# The Price of Power > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Price_of_Power > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Price_of_Power.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_Power > Source revision: 1337637995 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1969 Spaghetti Western The Price of Power Italian poster Directed by Tonino Valerii Screenplay by Massimo Patrizi Ernesto Gastaldi Tonino Valerii[1] Produced by Bianco Manini[1] Starring Giuliano Gemma Warren Vanders Maria Cuadra Ray Saunders Benito Stefanelli Fernando Rey José Suárez Van Johnson Cinematography Stelvio Massi[1] Edited by Franco Fraticelli[1] Music by Luis Enríquez Bacalov[1] Production companies Patry Film Films Montana[1] Distributed by Consorzio Italiano Distributori Indipendenti Film (CIDIF) Release dates 18 December 1969 (1969-12-18) (Italy) 9 June 1970 (1970-06-09) (Spain) Running time 111 minutes[1] Countries Italy Spain[1] Language English Box office ₤1.273 billion For the book about Henry Kissinger, see [Seymour Hersh](/source/Seymour_Hersh). ***The Price of Power*** ([Italian](/source/Italian_language): *Il prezzo del potere*) is a 1969 [Spaghetti Western](/source/Spaghetti_Western) directed by [Tonino Valerii](/source/Tonino_Valerii) and starring [Giuliano Gemma](/source/Giuliano_Gemma). The film's plot is set against the backdrop of the assassination of president [James Garfield](/source/James_Garfield). ## Plot Bill Willer tries to get revenge against the killers of his father while at the same time trying to prevent an assassination plot against president [James Garfield](/source/James_Garfield). The president ends up dying from an assassin's bullet, but Willer's further quest for revenge is ultimately more successful.[2] ## Cast - [Giuliano Gemma](/source/Giuliano_Gemma) as Bill Willer - [Warren Vanders](/source/Warren_Vanders) as Arthur MacDonald - [Benito Stefanelli](/source/Benito_Stefanelli) as Sheriff Benny Jefferson - [Fernando Rey](/source/Fernando_Rey) as Pinkerton - Ray Saunders as Jack Donovan - Michael Harvey as Jeff Wallace (uncredited) - [Van Johnson](/source/Van_Johnson) as [James A. Garfield](/source/James_A._Garfield) - [José Suárez](/source/Jos%C3%A9_Su%C3%A1rez_(actor)) as [Chester A. Arthur](/source/Chester_A._Arthur) - [Maria Cuadra](/source/Maria_Cuadra) as [Lucretia Garfield](/source/Lucretia_Garfield) - [Antonio Casas](/source/Antonio_Casas) as Mr. Willer - [Manuel Zarzo](/source/Manuel_Zarzo) as Nick - [Julio Peña](/source/Julio_Pe%C3%B1a) as Governor of Texas - [José Calvo](/source/Jos%C3%A9_Calvo) as Dr. Strips ## Production The film's concept was conceived by Massimo Patrizi, [Luigi Comencini](/source/Luigi_Comencini)'s brother-in-law, and serves as an adaptation of the story of [John F. Kennedy](/source/John_F._Kennedy)'s assassination in the form of a Western.[3] Patrizi also imposed another true story in his script, the murder of [James A. Garfield](/source/James_A._Garfield) in 1881.[3] Garfield is played by [Van Johnson](/source/Van_Johnson), with [José Suárez](/source/Jos%C3%A9_Su%C3%A1rez_(actor)) playing Vice President [Chester A. Arthur](/source/Chester_A._Arthur).[4] Spanish actress [Maria Cuadra](/source/Maria_Cuadra) plays [Lucretia Garfield](/source/Lucretia_Garfield), the President's wife. In her role she portrays pretty much the role of [Jackie Kennedy](/source/Jackie_Kennedy) as a glamorous President's wife. Even in the assassination scene, Cuadra seems to emulate many of the same actions from Jackie Kennedy's last moments with John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.[3] Although the opening titles of the film credit the story and screenplay only to Patrizi, the film was rewritten by Valerii and [Ernesto Gastaldi](/source/Ernesto_Gastaldi).[5] Valerii commented that he did not remember Patrizi's script word-for-word, but described it as "extremely basic, whereas Gastaldi and I deepened it. We established the essential themes to develop, introduced the character played by [Fernando Rey](/source/Fernando_Rey), the banker who is also the assassination's mandator, and so on."[5] Gastaldi stated that "Patrizi's treatment was simply thrown in the bin, but the producer had signed a contract with him which stated that he was to be credited as the sole author of the script. Since I didn't care about my name in the titles, I had no problem writing the script and not signing it."[3][5] ## Release *The Price of Power* was released theatrically in Italy on December 10, 1969, by Cidif.[1] It grossed a total of 1,273,858,000 lire on its domestic release in Italy.[1] It received a release in Spain on June 9, 1970, as *La muerte de un presidente*.[1] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti2016195_1-10) [Curti 2016](#CITEREFCurti2016), p. 195. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Hughes, p.106 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201650_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201650_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201650_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201650_3-3) [Curti 2016](#CITEREFCurti2016), p. 50. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hughes, p.106 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201651_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201651_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECurti201651_5-2) [Curti 2016](#CITEREFCurti2016), p. 51. ## Bibliography - Cox, Alex (2009). *10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western*. Oldcastle Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84243-304-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84243-304-1). - Curti, Robert (2016). *Tonino Valerii: The Films*. McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1476664682](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1476664682). - Hughes, Howard (2010). *Spaghetti Westerns*. Harpenden: Kamera Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84243-303-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84243-303-4). ## External links - [*The Price of Power*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066105/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Tonino Valerii Per il gusto di uccidere (1966) Day of Anger (1967) The Price of Power (1969) A Girl Called Jules (1970) My Dear Killer (1972) A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972) My Name Is Nobody (1973) Go Gorilla Go (1975) Sahara Cross (1977) Shatterer (1987) Savage Attack (1987) Authority control databases: National United States --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Price of Power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_Power) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_Power?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.