God's Gun (also known as Diamante Lobo) is a 1976 Italian-Israeli Spaghetti Western directed by Gianfranco Parolini (credited as Frank Kramer) and starring Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance, Leif Garrett and Sybil Danning. Palance plays the head of a malicious group of bandits and Van Cleef plays a double-role of brothers: a priest and a reformed gunfighter. Leif Garrett plays the main character in the film as Johnny, a fatherless kid who brings the reformed gunfighter to town to avenge his brother's murder.

God's Gun
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed byGianfranco Parolini (as Frank Kramer)
Screenplay by
  • John Fonseca
  • Frank Kramer
Produced byMenahem Golan
Starring
CinematographySandro Mancori
Edited byManlio Camastro
Music bySante Maria Romitelli
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • March 1977 (1977-03) (US)
Running time
94 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • Israel
Language
  • English

Synopsis

edit

One day Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) and his gang arrive in the small town of Juno City where Father John (Lee Van Cleef) is the priest of the local church. The gang wreak havoc in town, raping a woman and knifing a man in the back. They leave town, only to be caught by the fearless but unarmed Father John. After that, the gang member responsible for the murder is broken out of jail.

Vowing revenge, the gang ambushes and guns Father John down on the steps of his church, and then take over the town while waiting for the arrival of the next stagecoach. However, Johnny O'Hara (Leif Garrett), a local boy, manages to escape with a couple of their horses and rides off to Mexico in the hope of finding the priest's gunfighter twin brother (also Van Cleef). They meet and set off back across the border to clean up the town.

Meanwhile, Sam Clayton discovers that he is Johnny's father. Also, it is revealed that some fifteen years earlier, during the American Civil War, Jenny O'Hara (Sybil Danning) had been one of Clayton's victims, adding to the mystery of Johnny's paternity. [1]

Cast

edit

Production

edit

God's Gun was filmed in 1975 in Israel.

Richard Boone walked off the film before it was completed, leaving his role to be dubbed by another actor. In an interview with Cleveland Amory in Israel in May 1976, Boone told Amory: "I'm starring in the worst picture ever made. The producer is an Israeli and the director is Italian, and they don't speak. Fortunately it doesn't matter, because the director is deaf in both ears."[2]

Home media

edit

God's Gun was released on Blu-ray Disc in the Region A format by Kino Lorber on February 8, 2022.

A prior VHS release carried the title A Bullet from God.[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ "God's Gun". Kino Lober. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  2. ^ p.29 Rothel, David Richard Boone: A Knight without Armor in a Savage Land. Empire Publishing, 2000
  3. ^ A Bullet From God (VHS film). MNTEX Entertainment. 1991. VHS 5746.
edit