1965
Spain
Director: José Luis Madrid
Cast: Luis Davila , Miguel de la Riva, Marta Flores, Jose Rubio, Marta Flores, Indio Gonzales, Angel Lombarte, Francisco Nieto, Emilio Gonzalez, Antonio Jiménez Escribano, Patricia Loran, Luis Induni
Photography: Julio Pérez de Rozas
Music: Federico Martinez Tud or
Western exclusively English production directed in 1965 by Joseph Luis Madrid a craftsman and a director who also wrote and even producers, and filmed, in co-production, two eurowesterns during 1966: "Revenge Clark Harrison ", I have not seen, and the top for me, " The Ballad of Johnny Ringo " with former Tarzan Lex Barker, a great reputation at that time by staging a series of films based on books Karl May shot in Yugoslavia and German production.
I think this is a curious western Mediterranean as one of the few that has a black and white photography (remember the few examples in the already commented on this blog " Tomb of the gunman" of Amando de Ossorio, "Relay gunman" starring interestingly Luis Davila or "Kid Rodelo" ) and he, JL Madrid, in a language closer to the western classic, recounts with, for me, little luck the inevitable and dramatic confrontation between two brothers located at different side of the law, typical deep issue better dealt with by the American western films, to name a few examples, as "Horizons West" (Boeticher Budd, 1952), "The law of the strong" (Rudolph Mate , 1956) or "Faster than the Wind" (Robert Parrish, 1958).
Film is divided into three distinct parts:
-A prologue, which for me is the little salvageable of the film, in which they are beautifully photographed Fraga (Huesca), where they were filmed exteriors and in which we see Frank, sheriff of Cumberland City, looking for her brother, Johnny, part of a fearsome gang of Mexican bandit nicknamed "Lefty" in order to see your father before he died. It is undoubtedly the most carefully from the formal point of view and I thought it even is a tribute to "The Searchers" through a plane on which we tinker with Luis Davila horse blanket and watch the front as it did John Wayne in John Ford's masterpiece.
-central portion, which through a long flashback, no doubt to me the worst part of the movie, know what were the reasons that led to Johnny to become an outlaw . So contemplate a wayward and impulsive Johnny love with a woman's dark past (he married just sixteen years with a gunman Jesse James gang, to discover in Cumberland City, kidnaps her and takes her to his lair) and see how, after a series of unfortunate events, ends up killing a man stealing money the saloon and seeking refuge in the Mexican bandit lair.
-An epilogue, totally failed, lacking the dramatic that required, which will result in the suppression by the soldiers of the band of outlaws and fraternal confrontation inevitable.
few positive aspects can be highlighted in this film that had a very poor budget (interiors, especially the saloon, which were shot in the studios of Ignacio F. Iquino, are quite cheesy and fake), a address unimaginative and lacking in nerve narrative and dramatic intensity and a topical script JL work together with Antonio Jimenez Madrid scribe (a minor player that only appeared in two dashes) with bizarre situations and dramatic dialogues allegedly causing flushing.
In addition, there is an unfortunate soundtrack composed by Federico Martinez Tudo a main theme of jazz influence, very inappropriate and other incidental matters really unbearable, especially the ringing at the scene of the confrontation between the army and banda "El Zurdo" , quite heavy, which eventually rolled to load a wrong sequence, or the one seen in the persecution of the cart soldiers, variation of the above, with a tone festivalero that comes to mind.
Regarding the actors, in front of the cast is the Argentinian Luis Davila, to me the little salvageable, an actor who you feel pretty good revolvers and hat, trying on as far as possible, just to be poorly shaped characters, provide some depth to his brother Frank honest, sensible and worker to be appointed sheriff of Cumberland City morally be discussed between the love he feels for his brother and the obligation to arrest him. Miguel de la Riva (actor repeatedly used the pseudonym Michael Rivers) plays with its usual limitations to Johnny, the wayward, spoiled and impulsive brother Frank and stars in some fights that look like school yard, while Luis Induni, in a special collaboration, change his usual sheriff star on a blue uniform but is just blank.
In short, a terrible and routine eurowestern made to have very little budget and, even worse, without any inspiration for what I did pretty boring despite its short duration (about 70 minutes).
SCORE:
HISTORY: 2
AMBIENTE: 2
ADDRESS: 2
ACTORS: 3
MUSIC: 1
MEDIA: 2
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