REQUIESCANT/KILL AND PRAY

Italy, 1967, 94 minutes, Colour.
Luke Castel, Mark Damon, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Barbara Frey, Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli.
Directed by Carlo Lizzani.


There are many reasons for watching this spaghetti Western, an above average example of the genre, coming at the time of the films of Sergio Leone. Carlo Lizzani had been directing and writing film since the 1950s, winning awards, and was to continue right through into the 21st century.

The subject contains familiar material, Mexicans suppressed by an aristocratic and ruthless American called Ferguson (Mark Damon) who initially mows down Mexicans that he had promised land to with machine guns. The focus of the film is a boy who was rescued, his father was killed in the massacre, he grows up with a travelling family and when the daughter is abducted, decides to go to her rescue. The family is devout, the father giving the young boy a Bible (which saves his life when a bullet penetrated instead of him). The boy discovers he is very quick on the draw.

He tracks down the girl and finds that she is being used as a prostitute. This leads to many confrontations, especially with Ferguson’s henchman, culminating in a deadly game with a noose.

The screenplay is very strong about social justice and the oppressed. Mark Damon makes Ferguson rather more interesting, a man of the South with polished good manners, a philosophy of honour even as he ruthlessly imposes on everyone.

However, this is a film with Pier Paolo Pasolini.

One learns something new every day. Pier Paolo Pasolini in a spaghetti Western? Contributing to the writing of a spaghetti Western? Acting as a priest in a spaghetti Western? All true.

The title is religious, Latin for “Rest in peace” and is quoted a number of times. It is an above-average contribution to the genre, from a veteran writer and director whose career spanned 60 years. Pasolini has third billing as Fray Juan. He does not make his major appearance until the latter part of the film. Pasolini appearing as a friar, wearing a poncho with stubble over his shoulders, is certainly a surprise but there is a quote from Pasolini in 1966 commenting on how people say he is an atheist. He says that if they described him like this, they don’t really know him. He might be an atheist but he has a nostalgia for belief.

Juan is a pacifist but is the moral leader of a group of rebels, Mexicans at the time of Villa who have been oppressed by an aristocratic American landowner, Ferguson (Mark Damon), who has massacred Mexicans, including the father of the hero, Requiescant (Lou Castel). When the friar arrives with his troop, he explains that he admired Requiescant’s reforming father, that he acted as a guide for the peace for the poor Mexicans, and that the Bible would bring freedom. While he proclaims that ideas need to be changed rather than cattle and property, he commissions Requiescant to be their leader.

During the showdown, the friar appears with a group of Mexican musicians and a singer, observing Requeiscant and his vengeance. Someone explains Juan’s background, the son of a peon father, sent as a servant to a rich man who educated him, was taught to fight but did not use a gun, did not want to use a gun. “War is evil and we pray that it not curse our home.” After the shootout, he tells Requiescant that war can be evil for good men, that war destroys pity, that while Ferguson was not Requiescant’s enemy, he was the enemy of the people. He tells Requiescant that he had enjoyed his vengeance. Yet, he realises that the Mexicans need men like Requiescant but he prays that the Lord will lead him.
When the huge church bell falls on the hole into which Ferguson has fallen, the friar leaves, advocating justice and freedom, “adios con Dio”.

With its social concerns, the story must have appealed to Pasolini and his ideas and ideals so that in the period that he was making Oedipo Re and Teorema, he would spend time with this project. His forthright friar is one of the strongest priests in spaghetti Westerns, spanning the violence in the uprisings and the Gospel message of peace.


1. The popularity of spaghetti Westerns in the 1960s? The visual style, tough, heightened? The locations, standing in for the West, the countryside, the desert, the villages? The score and its being atmospheric?

2. The work of the director, his wide range of films, writing and directing? Many genres?

3. The title, the focus on the character of Requiescant, his name? The alternate, Kill and Pray? The Italian perspective? The priest, In God we Trust? The Italian Catholicism to Hispanic settings?

4. The initial massacre, Ferguson and his supervising, the alleged treaty with the people, then the killings? The boy being rescued, the pleasant family, the domestic scenes, going further West, the terrain, the snow? The boy growing up? The girl? Her disappearance, wanting to go with the players? The father, reading the Bible, devout, the boy going to search for the girl, taking his Bible?

5. The outlaws, the stagecoach, the robbery, the gun, riding away? The hospitality, the brothers, the shootout, the stagecoach? The boy in pursuit? The frying pan for his horse?

6. The episodes in the West, the burying of bodies, not having pistols, the saloon, fighting the girl, her being held by Ferguson and his gang? The men in the gang – and their participation in the initial massacre?

7. The table, Ferguson as a character, his pretences to aristocracy, strength? The issues of the Civil War, Lee versus Grant? Ferguson and the old South, the slavery, his observations about slavery?

8. Ferguson as a character, his manner of speaking, dress, his wife and treatment of her? Expectations of her, dignity?

9. The girl, the shooting of the bread, the tough attitudes? Requiescant and his eye for shooting?

10. Ferguson, the discussion about Brothers in the Lord, the drinking competition, the beating up of the girl?

11. Requiescant, his name, quoting the Latin? Nothing in scripture against wine? His skill in shooting, accuracy?

12. The saloon, the prostitutes, the pills, the piano? Dean and his bond with Ferguson? His brutality?

13. The memories of the massacre, the bald friend, the deaths? Requiescant taken, the water torture, Ferguson and his wife, memories of the massacre, Dean of the confrontation?

14. The Mexicans, Requiescant, the Bible being shot and his life saved? The rebel group? Their arrival?

15. Fray Juan, with Requiescant’s father, under the leadership of Villa, the explanation of the qualities of his father? Fra Juan, a guide, peace with the Americans, the Bible bringing freedom? The confrontation with Ferguson? The importance of changing ideas rather than cattle and possessions, the need to
change? The commission Requiescant? His leadership?

16. Juan with the musicians, Dean and the girl, the drinking? The game with the noose? The clock ticking? The close-up of eyes? Dean and his death? The Scriptures on give and take?

17. Juan saying that Requiescant was the leader, alone, his achievement and then Juan rebuking him, saying that he enjoyed the vengeance, but that was not the right way?

18. The buildup to the confrontation with Ferguson, the fight, the dynamite? Ferguson wanting an aristocratic death? His theme of honour?

19. The success of the revolution, the Mexicans, the brutal Americans, order restored?

20. A different spaghetti Western?