offense in the town of China, Texas. We see him in a jail cell and out in the town square we see a hanging platform with three nooses, a Chinaman and a China woman are bound and lined up below it we cut back to Clayton who is removed from his cell apparently to join the condemned. We cut to Clayton in the offices of a railroad company where some officials hand him a pardon with the stipulation that he is to go kill Matthew Sebanek, who won't sell out his land at the cheap price offered to the RR. He has become a small obstacle to the tracks. We see two corpses hanging from the gallows as Clayton rides out of town.Matthew Sebenek (Warren Oates) is sort of a hardscrabble squatter/homesteader, he is sitting upon land that has oil beneath it and knows it, oldest of the Sebenek brothers he looks to be between 45-55 years old, his comparatively child bride wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter) looks between 20-25, Matthew treats Catherine more like a slave than a partner, she is unhappy and shows it. There are no children present that, in most Hollywood Westerns, that depicted these types of May-December relationships would cement the couple together with a common cause.Into this situation rides reluctant hired gun Clayton Jones and he gets his first eyeful of Catherine as she is bathing in the stream near the road to the homestead, she doesn't hear him coming while she reclines in the water and is surprised when Clayton's voice asks which way to the Sebenek's but not embarrassed and she does not try to cover up in any way. In subsequent scenes we learn that Matthew who was a former hired gun of the railroad has Clayton pretty much pegged for what he truly is, but that sort of binds him into a wary friendship with him that blossoms. We also see that love starved Catherine is attracted to Clayton by her demeanor and it is she who makes the first move to consummate an affair. Clayton who has come to like Matthew decides not to kill him and that he best get away from the dicey situation but Catherine gives it away on the day Clayton leaves and she and Matthew come to blows in the kitchen and she stabs Matthew and leaves him for dead.Catherine rides away to follow Clayton, and Matthew and his brothers take off after them.Now this is an adult treatment of situations that are real, I've know real life stories that have played out exactly so and have had similar ends. It's refreshing to see a Western with more mature themes that still has enough Western elements to keep it in Genre and interesting enough to keep you watching.There are some nice stylistic camera shot touches in a later whorehouse confrontation. If I have any complaint about the film it would be the overly intrusive soundtrack that in some scenes plays annoyingly over the dialog, it doesn't help that it has a 70's sound to it. Other music is provided by the actors themselves and gratefully its recorded live (not sound studio looping) and sounds very realistic.Sam Peckinpah has a nice cameo as a seedy pulp novelist.Check it out if you can find it. The version I saw was almost full wide screen though it still had some side cropping where you could tell so when the credits were rolling. For the most part you wouldn't notice it however there is one scene where when Catherine is coming on to Clayton, she stands in a open doorway in a nightgown back lit by a kerosene lantern and you can see she is plainly naked, she is half cut off by the cropping which makes me suspect that there may be a few more scenes where we are not seeing the full potential of the cinematography.
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