If we want to differ between Italian- and Italo (=Spaghetti) westerns, and I always will, this is an Italian western, as it has nothing in it which is typical for a SW. Well, apart from some familiar faces and landscapes.
But itās not one of these cheap looking imitations of US westerns, instead it could have been done the same year in the US, in exactly the same way. Itās basically Indians versus Soldiers stuff, but with a few new twists on the tired plot. The story is not really predictable and for once the French soldiers are the heroes.
Traditional style western which I quite enjoyed. Crawford looked terrible though. Very overweight, probably drunk and almost shuffling rather than walking. The other lead actor, Mario Valdemarin, reminded me a lot of Tony Kendall to look at and was quite good I thought.
You are right, but never thought of it before. First time I viewed this one was in the late 80ās on night time on ITV. No ITV 2, 3 etc in these days of course .
I am a big Broderick Crawford fan, from Willie Stark to Johnny Damico to Dan Matthews. Always enjoyed watching episodes of āHighway Patrolā and guessing when heās burning a low blue flame.
Iād really like to see this one. As far as being not very SWish, as a fan of 1950s American westerns thatās okay with me. Prefer that to the crummy SWs of the late period (70s).
Just re viewed this one again via a nice 2.35 print. Still an interesting watch this one for me. Full of characters who believe what they are doing is right and when these characters clash its great stuff !
Iām fairly new to the forum, fellas (so please be gentle with me), but a long-time contributor to the site, and [have just submitted a new article on this particular film. As such, I was just wondering what the general opinion was of this little-seen flick? Nobody has posted anything on it in almost four years (and even then only 31 posts), but I was surprised to find that many who had seen it responded quite favourably (Iām certainly a fan). There has been no new/legitimate home video release in the interim (at least not to my knowledge), so no real cause for any renewed interest or fresh reappraisal, but I find this film to be a really interesting and entertaining SW, albeit a very obscure, third-or-fourth tier entry. Iād be really interested in hearing further opinion from anyone out there who has experienced this film recently and enjoyed it, or has fond memories of it (or, conversely, just flat-out hates it).
Nice review mate. It inspired me to watch the film again after about a decade.
Picture quality of my VHS ripped DVDr is not brilliant but good enough to not spoil the film and I felt much the same about it. Something of an oddity for a spaghetti from 1966 as it is far more ātraditionalā in style but actually quite solid and amongst its surprises is that itās really quite good. I shouldnāt have left it so long to revisit.
Do like Crawford in his roleā¦he is obsessed !
This is one of those you stumble across, like I did years ago on the ITV channel, and as you may gather I am a fan.
Thanks for this pic, JC. I find the historical advertising to be fascinating, plus I often need reminding that these obscure films once played to a packed house on a Friday night in small, provincial cinemas. Experiencing/discovering/re-watching these films often feels like youāve stumbled upon something lost to time; as if you, personally, have unearthed some kind of unseen cinematic artefact, when the reality is/was, of course, that these films filled picture houses night after night, week after week.
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