A distinct subgenre of Westerns revolves around the reluctant warrior. For another exploration of this theme, we go to 1969’s El Puro.

Once a feared gunslinger, Joe “El Puro” Bishop (Robert Woods) now spends more time guzzling booze than fighting. Chronically drunk and leery of those who seek him out to battle and make names for themselves, Joe hides out in a small border location.

With only saloon girl Rosie (Rosalba Neri) as a companion, Joe inevitably finds himself a target, a fact abetted by a large reward for his capture. When the degenerate criminal Gipsy Boots (Marc Fiorini) and his gang come to town, Joe needs to deal with this threat.

Despite the implications of that synopsis, the film’s opening doesn’t involve Joe. Indeed, we don’t meet our lead until almost 14 minutes into the tale.

This acts as a surprise since we expect time with the main character right off the bat. However, it sets up the scenarios fairly well and hints at Joe’s impending conflict more quickly than otherwise might’ve been the case.

In theory, I appreciate the fact the movie sets up the manner in which Gipsy and company stalk Joe. This stab at a “slow burn” should create tension as we await the inevitable conflict.

Unfortunately, Puro brings us a really slow burn, one that positively stalls at times. Rather than turn into a taut sense of drama, the story lollygags to such a degree that it squanders its potential.

Perhaps if Puro used all this cinematic real estate to develop the characters in a strong manner, I wouldn’t mind the languid pacing. However, the film never really digs into Joe, Rosie, Gipsy or the rest in anything more than a superficial manner.

We see the roles as basic archetypes and nothing more. Granted, that often becomes the case with Westerns, so Puro doesn’t stand out as unusual in that regard.

If the movie created a more dynamic tale, I wouldn’t mind the absence of strong characters. But as noted, it tends to drag, and that means the thin roles become even more problematic.

Woods creates a hole at the movie’s center. Though not terrible as our haunted hero, he seems dull and without much personality.

At least Neri adds some charm to her cliché role, and Fiorini does well as the obsessed antagonist. His gangmembers also provide a bit of spark.

None of this becomes enough to sustain Puro. Despite some potential positives, the movie seems too slow and purposeless to really click.

El Puro appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though a little iffy at times, this usually became a good presentation.

Sharpness became somewhat erratic. Still, overall delineation felt fine, with only occasional instances of mild softness.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. The movie showed reasonable grain and lacked print flaws outside of a few small specks.

As befit the setting, Puro went with a sandy palette, though we got some blues as well. These tones didn’t demand much of the Blu-ray, but the disc reproduced the arid hues with positive fidelity.

Blacks looked fairly dark, though they could crush a bit at times. Shadows showed decent to good clarity as well. Nothing about the image excelled, but given its age and origins, it seemed satisfactory.

In terms of quality, Puro brought us dated but decent LPCM monaural audio. Like virtually all Italian films of this era, it came with looped dialogue.

Also like virtually all Italian films of this era, the speech tended to sound unnatural and thin. This material could feel thin and reedy, but that was expected.

Music felt fairly peppy and full, while effects appeared more than adequate. Some louder elements like gunfire displayed a smidgen of distortion, but in general, the material seemed clean enough. This became a perfectly acceptable track for an older Italian production.

The disc includes both the movie’s Export Cut (1:38:29) as well as its Original Italian Version (1:48:39). How do the two differ?

The Italian version mainly extends existing scenes. We don’t find much unique content, as instead, we simply locate longer takes of sequences also in the Export Cut.

Rather than allow the film to offer more substance, the added 10 minutes just makes an already slow movie drag even more. I appreciate the inclusion of this original edition, but I don’t think the extra running time improves the story.

Note that due to issues with the source, the Italian version shows obviously weaker picture and audio during the scenes not also in the Export Cut. Visuals don’t degrade terribly, but the shots tend to look softer and with flatter colors.

Audio becomes the more obvious issue, as the Italian version’s segments offer thinner dialogue and less robust music and effects. Because the regular soundtrack doesn’t dazzle, these variations don’t doom the Italian edition, but they do create minor distractions.

A few extras appear, and we begin with an audio commentary from film critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Hawthorn. Alongside the Italian cut, both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, genre domains, differences between the two versions, production details and their thoughts about the film.

Howarth and Hawthorn usually provide solid commentaries, and that continues to be the case here. We get a lively chat with a nice array of insights.

Three featurettes follow, and A Zen Western Movie spans 15 minutes, seven seconds. It brings an introduction from journalist/critic Fabio Melelli.

The program covers aspects of the film’s creation and production. As with other Melelli “introductions”, this one would make more sense as an overview featurette, but it nonetheless delivers good information.

A Real Italian goes for 28 minutes, 11 seconds. This one offers info from actor Robert Woods.

We learn about aspects of his life and career as well as his experiences on Puro. We get a nice summary.

Finally, More Than Just Western goes for 35 minutes, 34 seconds. Here we find notes from musician Lovely Jon.

“More” gives us Jon’s notes about the movie’s score and composer Alessandro Alessandroni. We get a solid discussion.

A story of a haunted gunslinger, El Puro comes with the potential to deliver a compelling Western thriller. Unfortunately, it plugs along at such a sluggish pace that it never manages to turn especially tense or engaging. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture, adequate audio and a roster of supplements highlighted by a longer cut of the film and a commentary. Chalk up Puro as a dull disappointment.

Note that El Puro comes only as part of a four-film collection called “Savage Guns”. This set also includes fellow Westerns I Want Him Dead, Wrath of the Wind and Four of the Apocalypse.