Robert Woods as an yankee agent tries to find kidnapped inventor - Gatling (altough everyone refers to him as Gatlin) and his prototype of machine gun. John Ireland is his enemy and it’s que an interesting role - halfbreed, despised by everyone, who tries to get rich and change people’s perspective on him by doing that, but still a very ruthless individual. Interesting story and good direction make this one interesting to watch. Another interesting thing is one of the shootouts near the end - it looks a bit like something straight of John Woo’s action movie. On the downside i have to confess i found Piero Piccioni’s score to be a strange and not in an interesting way [with lots of slow Hammond organ riffs it sounds like a music from some 60s espionage movie in my opinion]. Recommended. 8/10
‘Quel caldo maledetto giorno di fuoco’ (Damned hot day of fire / Gatling gun / Django spricht kein Vaterunser)
nice, little thriller-like SW
one of Robert Woods’ better movies [he was in a few good ones (‘Pecos’, ‘Black Jack’) and in quite a bunch of really sorry ones (’ Sei bounty killers per una strage’, ‘Mallory must not die’)]
good plot, entertaining
I also remember one bloody scene where Woods is digging a bullet out of his hand…
…and the music is kind of jazzy and not very western like but I think it fits the movie anyway !
Wow, I thought this one was kind of a below average affair. The story was good, but it just seemed to limp along till the end. There were some good things here, only to me they weren’t expressed well enough. Some other movies have little action but everything else built around the action is done with greater success than what is seen here, IMO.
I did a brief review of this one a few months back and it was a chore to sit through, IMO. Good story, though. And that poster is excellent. A shame the movie isn’t as good.
I pretty much follow Scherp’s feelings about this one. It’s ok in places but marred by confusing jump cuts (maybe just the version we have seen) and no classic by any means. Ireland is the stand out but Woods was ok (this was one of his better films for me) and I always enjoy George Rigaud showing up anywhere. The score is interesting too. Definitely seems out of place in a western yet I actually found it quite catchy and wound up liking it.
Interesting what can turn up in some folk’s top twenties. I guess it often comes down to your first experience in viewing a particular film. Sabata is a personal favourite of mine which I fully accept is by no means a masterpiece but has a special place for me as it was one of the earliest non Leone’s I saw and loved it.
I thought this was a bit dull… but when Robert Woods turns into a one man army, it’s amazing from then on, great action scenes.
I’m sure i’ll like it more the 2nd time.
uneven but watchable spaghetti western that has a straightforward plot and competent action scenes. i go against the general opinon here as i think John Ireland was miscast here and is below par in my opinon although i’d agree that Robert Woods is fine here, as in Black Jack.Entertaining, but nothing more.
Wow, thanks for the DVD review JD, the quality looks spectacular, this company is very promising, Dual audio on the DVD as well, cant wait to see this…
