b_kite By 1981 the Italian western was completely dead having pretty much run its course by the late 1970's. But, that didn't stop genre staples director Ferdinando Baldi and actor Tony Anthony from cranking out one last explosion filled ride and what better way then in 3D. This is one I had always wanted to see but either couldn't find it or never had the chance, I've always enjoyed Tony Anthony especially in his "Stranger" series witch were pretty much lower budget rip offs of Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy. But, he shines in Baldi's 1971 western "Blindman" the best. While the story is pretty much just a routine revenge plot, where a man rides off to save his kidnapped wife from two bandit brothers, what defiantly stands it out is the 3D concept, and they literally throw everything but the kitchen sink at you darts, snakes, guns, beans, rats, spears, grasping hands, spiders, a bowling ball, bats, gun barrels, swords, cowboys falling down stairs, a spinning yo-yo and pinwheel, gold coins, apple peels, flaming arrows and a baby's bottom. Its all pretty awesome, and comes off very surreal sometimes especially when viewed in 2D. While the routine story and slow plot at times hinders this from a four star rating, there's a lot to enjoy hear especially if your a western fan. Defiantly will get repeat viewings in the future.

zardoz-13 Imagine what a standard-issue Spaghetti western shoot'em up about revenge with sadistic dastards pitted against a savvy lone wolf hero who happens to be a crack shot and then add 3-D, and you've got the best adrenalin-laced western 3-D bloodbath with director Ferdinando Baldi's "Comin'At Ya" with "Stranger in Town" star Tony Anthony. This is one 3-D movie that lives up to its title. Baldi literally sticks virtually everything in your face during this 91-minute sagebrush showdown. This is 3-D as it should have been done for the get-go. Unfortunately, Rhino Video got their fumbling fingers this masterpiece of atmospheric frontier violence and botched it as a DVD. Originally, I saw this movie in Jackson, Mississippi, when it came out in 1981, and it was terrific! The plot was as lean as Tony Anthony. Basically, Anthony plays a version of his "Stranger' again, but this time his wardrobe has changed. Gone is the serape. He wears a dress coat, vest, and looks like a conventional hero in an American western. Mind you, things have changed considerably with the release of "Comin' At Ya" in Blu-ray 3-D with "a frame by frame digital conversion of the polarized over-and-under format of the original print, sourced from a brand new inter-negative into the MVC 3-D format and a new 5.1 surround sound" audio. The quoted words are straight off the Blu-ray case. If you are an avid 3-D fan, I believe this movie was made for you, and it looks terrific, aside from some of the degradation that time has imposed on the original print. Meantime, the new 3-D glasses are nothing like the original ones. The glass look exactly like those in contemporary movie theaters. Kind of like sunglasses. The 3-D "Comin' At Ya" effects looked great on my 65 inch television. Several people have said that Anthony put together a demo-reel of western scenes and showed how they wound look in 3-D. If this is was the case, then Tony Anthony was a pretty shrewd dude. Too bad it couldn't have supervise all the other 3-D movies that came out in the 1980s. Most of them sucked terribly! Lloyd Battista of "Treasure of the Four Crowns," Wolf Lowenthal of "Get Mean," Gene Quintaro of "Sudden Dead" wrote their screenplay from Tony Pettito's story. Tony Anthony wrote under the pseudonym of Tony Pettito. The narrative portion of this western is reminiscent in some ways of Ferdinando Baldni's "Blindman," except our hero retains his sight. Similarly, the villains, led by Pike (Gene Quintaro) and his obese brother Polk (hefty Richard Palacios of "Return of the Seven"), have amassed an army of six-gunners with an arrow-shooting Indian, and they raid towns on the American side of the border for lovely dames to sell for lots of loot in Mexico. The first mistake that these bastards make occurs when they interrupt a marriage in a church where H.H. Hart (Tony Anthony of "The Stranger" movies) is getting himself hitched to beautiful Abilene (Victoria Abril of "High Heels") and wound him and abduct her. Naturally, when Hart recovers from his wounds, he rides out to recover his bride. Meantime, Pike has rounded up two wagon loads of women and he has set up an auction to sell them to the highest bidders. You guessed it: Hart gatecrashes the party. Chaos ensues with gunfire galore.Ultimately everything boils down to a contest of wits and balls between Hart and Pike. No sooner than Hart thinks that he has rescued all the women than his plans to awry. He finds himself in a neck and neck fight for life with Poke, and Abilene finds herself back in Pike's hands. Although the pared-down to absolute essentials plot is basically worth only two stars, the captivating 3-D is worth four stars. Nothing gets in the way of the action, least of all any involved dialogue. Anybody that loves Spaghetti westerns, Tony Anthony movies, and 3-D actioneer will crave this oater.

Wizard-8 Even if I had seen the movie in the original 3-D process it was filmed in, I seriously doubt it could have masked the utterly boring and unoriginal story. The constant jabbing of things into the camera lens is initially amusing, but soon becomes tiring. In fact, the whole movie is seriously tired, a mix of elements from previous Tony Anthony movies (some of which were ripped off from Sergio Leone movies - talk about copies of copies!), and once again Anthony gives a performance that alternates between indifference and about-to-burst-into-tears. Much of the budget must have been spent on buying an extra camera, because the movie has a real cheap and quickly-shot appearance.If you decide to watch the movie anyway, be sure you have fresh batteries in your remote - I guarantee you'll be using the fast-forward button a lot.

Curtis G. I saw "Comin' At Ya!" when it was released in 1981. Remembering that it was highly entertaining, if cheesy, I happily threw down my 14 bucks for the DVD re-release. If you're thinking about buying it, three words: Don't do it.Rhino has converted the film to the red/blue 3D process (as opposed to the polarization process--if you've seen the 3D movies at Disneyland or Universal Studios, you know what I mean), and the results are horrible. Not only does the 3D not work, the red and blue lenses ruin the color (red/blue 3D is better suited to black and white movies or monochromatic comic books). I gave up the glasses after ten minutes, muted the colors on my TV, and fast-forwarded to the fight scenes. It wasn't even worth the 14 dollars I paid for the DVD, and I'm taking it back.I'm very disappointed with Rhino for even releasing the DVD with the shoddy 3D. It's as if someone said, "Yeah, the 3D doesn't work, but who cares? They'll buy it for the gimmick." If you absolutely must see it again, rent it or con a friend into buying it. Because it is absolutely not worth the money.As for the movie itself--c'mon, rubber bats on wires; flaming arrows; spears bouncing along on half-taut wires as they come "right at you"? That's what 3D was made for. The director uses every excuse to throw things at the camera, and then some. Most of them defy logic. But it might make a good party game to predict what object on screen is going to come at you next."Comin' At Ya!" is pure 3D cheese, and I loved it. Just don't expect good 3D.