I watched The Hills Run Red this afternoon. It is solid but unspectacular. Some good fights and beatings keep the movie plodding along. As mentioned, Mendez is a fine villain. Some of the sets in the town looked unconvincing and theme park style.
The scene with the horse ambush is excellent - the horses were very well trained.
Just about enough to keep going here.
3 stars.
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I watched it today. For the second time after about 16 years. What stuck in my memory was Silva as the villain and the final shootout with a high body count 
I enjoyed watching it. Morriconeās main theme is great. In my opinion, a very decent spaghetti western. And a good release from Explosive Media.
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This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. The stuff with the kid & that hand gesture is unbelievably corny, but Silva and Hunter chew the scenery so hard they must have been picking parts out of their teeth for decades afterwards. Not a masterpiece by any stretch but always a fun watch.
SEAGULL!!!
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āThe Hills Run Redā was released in the UK on 21st May 1967, a few weeks before āFistful of Dollarsā. It was probably the first Italian-made western aired on UK television, broadcast across ITV regions on 6th June 1972 (19:00 - 20:30) and 15th July 1972 (21:00 - 10:30).
Source below: (Evening Standard, 16th June, 1967)
In the U.S. it opened in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Buffalo etc mid-September 1967.
Sources below: (The Los Angeles Times, September 18, 1967) (New York Daily News, November 10, 1967)
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One of few new SWs for me the last couple of years and I understand the many different opinions and feelings of it. But I must watch it a few times more to get the right feel for it.
In the beginning Thomas Hunter gave it a bit lighthearted Death Walks In Laredo feeling and some scenes reminded me of it and of other SWs, but he is supposed to be more serious here but he is uneven with his acting style..
Anyhow the scenery with several nice well known both Spanish and Italian location mixed in a green environment in strong colours looked good and were filmed in new angles.
The Morricone theme is flashy but not so varied as it could have been. I still have to understand more of the details of the story to be able to see if this qualifies for a 6/10. Even If I donĀ“t like wild shooting it is better than fistfights and ballrom blitz etc 
The bottom at my current SW Top list (at least acceptable 6/10 ratings) looks like this :
x74 Poker With Pistols (Giuseppe Vari) 1967
75 Dead Men Donāt Count/Cry For Revenge (Rafael Romero Marchent) music Marcello Giombini 1968
76 Mannaja/A Man Called Blade (Sergio Martino) 1977
x77 Hey Amigo, Youāre Dead/Hey Amigo ! A Toast To Your Death/Killer Amigo (Paolo Bianchini) music Carlo Savina 1970
78 Django Shoots first (Alberto De Martino) 1966
x79 If You want to Liveā¦Shoot (Sergio Garrone) 1968
The Hills Run Red is a bit more serious than the number 78 for example, but I guess it will be difficult to rate this stable so to speak. I was hungry for a new SW today and I am satisfied to have been acquainted with this one but not knowing what will be my verdict in the future 
It is definitely not one of those really boring 4/10 SWs you only last 10-20 minutes or soā¦
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80 The Hills Run Red (Carlo Lizzani) 1966 Ennio Moricone
I watched it the second time with my wife and was more awake, and the story is OK a bit simple but well directed, nice vistas not too boring fighting, but too impressive Morricone theme for the film but which is of high quality especially the Dellāoro,singing ābeforeā the film itself on the Bluray.
It is really funny with the I think many only seconds-long switches between Dino Di Lautentiis over green western town southeast (I think) outside Rome and Spain for example Colmenar Viejo with its green undulating landscape or in that case also the other well known Italian horse āracesā scenes in the easter parts of middle Italia (donāt remenber the name and donāt bother to check it up).
The many borrowed elements donĀ“t bother me much, or similarities with the a bit later rodado Death Walks In Laredo. If I had not seen that one (nowadays a 5/10 due to the light-heartness) maybe the leading actor Thomas Hunter would feel better
And the American style with the already presumed dead Niciletta M character who was more interesting in Garter Colt (7/10) or better styled regarding her visual attractiveness in Navajo Joe 6/10 (but due for an uprating maybe nowadays when OntĆgola is determined for being the location of the ESPERANZA railway station and even having been running there with my wife in 2023 ha ha) etc is slightly negative with the boring mainstream music in the end.
