stranger collection

Most of the Clint Eastwood copycats during the heyday of the “Spaghetti Western” were Europeans passing themselves off as unshaven outlaws of the American West. Since all the dialogue was dubbed in post-production and the film locations were anonymous enough, audiences usually were none the wiser. But Tony Anthony was the real McCoy.

A West Virginia native who found himself in Italy just as Sergio Leone’s Dollar films were breaking box office records, the actor co-financed and starred in A Stranger in Town, playing the lead role of a scruffy bounty hunter with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The clothes, style and skills were all a dead ringer for Eastwood’s “Man With No Name,” but Anthony brought a loose, playful feel that matched his hangdog looks and the character’s less polished abilities.

Not that “The Stranger” is a slouch with a six-gun. The first film is an almost dialogue-free exercise in shootouts, but slow-paced and fairly predictable in terms of plot mechanics: our anti-hero comes up with a plan to steal a shipment of U.S army gold but is double-crossed by his Mexican partner. What follows is an almost laconic revenge story as The Stranger stalks his former compadres for his fair share.

Things improve dramatically in the sequel, The Stranger Returns, which pairs our outlaw up with a quirky preacher who helps him take down yet another gang of bad guys stealing a stagecoach made of solid gold. More at ease in the role, Anthony’s smirking performance creates a character that is easy to underestimate…which makes it all the more enjoyable when he gets the best of those around him. He and director Luigi Vanzi (credited as Vance Lewis) come up with a much better story this time around, stealing a page from the Tuco / Blondie dynamic of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Filmed just the next year, but unreleased for another four, The Silent Stranger takes a bizarre tangent (although not quite as bizarre as Get Mean, the final “Stranger” installment from 1975). Within the first five minutes, the film switches locals to Japan as Anthony is caught between two warring samurai clans in pursuit of a valuable scroll in his possession.

One of the earliest films to capitalize on the international popularity of the Shaw Brothers films, The Silent Stranger ditches any semblance of seriousness altogether. The hints of comedy hidden in the previous entries is allowed to run wild here as Anthony plays the “fish out of water” scenario for laughs in nearly every scene, but still manages to pack in liberal amounts of swordfights and gunplay.

Anthony would go on to help re-launch the 3D craze of the early ‘80s with a pair of films (Comin’ At Ya! and Treasure of the Four Crowns). But his blue-collar looks and droopy line deliveries were never more endearing than in this series of films, now released for the first time on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection. The image quality is rough in spots, particularly during any credit sequences, but improves as the series moves along. Extras are limited to a pair of trailers. But with Get Mean scheduled to hit Blu-ray later this year, now is the time to introduce yourself to “The Stranger!”