I haven’t seen the uncut version yet, but I didn’t liked the cut version very much. I remember that all the action scenes were rather poor.
Rewatched this movie today. I like it somehow, even though it really has an American feel to it and some scenes are rather stupid (Mitchell shooting people sitting in the tower) as mentioned before. Nice cast (Carlo Pedersoli without a beard) !!! The Sunfilm DVD has excellent picture quality and runs around 15min longer (or so) than my old TV version 
!
That’s the one thing that came into my mind, too. Especially the end and the music remind me of US productions.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the movie. Picture and sound on my DVD (Savoy / Sunfilm) are good.
I agree with Bluntwolf, it’s a movie that definitely feels more american than spaghetti.
Except for the good ending and Gordon Mitchell, this is a western that simply fails to deliver. And Lee Van Cleef… he’s not the one i loved in FAFDM or in Sabata.
C’mon! Ok he’s playing a different role, but he’s still asskickin’ cool. Just the way he’s gettin’ off his horse in almosu slo-mo as he arrives in town with Sabato.
Maybe OK, but surely not extra cool…Don’t remember seeing him giving a deadly stare to anybody…But it’s all probably the character’s fault, he’s just a small thief, not in interested in THE BIG JOB, not eager to kill, he also falls in love with that lady…shit, man, these things are not for Lee Van Cleef.
Maybe that’s not a thing for him. But let’s think the other way round. Lee gets the best out of this role. Maybe with someone else the flick would have been worse. Know what I mean?
Yeah i know, but i still believe he’s not doing his best, even for that role. Just my opinion.
I liked his role, he played it well, it saves the movie from getting tooooooo boring, cause it is boring to some extent.
But:
Maybe I’m just glad to see him in a flick 
This was the one part of this that really pulled me out of the movie for a moment, otherwise it probably would have been in my top 20. Still a really good flick 7/10
Most henchmen in SWs get killed in a stupid way. Like this we can more easily behold the superior abilities of both our heroes and the diabolic villains.
LVC rarely plays a character like this. I feel his vaunerability makes you feel for his character & adds another layer to what could have been a mediocre story. I liked it but it definitely has it’s own vibe to it.
I just watched it for the 2nd time and I completly agree.
Watched this one recently. Enjoyable. 3/5.
I really liked the film, it was one of those Italian Westerns that has that American Western feel. I really liked seeing Lee play a different kind of character, seeing him get all giddy over his new suit was really something I wasn’t used to seeing, but I loved his character. The ending is what really got me, I found it to be very emotional, seeing Lee’s face after the European said he was still ‘our friend’ was very emotional. Great film.
I’ve seen now for the first time the uncut version with 115 min. The German version should have 93 min but the TV version has only about 89 min, which makes a big plus of 26 additional min!
It was a German co-production, so it’s a bit strange that they killed this film for their own release by virtually destroying it’s rhythm.
The film is much better in this version and I would give it now a 3/5 instead of only 2. It’s a lightweight SW, in which Lee van Cleef turns into the self ironic style of Sabata and most of his later SWs. Not his best career decision, but in this long version he does a good enough job.
After the box office hits of his previous films BtL was most likely blessed with a bigger budget than usual, which shows.
It’s the best of Stegani’s 3 SWs, but that’s not a big surprise as the other ones are only the simple Adios Gringo (1965) and the lousy Gentleman Joe (1967). BtL is mostly competently directed with some really good looking scenes but unfortunately Stegani is a pretty bad action director. The big action scenes are an uninspired filmed stagecoach robbery (actually a covered wagon), and then the big, big shoot-out at the end which is often laughable in its unimaginativeness. In this scene both, the conception and the directing of the action, is surprisingly poor.
Apart from that, the film is quite watchable and the interaction between the main actors leads to a lot of enjoyable scenes.
This is in the Mill Creek 20-film Spaghetti Western box set. The picture quality is remarkable. Letterboxed, crystal clear, maybe the best I’ve ever seen in a Mill Creek dub. There is even one scene where apparently the English track is not available, and MCE presents that scene in Italian w/ English subs.
That said, this film is really slow and confusing. I got thru the first half-hour last night, it put me to sleep. I want to know, why does Sabato’s character race up into the hills to see Van Cleef after the stagecoach robbery? Do they meet by chance? If so, why does Sabato immediately ride back into town w/ LVC? And then shortly after, LVC complains that he lost his horse, but we don’t see this happen. Maybe when I finish watching, these questions will be made clear, but for now I’m confused. Any insights?
Finally got round to viewing the widescreen uncut version. Thoughts… same as before re this one. Cannot get into the style and pace, and to many people seem to be smiling for a late 60’s Spaghetti. The score the way it jumps in style is annoying. Dislike the ending aswell where Cleef kills one of his original friends. Mitchell with his black cloak made me laugh and Stander is pretty laid back.
Mitchell’s outfit is pathetic!
Just recording this off Movies4Men at the mo. As it’s 3 in the afternoon, I am assuming I will see the cut version when I settle down to watch it later…
Philip