HIS NAME WAS HOLY GHOST (1972)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

In all likelihood HOLY GHOST (in Italian, the name of the featured character is "Spirito Santo") came about when star Gianni Garko got together with director Giuliano Camimeo in an attempt to duplicate the box-office success of the Sartana films. Garko had appeared as that gunfighter in all but the last of that five-film series, while Camimeo had directed all but the first one. At the very least, the attire of GHOST's hero-- I'll call him "Spirito" to avoid over-using the English term-- was a conscious distancing from the black-clad Sartana by having Spirito dress in dominantly white clothes. To be sure, there's a comedic moment where a character who appears to know Spirito from a previous acquaintance uses the name "Harold" for the hero. But since Spirito is a trickster, this could be as illusory as anything else about the protagonist.

Without delving too deeply into the complicated history of the Christian term "Holy Ghost," I would say its strongest connotation is that it is a holy power mediating between God in Heaven and the mortal body of Christ, and its separateness from Jesus is demonstrated in the dove that descends to Christ at his baptism. Camimeo of course was making a violent spaghetti western, not a meditation on Christian cosmology. But he and his scripters include a lot of religious allusions into GHOST, and one of the most notable is that much of the time Spirito walks around with a dove on his shoulder. (In a comic aside, he calls it a pigeon.)

Like Sartana, Spirito seems to be primarily a gambler, and he comes to the Mexican town Morelos because he won a gold mine off a poker-cheat whom Spirito had to kill-- *maybe* in self-defense. Yet when he makes his entry into Morelos, Camimeo exploits the impression that Spirito is a savior-figure. A detachment of cruel soldiers, working for the revolutionary General Ubarte, abuses the citizens of Morelos, and it just so happens that the twelve officers are seen seated a table in a clear parody of Da Vinci's "Last Supper." Spirito enters, claiming that the soldiers ought to be washing the peasants' feet, and blasts all the bad officers to hell.

He does so, however, with motives of greed, because he thinks the old rulers of Morelos can help him locate his new gold mine. He's told that Ubarte's authority is too strong to challenge. Spirito journeys to another city, where Ubarte administers his rule, and asks for permission to mine for gold. Ubarte informs the gringo stranger that the rumor of gold is just a "dream to make the nightmare of life easier" and denies his petition. Soon Ubarte learns that Spirito killed several of his men and sends an execution squad. Spirito uses a unique gimmick-- a series of mirrors sewn in the inner lining of his coat-- to blind the gunmen and then kill them.

A passionate young woman, Juana (Pilar Velasquez), sees Spirito as the leader of a revolution, though he shows no interest in such political affairs. He does ally himself with Juana's people with the goal of getting rid of Ubarte, and to that end he enlists the help of an old colleague, the burly Chicken (Chris Huerta). He still appears to be seeking information on the location of the mine, but by the latter part of the film it's evident Spirito is really focused on "mining" a store of gold in the hands of the corrupt Ubarte.

The Christian allusions become much less evident in the middle part of the film, but they ramp up in the last third when Spirito unveils his "Trojan horse" for penetrating Ubarte's defenses. Granted, the hero's summoning of a passel of prostitutes doesn't accord with Jesus's attempt to redeem harlots from their sinful ways. But the script for GHOST is nevertheless having fun by juxtaposing the high rhetoric of religion with all sorts of earthly pleasures. 

There is a lot of comedy in the film, including one impossible stratagem-- Chicken creates explosive eggs by feeding real hens dynamite-- but I'd still term GHOST a light-hearted adventure, because it's more about the invigoration of spectacular combat than humorous setups. The end scene depends in part upon the "Trojan prostitutes" smuggling in male rebels dressed as women. Yet the females clobber more soldier-boys than do the men, including Spirito. This more or less makes up for the fact that Juana, despite her fiery temper, is just another damsel in distress. Ubarte-- whose best line has him gloating that the peasants will never revolt without intellectuals to lead them-- is slain by Spirito. There's a last minute confrontation with some lesser villains who try ripping off Spirito's filthy lucre, which allows him one last "holy" trick. Like most spaghetti heroes, Spirito's main goal is monetary, to be the guy who gets the gold in the end. But indirectly, his selfishness redeems a whole city and puts at least some gold back into the building of a church. So, in what may be rare occurrence in Euro-westerns, good works are accomplished by the acts of a sinner.