Most Spaghetti westerns are derivative, imitating the genre’s box office champs, specifically Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and Sergio Corbucci's "Django," and then later the “Trinity” horse operas. “Man from Oklahoma” director Roberto Bianchi Montero’s "Two Faces of the Dollar" borrows marginally from Leone's classic, but contains more plot and morality than those superficial, straightforward, gunnery range Spaghetti westerns. Mind you, "Two Faces of the Dollar" has no shortage of violent shootouts in the grand Spaghetti western tradition. Moreover, the filmmakers observe some of the now defunct Production Code rules. The film depicts cold blooded murder, premediated larceny, and reflects the venerable Production Code edict: crime doesn’t pay. Meantime, this 95-minute sagebrusher also crowds out gunplay with the logistics of an elaborately planned gold heist. Think “Mission Impossible.” Kudos to lenser Stelvio Massi. His first-rate, widescreen cinematography along with his novel use of zooms and pans enhances the film’s spectacle. Later, Massi would ascend to the director’s chair and distinguish himself with various poliziotteschi crime thrillers, notably “Convoy Busters” and “Emergency Squad.” At the same time, Giosy and Mario Capuano’s flavorful orchestral score evokes memories of Leone’s “For A Few Dollars More.” What our anti-heroes set out to accomplish mirrors John Huston’s revered crime classic “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950). Surprisingly, the Italians embrace a ‘crime doesn’t pay’ note, in the context of “The Asphalt Jungle!”
Story and screenplay scribes Alberto Silvestri of “Nick the Sting” and Franco Verucci of “No Way Out” conjure up a vivid gallery of characters. Furthermore, they pose stiff obstacles our thieves must contend with before they get away with the gold. First, they introduce us to a bespectacled professor, Matthew (Jacques Herlin of “Secret Agent Super Dragon”), who idolizes clocks. He has devised an audacious plan to steal a fortune in gold stored at Fort Henderson. Although it remains under lock and guard in a separate room, Matthew orchestrates the theft in broad daylight inside the fort during a camp inspection. He has recruited three accomplices, two men and a woman. First, he convinces a sharp-shooting gunslinger, Django (Maurice Poli of “Battle of the Damned,” aka Monty Greenwood), who prizes the qualities of a Navy Colt revolver, to join him. Second, he enlists the aid of a disgraced army officer, the treacherous Blackgrave (Gérard Herter of “Adios, Sabata”), who shares Django’s relish for Navy Colts. Blackgrave must impersonate the colonel scheduled to inspect the fort. Once they enter the fort, Blackgrave and Django perform all the heavy lifting and later the ensuing gunplay when they cross the border. Third, he solicits the help of a buxom babe, Jane (Gabriella Giorgelli of “Moving Target”), who relies of her charms to seduce lusty males. This turns out to be the first flaw in Matthew’s plan. He chose Jane because she knew the former quartermaster. After her arrival at the stockade, the current quartermaster informs her about Felix’s death. Initially, the new quartermaster insists she leave. Naturally, she appeals to him and hangs around long enough to carry out her part in the robbery. Moreover, Matthew has painstakingly created a persona for himself that will enable them escape with the gold, even under the noses of a fort bristling with soldiers! Earlier, at the local bank, Matthew tried without success to cash in bags of dirt he had mistaken for gold. He has done it so often everybody considers him a fool. Indeed, Matthew grooms this persona until the thieves possess the gold. Earlier, Blackgrave had turned his horse loose in the desert, so he flag down the stagecoach transporting Colonel Talbert (Andrea Bosic of “Sandokan the Great”) to Fort Henderson for his camp inspection. During their conversation, Blackgrave assembles his Navy Colt. He guns down the officer traveling with Talbert without a qualm. Afterward, he faces off with Talbert in an old-fashioned duel and kills the colonel. Fortunately, during their conversation, Blackgrave had learned from Talbert that the latter had never visited Fort Henderson, so nobody would be able to challenge his identity. Indeed, after he kills the colonel in a duel, Blackgrave dons Talbert’s uniform and masquerades as him. At the fort, he informs the commandant that he plans to rest before he launches his inspection. Meantime, posing as a drunken Mexican, Django charges recklessly into the fort and picks a fight with a brawny sergeant. Promptly, the soldiers lock him up in the guardhouse. Later, Django tempts a guard to enter his cell when he catches the soldier admiring his watch. Django overpowers the guard and prepares to play his part in helping Blackgrave steal the gold.
Basically, Blackgrave and Django work inside the fort to remove the gold. Blackgrave dodges an inquisitive officer, Lt. Benjamin Sinclair (Andrea Scotti of “Operation Poker”), who may have recognized him from his shady past. Meantime, Django struggles with another sergeant who tries to thwart his efforts to steal the gold. Later, when a soldier discovers Jane and tries to alert the post about her, Blackgrave gunned him down in front of everybody. Blackgrave justifies shooting the soldier because he recognized the man as an arsonist. Meantime, to facilitate loading the sacks of gold onto Matthew’s wagon, Blackgrave orders the fort commander to dispatch troopers to help Matthew load up. Montero and his writers rarely let Matthew and his accomplices off the hook. Once they have left the fort, greed prompts them to double-cross each other. Later, after they reach the border, they discover Lt. Sinclair has hired a gang of desperadoes to help him seize the gold. A nighttime gunfight in an abandoned border town ensues, with our protagonists mowing down the villains. Nevertheless, unexpected trouble lies ahead for Django, Blackgrave, and Matthew. “Two Faces of the Dollar” ends on an ironic note for a Spaghetti western: crime doesn’t pay.
