Death on High Mountain (1968) (orig. La morte sull’alta collina) - Director: Fernando Cerchio - 5/10.
Although the project yet again recounts the story about a host of groups vying with one another to lay their hands on a hidden trove, it is substantially elevated by elements of family drama and comedy, likewise featuring a sort of a master-and-pupil relation between the characters played by Luis Dávila and Peter Lee Lawrence. The plot here exhibits a refreshing dose of novelty in the way it presents the material, paying as much heed to interpersonal dynamics as to action sequences. The intrigue in which a high-ranking member of the local community avails himself of a Mexican bandit so as to rob the bank promptly brings to mind and seems to anticipate the Sartana series, not in the least because Parolini’s subsequent production would use some of the same interiors; the youngster’s interactions with his sister and Bible-thumping father do not significantly conduce to the foremost plotline, but at least shed some light upon his background, variegating the storyline ever so slightly. Dávila’s part proves especially intriguing in that he appears to be a sort of a demiurge here, nonchalantly overseeing the proceedings, coolly managing his relationship with the madcap and intervening only when the situation calls for it, which kind of flies in the face of the macho gunfighter trope film’s analogs would frequently repose upon. Pic’s more farcical facets do not turn out all that nettlesome inasmuch as they aren’t narration’s only focus, constituting merely one of the many ingredients comprising the larger dish. On the whole, the salmagundi amounts to an enjoyable if minor entry which ought to appeal to subgenre’s most seasoned aficionados.