The Long Day of the Massacre / Il lungo giorno del massacro (Alberto Cardone, 1968)

[Mickey13]

Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2022 thread:

@Mickey13

This one is a lot better than the other two Cardones which I have seen i.e. Mille dollari sul nero , which suffers from severe pacing issues and awful fisticuffs, and 20.000 dollari sul 7 , which is afflicted with pretty much every bad thing you could conceive of. The work at hand does not manifest the acute erraticism nor does it get bogged down by silly aspirations; the film is a perfectly watchable cheapo affair with a balanced, leisurely tempo, a straightforward storyline, some neat, muddy landscapes and mean-looking Peter Martell shooting up scores of Mexicans.

Albeit undoubtedly not one of genre’s loftiest moments, it does serve its purpose well as an innocuous piece of entertainment. Cardone’s direction is hardly anything exceptional, but at least he gets the basics right and dials back silliness to an acceptable degree, although there is still a fair amount of fisticuffs, horseriding footage and other padding to be found here, especially in its stagnant second half. If you covet a solid cheapo with some sandpit action, look no further, this one is mostly alright and should fit the bill just fine even if the middle section tends to drag a bit and necessitates some fast-forwarding for an optimal film-viewing experience.