The Man Called Noon (1973)

Richard Crenna is a reknown killer named Rubel Noon, who is struck by a bout of amnesia after being wounded in an attempt on his life.

In his search for his real identify he finds an ally in a fellow gunman named Rimes (Stephen Boyd) and a new love in a woman (Rosanna Schiaffino as Fran) badly in need of help.

She’s been made a hostage in her own home by an outlaw gang led by Ben Janish that has taken over her Rafter D Ranch.

Noon would like to help her out of that jam, but she’s been warned by her foreman that he isn’t the type of man with whom she should associate.

He also discovers he’s pretty darn good with a gun, and apparently has lots of enemies.

Slowly, the truth unravels. And it includes a mountain hideaway/fortress, hidden gold and a dead man whose sister (Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane) wants Rubal Noon — who’s going by the name Jonas Mandrin — very dead.

Richard Crenna as Jonas Mandrin (aka Rubal Noon) in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Stephen Boyd as J.B. Rimes in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Review:

Superb cinematography — check out those camera angles, scene after scene is expertly handled — and a rousing Luis Bacalov score help elevate this to a better than average Spaghetti.

Some memorably violent scenes help. So does the contributions of the two female leads with Patty Shepard turning in a particularly fiery performance.

That said, the complex script borders on the ludricrous — and leaps right over that border — on a couple of occasions.

And, of course, it’s a second knock on the head that brings all the past pouring back to our hero, who starts off the film as Jonas Mandrin and slowly realizes he’s the renown gunman Jubal Noon.

This marks one of Boyd’s better Spaghetti roles. The story was based on a Louis L’Amour Western by the same name.

Rosanna Schiaffino as Fran Dandridge in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Directed by:
Peter Collinson

Cast:
Richard Crenna … Jonas Mandrin / Rubal Noon
Stephen Boyd … J.B. Rimes
Rosanna Schiaffino … Fan Dandridge
Farley Granger … Judge Niland
Patty Shepard … Peg Cullane
Angel del Pozo … Ben Janish
Renato Rossini … Bayles
as Howard Ross
Aldo Sambrell … Kissling
Jose Jaspe … Henneker
Charlie Bravo … Lang
Richard Palacious … brakeman
Fernando Hilbeck … Mitt Ford
Jose Canalejas … Davis Cherry
Julian Ugarte .. Christobal
Adolfo Thous … mute mexican
Cesar Bruner … Charlie

Runtime: 95 min.

aka:
Un hombre llamado Noon

Music: Luis Bacalov

Farley Granger as Judge Niland in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Angel de Pozo as Ben Jannish in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Memorable lines:

J.B. Rimes: “You look like hell.”
Jonas Mandrin: “I feel like hell.”

Jonas Mandrin: “Where the hell are you taking me?”
J.B. Rimes: “Walk or talk. You ain’t get breath for both.”

J.B. Rimes: “You’re dressed like a city man. You feel like a city man?”
Jonas Mandrin: “I feel like I’m wearing another man’s skin.”
J.B. Rimes: “Long as you don’t get it punctured none.”

J.B. Rimes: “Ben Janish shot at you and missed?”
Jonas Mandrin: “He didn’t miss. He just didn’t hit me dead center.”

Jose Jaspe as Henneker warns Fan Dandridge (Rosanna Schiaffino) about Noon in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Julian Ugarte (second from left) as Christobal with some of his comrades in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Jonas Mandrin: “You coming?”
J.B. Rimes: “Yeah, I figure you might need me. If only to put a marker on your grave.”

Peg Cullane to Jonas Mandrin: “Feel free to scream. There’s no one to hear.”

Judge Nilan Jonas Mandrin: “You be careful. The female of the species is more deadly than the male. Don’t estimate Peg Cullane. She is hungry for that money.”

Peg Cullane: “You wouldn’t shoot a woman. You haven’t got the guts.”
Fan Dandridge: “But I have. I’d shoot you and I’d enjoy it. Murderous bitch!”

Richard Crenna as Rubal Noon in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Stephen Boyd as J.B. Rimes in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Trivia:

Director Peter Collinson had scored a hit with one of his first full-length feature films, “The Italian Job,” starring Michael Caine and Benny Hill in 1969. This was his only Western.

This marked the only Spaghetti Western for lovely Rosanna Schiaffino, who at one point was marketed as the “Italian Hedy Lamarr.” She was married to Italian producer Alfredo Bini during the prime of her career and played the female lead in “The Long Ships” starring Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier and Russ Tamblyn.

Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane ready for a showdown in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Rosanna Schiaffino as Fan Dandridge expresses her willingness to square off against a murderous bitch in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane and Farley Granger as Judge Niland with Rubal Noon pinned down in The Man Called Noon (1973)

Richard Crenna as Rubal Noon and Rossana Schiaffino as Fan Dandridge in The Man Called Noon (1973)