NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (July 2023): Arrow have transferred another four Italian westerns to Blu-ray. These are a part of their Blood Money: Four Western Classics Vol. 2. The films are $10,000 Blood Money (1967), Vengeance is Mine (1967), Find a Place to Die (1968) and Matalo! (Kill Him) (1970) on four separate dual-layered Blu-rays with high to max'ed out bitrates. They are cited as being from "Brand new 2K restorations of all four films from the original 35mm camera negatives by Arrow Films". We have reviewed Arrow's Volume One; Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns from 2021 HERE. We reviewed the 2005 German DVD Django - Italo-Western-Box, HERE, that has $10,000 Blood Money (10.000 dollari per un massacro) and Vengeance is Mine (Per 100,000 dollari ti ammazzo) and have compared these two films from SD to 1080P below. It is not dissimilar to what I said about Volume One: "I really can't find anything bad to say about how these four films look on Blu-ray. There may be infrequent speckles and dust but grain textures are prevalent and look superlative. Colors appears true with occasional richness and no excessive embellishment. Contrast is strong. They look marvelous on my system - consistent, clean, tight, fine detail in the many close-ups (with penetrating eyes and visible skin grain), and up to Arrow's usual impressive video transfer standards."

NOTE: We have added 134 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-rays, Arrow use linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in the original Italian languages with English DUBs (appropriate titles sequence and credits are via a seamlessly branched option.) NOTE: "UNFORTUNATELY, DESPITE AN EXTENSIVE SEARCH, ARROW FILMS WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE ELEMENTS FOR THE ITALIAN CLOSING TITLES FOR MATALO! (KILL HIM). AS SUCH, WE HAVE INCLUDED THE ENGLISH TITLES IN THEIR PLACE." As you might anticipate there are extensive aggressive western-related moments of gunfire and violent conflict that carry reasonable depth via the authentic mono tracks. The score for $10,000 Blood Money and Vengeance is Mine was Nora Orlandi (Boccaccio '70, The Sweet Body of Deborah, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Double Face). She is recognize as the first female film composer of Italian cinema. NOTE: "Perceptive listeners may notice a difference in pitch between the Italian and English versions of Vengeance is Mine. Please rest assured that this is as per the original soundtrack negatives and not a fault of this release." For Find a Place to Die the score was by Gianni Ferrio (The Bloodstained Butterfly, Death Occurred Last Night, Crime of Passion, Kreola)  and the music on Matalo! (Kill Him) is credited to (special electroacoustic music effects by) Mario Migliardi (Battle of the Worlds.) There are "spaghetti western" vibes in the music - all tracks are clean and the DUBs are not atrociously obvious. Overall; effective in establishing moods via the uncompressed renderings. Arrow offer optional English (translation and SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-rays.

Like Volume One, the Arrow Blu-rays are described as having a "plethora of brand new bonus materials". I can fact-check that, again, as 'TRUE'. Each film has a commentary. On $10,000 Blood Money it is by author and film historian Lee Broughton (The Euro-Western: Reframing Gender, Race and the 'Other' in Film.) For Vengeance is Mine the commentary is by critics Adrian J. Smith (Movies and Mania) and David Flint (Sheer Filth!: Bizarre Cinema, Weird Literature, Strange Music, Extreme Art.). On Find a Place to Die we get a commentary by critic Howard Hughes (author of Once Upon A Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns.) Lastly, for Matalo! (Kill Him) we get two favorites Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson with data on Jeffrey Hunter, his untimely death and much more about this production. Each film has new introductions by Italian journalist Fabio Melelli. They run about 10+ minutes each. There are archival or new interviews with director Romolo Guerrieri, actor Gianni Garko, producer Mino Loy, screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, composer Nora Orlandi, director Giuliano Carnimeo, filmmaker Davide Pulici (discussing the career of Matalo! director Cesare Canevari), and appreciations by disc collector Lovely Jon (on composers, Gianni Ferrio + Mario Migliardi.) There are galleries for all four films and Italian trailers for three of them ($10,000 Blood Money, Find a Place to Die and Matalo!) The package itself has an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Howard Hughes, a fold-out double-sided poster and slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and limited edition packaging and reversible sleeves featuring original artwork.

Deeply ensconced 'Pasta Western' genre flics directed by Romolo Guerrieri (The Sweet Body of Deborah,) Giovanni Fago (assistant director for, the likes, of Vittorio De Sica, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lucio Fulci), Giuliano Carnimeo (The Case of the Bloody Iris) and Cesare Canevari (his films ranged to noir, Nazisploitation, Spaghetti Western, giallo and melodrama.) The stars include Gianni Garko (The Complete Sartana), Loredana Nusciak (Django), Claudio Camaso (A Bay of Blood), Claudie Lange (in a large number of Italian genre films), Jeffrey Hunter (Gun For a Coward), Pascale Petit (Four Times That Night), Lou Castel (Requiescant aka "Kill and Pray") and Ana María Mendoza. The films aren't at the level of Volume One but they are filled with machismo, genre-themed plots involving goldmine claims, outcast soldiers, gratuitous vengeful violence, a mysterious ghost town, a bounty hunter, beautiful pioneering gals and fulfilling a mother's dying wish. These are housed on individual Arrow Blu-rays with exceptional a/v plus commentaries, hours of impressive supplements, an illustrated collector’s booklet, poster and more. Hours of delightful Spaghetti western adventure infused with easily identifiable style. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze