Don Shanahan
In a sweet case of a casting coup, Heads or Tails? directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis were lucky enough to secure the services of Academy Award nominee and national treasure, John C. Reilly, to play the legendary Buffalo Bill Cody and the extra American ingredient for their Italian-set Western. Following in the footsteps of many screen greats before him, like Paul Newman and Charlton Heston, to don that tilted, wide-brimmed hat, bushy mustache, and extended and silvered soul patch goatee, Reilly brings the measured drawl and winking showmanship to be this film’s present and omniscient narrator.
As if it leaps off the page of a dime-store novel, Heads or Tails? opens with John C. Reilly’s transcribed words as Cody to lay down a “thrilling and true” myth. One clincher line is key to setting up what will occur before us:
“If a writer lends the magic of his imagination to the plain narrative, the plainest narrative can transform into quite a story.”
Therein lies the quandary of Heads or Tails? Buffalo Bill Cody is spinning a good story to sell that bends the truth. Granted, the spine of the tale has to come from somewhere, which is where this on-the-run-from-the-law Western steps forward. Still, answering such a promise requires an acceptance of both plainness and magic. How much serendipitous or outlandish polish is needed to shine up how much unsophistication?
That question needs to be asked because, at the 57-minute mark in Heads or Tails?, Reilly’s transported icon speaks the promise again to say, “Mark my words, boy, this is going to be quite the story.” At that point, with only 50 minutes to go of running time, there’s a good chance that, outside of the charismatic involvement of Reilly, you haven’t felt or fallen for the ensured charm of the film.
Rewinding to the predicament that sets Heads or Tails? into action, the film opens on Cody’s traveling Wild West show regaling overseas audiences in Rome with the theatrical storytelling and stunts that would make him an entertainment legend. Post-show, Cody is offered a lucrative wager from local heavy Ercole Rupè (Mirko Artuso of La pelle dell’orso), who declares his mounted “butteri” herdsman are more skilled than Bill’s cowboys. During the impromptu competition, Rupe’s lead horseman, Santino (Alessandro Borghi of The Eight Mountains), refuses Rupè’s order to lose on purpose, costing his boss the big bet.
In the ensuing fallout, the incensed Ercole finds Santino making eyes at his much-younger French fiance Rosa (Rosalie’s Nadia Tereszkiewicz). Taking his anger out on her, Rupè is shot and killed by Rosa. To protect her from the consequences sought by Ercole’s father (former Spaghetti Western leading man, Gianni Garko), Santino takes credit for the gunshot, which sends them both into each other’s arms on the lam from the law and Heads or Tails? out to the hard trails of the rugged rurals.
Matching the plotlines of Buffalo Bill Cody’s types of stories, the rumor mill inflates this incident from a crime of passion to something of a subordinate defying an evil overseer at a crucial time in the societal present shown in the early 20th century. Santino’s face—not Rosa’s— starts appearing on “wanted” posters with a sizable reward for his capture as a cross-country manhunt begins, one that Cody obliges to join, knowing more of the real truth than he lets on. When Rosa and Santino join up with a charismatic rebel leader (Peter Lanzani of Argentina, 1985), their tall tale is merged with a national movement against wealthy oligarchs. Like the America they want to travel to, bandits have become heroes.
Lost to the public behind the gossip is Rosa’s chief role in all of this. The real scandal is her rising against the abuse she was saddled with under the Rupè family’s thumb. At some point, she wants more credit for this cause, not just from Santino, but from all who discount her presence. As the wild escapes, gunshots, and bodycounts increase, Nadia Tereszkiewicz takes over the film from Borghi’s chosen face of revolution. Heads or Tails? labels her character to have “sheer temerity,” and the description fits like a glove for the actress’s stoic lead performance and the grit attempted to be conveyed by this movie. Pointing a gun to get your way tends to work every time, and she rules that power move.
To its credit, Heads or Tails? looks and sounds the part of the international variety of the famed genre it seeks. The rustic topography, searing sunlight, and spurts of stuntwork are beautifully shot by Queer cinematographer Simone D’Arcangelo. The dialogue of the characters, including an orbiting extra villain portrayed by Gabrielle Silli of The Tale of King Crab, is gruff, and the violent resolve is even terser. Composer Vittorio Giampietro packs those dry and dusty tones together with a fitting and eclectic score that gets trippy when it needs to.
Nevertheless, it all comes back to that balance of imagination and plainness in Heads of Tails? What John C. Reilly is delightfully slinging with his participation is meant to intentionally oversell an ordinary tryst into this escapade. Squinting at his account is more than fair and part of the potential fun. Yet, Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis (The Tale of King Crab) veer this film dramatically towards a surreal swerve that borders on silliness that undercuts the emerging mettle coming through Tereszkiewicz’s embattled lead. The tall tale gets too tall, if you will, and it loses the heroism and righteousness that were more than sufficient without flaunting bizarre twists.
