Dans la Poussiere du Soleil

Alternative title: Lust in the Sun
Synopsis: Feature film spaghetti-Western based on Hamlet. As he lays dying, killed by his brother Joe, Willie Hawk asks his son, Hawk, to revenge his death. Hawk’s meditative nature lead the townsfolk to think him slightly mad. His mother, Gertie, who has an incestuous love for Hawk, is forced into a marriage with Joe to get his money. Maria, the sheriff’s daughter, loves Joe but is rejected. Joe and his gang raid the Swann ranch and Joe and Gertie house the bereaved family. Hawk asks the Goldoni Acting Troupe to stage a play ‘The Death of the King’ about his father’s murder and the gang breaks up in disarray. Hawk accidentally kills the sheriff who is trying to arrest Joe, believing him to be his uncle. In a shoot-out, Hawk, Joe, Ken (Maria’s brother) and Gertie are all killed.
Language: French (Standard)
Country: Spain; France
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1971
Duration: 84 mins; 7470 feet

Director

Richard Balducci

Cinematographer

Tadasu G. Suzuki

Screenplay

Richard Balducci

Music

Francis Lai

Cast

History: A dubbed version was released in the UK 1977.
Reviews: Reviewed by Colin Pahlow in Sight and Sound, vol. 44, April 1977. p. 66. ‘The only new interpretative light which it sheds on the original text is the suggestion that what finally rouses Hamlet/Hawk from his meditative paralysis is his desire to grow orange trees in California’. (Pahlow).

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