Lost & Found… ‘Four of the Apocalypse’ (1975)

‘Four of the Apocalypse’ is considered by many hard-core fans to be one of Lucio Fulci’s best achievements and one of the greatest spaghetti westerns ever made. I’ll agree with this, in part, but do not feel it’s Fulci’s greatest work. It is however, an intensely off-beat and different addition to the western genre that deserves viewing.

For many years, ‘Four of the Apocalypse’ had been censored and/or banned from many countries, including the United States. Fortunately, Blue Underground came to the rescue once again and released the uncut DVD for the truly adventurous fans to enjoy. I found myself incredibly lucky a few weeks back, having picked up not one, but two rare Lucio Fulci movies on Blue Underground DVD for only $10 each at Vintage Vinyl. The other title was ‘Conquest’. Keep your eyes peeled for my write-up on that one later.

[Warning! Contains spoilers and descriptions of graphic imagery!]

The story follows Stubby Preston (Fabio Testi), a wandering professional gambler and hustler, who returns to Salt Flats, Utah only to be nabbed by the sheriff (Donald O’Brien) as soon as he steps foot in town. The sheriff locks Stubby up in jail over night where he shares a cell with three others: a 19-year old prostitute named Emanuelle “Bunny” O’Neill (Lynne Frederick), a black undertaker named Bud (Harry Baird) and a hopeless drunk named Clem (Michael J. Pollard). While in jail, a hooded band of vigilantes ride into town and kill every living soul on the street. Come morning, the sheriff sends the four out into the Badlands of the wild west to fend for themselves.

As the awkward four attempt to survive without food or water in the harsh Badlands, they happen upon Chaco (Tomas Milian). Chaco is best described as Fulci’s interpretation of a Mexican gunslinger. He plays himself off as a friendly man who’s a very good hunter. At first, the group take shim in without any suspicion, until Chaco offers some sort of peyote chew to his new companions, leaving them in a helpless state of stoned hallucinations. Chaco uses Clem’s addiction to alcohol to force him into tying his companions in their weakened state so that Chaco can make off with what little they have worth taking, but not before having his way with Bunny.

The most bizarre, yet intriguing element to this story comes when we learn Bunny is pregnant. Shortly after, Stubby willingly takes on the role of Bunny’s husband and as a result the two fall in love. After Chaco violates his love, Stubby swears to get his revenge, but not before he and Bunny meet up with Reverend Sullivan (Adolfo Lastretti) who and Bunny goes into labor. They make it to a desolate snow-covered mining town populated only by men, who all pitch in to help make sure the child is born and taken care of properly.

Bunny does not survive childbirth and the town’s men willingly take on the role of community surrogate parents for the child they name Lucky. Stubby is heart-broken and devastated by the loss of Bunny and confesses to the town he is not a fit father, leaving Lucky for them to raise as their own. Despite how ridiculous this story sounds, Fulci actually manages to pull it off in a fairly believable manner and it adds a fresh new element to a story that otherwise is similar ‘Unforgiven’.

As for the title, it has a nice ominous sound to it, but the story really only vaguely eludes to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse theme, as far as I’m concerned. The characters certainly deal with their share of famine and death, war would have to be dealt with as a metaphor for Stubby’s relationship with Chaco, but pestilence… I haven’t really been able to figure that one out yet. I suppose Clem’s alcoholism could be classified as such, but that would be stretching it quite a bit.

‘Four of the Apocalypse’ is such an unconventional addition to the western genre because of it’s story. Sure, it was banned for it’s graphic violence and some content, but this movie is from 1975. This is what I find fascinating. The seventies had loads of movies with “questionable” content in the various “_ploitation” films. Heck, even ‘A Clockwork Orange’ was more violent than ‘Four of the Apocalypse’. Granted, it was banned for a period of time, but that was a result of Kubrick’s own decision spurred by the so-called outbreak of violence from viewers. Don’t get me started on that one.

Director Lucio Fulci did have much more visible blood spatter than the average action/western film of that era, but looking back on it now it doesn’t hold up. The blood work back then was very lo-tech and on film it was bright red and excessively fluid. With that said, ‘Four of the Apocalypse’ did have some graphic scenes of torture that would have been understandably “extreme” for many viewers, such as the scene when the Sheriff is tied to a tree and Chaco decides to torture him by slowly skinning his abdomen, despite the sheriff’s pleas for him to just end his life.

Personally, the only other scene I felt could reasonably be considered “morally questionable” was the scene when Bunny is raped by Chaco, but even in the uncut version it’s minimally graphic. The movie is almost entirely dubbed in English, which makes for some awkward dialogue. A few of the “restored” scenes are subtitled, as they were never dubbed due to the ban. If you’re a fan of the western genre but find yourself somewhat bored with the typical formula that many westerns fall into, ‘Four of the Apocalypse’ offers a welcome change of pace.