Mannaja

Mannaja
Directed by Sergio Martino
Produced by Luciano Martino
Written by Sergio Martino
Sauro Scavolini
Starring Maurizio Merli
John Steiner
Sonja Jeannine
Donald O'Brien
Philippe Leroy
Music by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Cinematography Federico Zanni
Editing by Eugenio Alabiso
Studio Devon Film
Intes Corporation
Release date(s)  Italy 1977
 France 1980
 Norway 1983/84 (video)
Running time 101 minutes
Country Italy
Language Italian

Mannaja (also known under the English title A Man Called Blade, USA) is an Italian western film from 1977 directed by Sergio Martino. The main role, Blade, is played by Maurizio Merli. Other central roles are played by John Steiner, Sonja Jeannine, Donald O'Brien, Philippe Leroy and Martine Brochard.

Mannaja is a western with strong influences from drama and thrillers.

Contents

Plot

Man hunter Blade (Maurizio Merli) arrives at the mining town of Suttonville with the lawless Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) as his prisoner. He gets noticed when he uses a tomahawk in their fight against an outlaw. After a short time, Blade's reputation becomes grater, and he comes to the attention of the city's wealthy and crippled mayor, McGowan (Philippe Leroy) and his corrupt lackey Voller (John Steiner), hired to find the mayor's daughter (Sonja Jeannine) who has disappeared. Blade is not aware that she has been kidnapped by Voller, who secretly works for a gang that regularly plunders coachloads of silver from the mayor's silver mine. After a while, Blade is imprisoned, beaten up, and left to die as part of a plan by Voller and his men. However, against all the odds, he survives. Blade prepares for the final battle, but not only against Voller and his gang. He also wants revenge against those who killed his father when he was small.

The film was released on DVD in 2002 (Region 2).

About the film

Mannaja is an unusual spaghetti western, in that it contains some symbolism and emotional scenes that give the viewer the feel of an adventure or horror film, particularly in the opening scene in the swamp, and the scene in the cave. Mannaja has been compared to a contemporaneous film called Keoma (1976). Like other spaghetti westerns it is sometimes rather brutal, and contains fairly graphic depictions of murder with an axe. It was banned in Sweden.

Starring

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References

External links

Internet TV