Henry Silva looks more like a comic book character and/or with his J R Ewing grin - my clear favorite character from that TV-series, as is Mr Ferguson from Lizzaniās better SW Resquiescant (7/10)
All in all it is too simple but could be watched again but better than number 80 on my SW Top list and 6/10 it cannot be (at least not now) since it has no special advantages to it especially storywise but no real entertainment inhibiting items as well. I donĀ“t get so emotionally engaged so to speak.
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Interestingly, when I started reading about films this was a film which was held high. One of the first film books I bought was a Western Lexicon which gave it 2/3 stars, and Frayling had it in a list of his 11 favourite Spags, and Hughes had it as one of the 20 essential SWs which got an own chapter in his book, and he gave it 4/5 in the smaller SW pocket version.
It could for me never live up to that reputation, which means I was quite disappointed when I first watched it. I can enjoy it meanwhile, but still not enough to give it more than a 5/10
And here in the forum The Hills Run Red never was a fan favourite, and is only ranked # 107 with 27 points from 5 voters. Actually without the 13 points from Mr Hughes it would only run on # 145.
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Henry Silvas character seems to suffer from hyperactivity disorder an lost his pills untraceable. (Maybe it is the german dub, that makes me think so)
Average , just a mercenary-job to Lizzani, I guess. The score and the well camera-work let these flick appear better than it is.
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Its popularity from UK critics might be due to the fact it was screened on national TV relatively early for a spaghetti western where I suspect most of them saw it at a time when they may have seen few Italian westerns. I suspect thatās why it is in Hughesās book.
It also had a UK theatrical release with an A rating so accompanied kids could see it.
I donāt think itās that easy, it was also in German books.
Requiescant was far less prominent there.
And Iā m sure Hughes and Frayling have watched enough SWs to find other ones.
āThe Hills Run Redā.
Iām not an expert on the plot, history behind it, or into the pros and cons of this SW.
Simply going to say that itās an okay western. The highlights for me are the Ennio Morricone score, and Henry Silva.
Itās not a SW that stands outā¦
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I have to agree.
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Makes me wish Mr Silva did more spaghettis, he plays an excellent bad guy in this, and I love him in all his eurocrime flicks
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Henry Silva was such an under-used actorā¦particularly memorably in the original āThe Manchurian Candidateā, in which he has a fight with Frank Sinatra. Please check it outā¦
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Silva was a mate of Sinatraās - he was one of the Oceans 11 and also played a bonkers Indian chief in his typically intense manner in Sinatraās Sergeantsā Three.
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Tried again with this one, and I still donāt like it.
But there is one good thing about this film. The similar plot made me want to rewatch One Eyed Jacks (great film).
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I havenāt the faintest idea why itās so popular, as it is pretty much the same as other mid-sixties entries of the sort and as a matter of fact, turns out quite forgettable across the board. Apart from its better production values and Morriconeās score, which is stylistically similar to something like, say, Bullets Donāt Argue, there is basically nothing out of the ordinary here. The storyline is like a lazy reworking of The Return of Ringo, but without any of that picās flair and character; Thomas Hunterās interpretation of the protagonist sometimes borders on becoming parodic in view of how hammy and over-the-top his acting turns out at certain points, really outrageous.
Silva is excellent, but kind of feels miscast at the same time, he just seems to be cut out to play the reticent type as opposed to a loud Mexicano. Main heroās arch nemesis appears so bland he scarcely merits a mention here. There are action scenes aplenty and theyāre reasonably well executed, so if thatās what youāre after, it may well float your boat; I just consider the movie to be a total bore with very few outstanding qualities, I completely lost interest in the second half which is when the film starts going through the motions with no surprises to spruce it up along the way. Not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, Iām just glad I ticked this off, as I donāt need to see this ever again.
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The worst film Iāve ever seen in my life.
Well not really, but I donāt like it. Lizzaniās Requiescant is much better and much more spaghetti.
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Itās been ages since Iāve watched this one but I remember enjoying it - mainly down to the score and Henry Silvaās villain
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Not a fan of this movie, no. But Iāve seen so many bottom-of-the-barrel genre entries that I would call it average, maybe even slightly above average. Itās well-shot and Henry Silva says Hasta La Vista (No Baby).