Wuchak Released in 1976-77, "God's Gun" is a Matzo Ball Western about a preacher (Lee Van Cleef) who chases down a band of outlaws (led by Jack Palance) to apprehend a murderer. After the thugs get revenge the preacher's spiritual son (Leif Garrett) teams-up with the one person who can set things aright. Sybil Danning co-stars as a saloon girl and Richard Boone has a minor role.This Hebraic Western is stylized with a Spaghetti flavor, but is badly executed. I could never get a grip on the tone the filmmakers were shooting for. Is it semi-camp? Semi-parody? It's obviously not something to take too seriously, but sometimes the viewer's evidently supposed to. Since you can't take the story seriously it prevents you from caring about the events of the story and thus it's boring.Thankfully, there are some highlights. For one, it was shot in Israel, which is unique for a Western. Secondly, there are a few stunning women, including Sybil Danning when she was around 23 and an uncredited saloon babe named Jessie. Thirdly, it's got Jack Palance and Lee Van Cleef; two Western icons. And, fourthly, Leif Garrett is surprisingly good at around 13 years-old.But the confused tone and relative dullness do it in.The film runs 94 minutes.GRADE: Borderline D+/C- (3.5/10 Stars)

ironhorse_iv Dear God, really, what happen to this movie! It looks like everybody has a really bad sunburn or it's a Western film with Oranges. Everything is so bright. My copy of the film is discolored as hell and what I heard is I'm not the only one. The image quality of the movie is poor. I haven't found a great copy of the film. God's Gun also known as Diamante Lobo and A Bullet from God in some recopies is a Spaghetti-Western that is directed by Gianfranco Parolini or as credited in the American version as Frank Kramer. The movie was filmed in Israel, so this makes this another Matzoh Ball Western starting Spaghetti western legendary actor Lee Van Cleef and 1970's pop star Leif Garett who also started in Joseph Manduke's Kid Vengeance, a year later. Instead of being rivals, in this movie, Leif Garett stars as Johnny, a fatherless kid who takes turn helping run the local church with Father John (Lee Van Cleef) and then the local Saloon, with his mother (Sybil Danning). In a way, both jobs serve a purpose to the plot. It became clear that the theme of the jobs in the film is to show that the boy has to balance his life from serving what's good or entering a life of vice. It's become more a complex conflict for the boy, when a malicious group of bandits enter the town, and start making a scene at the Saloon, leaded by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance). Jack Palance felt like he was challenging his inner evil Jack Nicolson here. Palance is funnier than usual. He is brilliant in the role. He plays the bandit leader very well to the point that I wouldn't wait for the final showdown between Father John and Sam Clayton. Without spoiling too much of the film, both are fighting for the body and soul of the boy, literally. Great story. It illustrates that pacifism is unrealistic, even for Christians. Lee Van Cleef plays double roles in this film as both Father John and his brother Lewis, aka Diamante Lobo. When Father John is shot, his brother, to come north and settle the score. As it turns out, of course, the matter becomes a little more complicated as the gang can't tell the different between the priest and Diamante Lobo. This mysterious spirituous sub-plot gave the movie some deeply needed entertainment. I love how the film makes Diamante Lobo look like somewhat a revengeful fallen angel out to get the gangs for their sinful acts. Diamante Lobo was a bit creepy in this film. I honestly did the hokey 'Ahh' sound whenever Diamante Lobo shown up in the scene to confront an enemy. It's pretty awesome. Reminds me of the sound that came with Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy. I didn't mind the somewhat laughable wig, he was wearing and him talking to himself as another person. I have to say, Richard Boone as the Sheriff is just awful. Richard Boone walked off the film before it was completed leaving his role to be dubbed by another actor that doesn't sound like him. The reason why based by him is because the producer is an Israeli and the director is Italian and deaf, and they both don't speak. The mute thing is kinda silly. In fact, everyone in this film is dubbed by someone else, so it sounds nothing like the actors. The movie is full of action with a death count of 20. I love the over-acting when they get shot. It's full of those one shot kills that is pretty dumb. There is a few good supporting characters. The women are hated objects of lust and the men are just dogs. While, the rape scenes are tame. The movie makes it looks like they were just having fun rather than brutal. It makes it look like you can get away with attempt rape. The editing is pretty bad, as the scenes tend to go way too long, even when there is nothing going on the screen. There is a lots of tilted angles and zooms that wasn't needed. The flashbacks were blurry, and wasn't needed. I did dig the song of the last flashback scene in the movie. The music by Sante Maria Romitelli was pretty good, even if it's sounds like a bunch of hyenas laughing their head off. This is rated R for physical violence, gun violence, strong sexual violence, gore, some profanity, brief female nudity, brief male nudity, and sexual references, but it's pretty tame. Trust me. It's mostly PG-13 in these days, standards. The movie is widely available as a cheap public domain DVD. So it's easy to find in a dollar bin or find on the Internet. An astonishingly so bad, it's good film. Still, worth watching so amen to that.

wes-connors Steely-eyed clergyman Lee Van Cleef (as as Father John) lords over the peaceful, law-abiding and Christian town of "Juno City" with open-shirted boy pal Leif Garrett (as Johnny) as his sidekick. The respectable town gets roughed-up when smirking Jack Palance (as Sam Clayton) and his gang of cutthroats stop by for some booze and broads. Handsome brother Robert Lipton (as Jess Clayton) starts a chain reaction of big trouble. Young Garrett takes care of business by very quietly finding Mr. Van Cleef's twin brother in Mexico, to help settle the score. A startling secret involving beautifully-figured Sybil Danning (as Jenny) thickens the plot. "God's Gun" is a misfire, but does have an attractive cast and bawdy quality.**** God's Gun (3/7/75) Gianfranco Parolini ~ Lee Van Cleef, Leif Garrett, Jack Palance, Robert Lipton

vulpine-7 Jack Palance plays his stereotypical Heavy role with all the silliness that entails. I don't blame him, I blame the director and the producers for trying to capitalize on the Clint Eastwood spaghetti western genre. Terrible writing and even worse directing make this one of the funniest 'comedies' I ever watched; there's no way this could be seen as a serious movie. Lee Van Cleef does a good job with his role and even Richard Boone does a fair job of playing an aging, terrorized Sheriff. I have to ask, Why? Well, my guess is that the producers thought that having three big names in American western movies would guarantee a box office hit. Honestly, I think all three were flat embarrassed by the film.