★ 6 / 10
British Western with a good cast and completely set in the sunny desert of Tabernas , Almeria , Spain
ma-cortes
An African-American deserter (Richard Roundtree , known for Shaft) and and his crippled American Indian hostage (Roy Thinnes , known for The invaders) form a…
An African-American deserter (Richard Roundtree , known for Shaft) and and his crippled American Indian hostage (Roy Thinnes , known for The invaders) form a strained comradeship and partnership in the interests of surviving against enemy attacks . A bit later on , they take on the advancing threats of some Mexican bandits (Aldo Sambrell , Rafael Albaicín) and later on , there appears a ruthless bounty hunter (well personified by Nigel Davenport) who attempts to reckoning on the escaped soldier . Somebody told the black man he wasn't a slave anymore , somebody told the red man this land was his, somebody lied , somebody is going to pay. The flick has undeniable tendencies to symbolic events that overkill the nimble developing of the story . The film is slowly paced and spite of setting on exteriors , it feels itself some claustrophobic . The plot is plain and simple with a few roles , a strange duo faces off neighboring bandits and a racist , brutal bounty hunter . Director copes well this thrilling Western helped by the Spanish desert from Almeria where in the 60s and 70 were shot lots of Pasta/Chorizo Westerns . The picture draws magnificent acting from Richard Roundtree as the black , Union Army deserter and Roy Thinnes as the Indian outcast , both of whom encounter common ground in oppression eventually incarnated by Nigel Davenport as a cruel bounty hunter . Furthermore , brief appearances from Spanish actors as Aldo Sambrell and Rafael Albaicín , both of them usual to Spaghetti/Paella Westerns . This one results to be a British Western film along with ¨Hunting party¨ by Don Medford , ¨Catlow¨ by Sam Wanamaker , ¨Eagles's wing¨ by Anthony Harvey , ¨Shalako¨ by Edward Dymitryck , most of them starred by great players and shot in Almeria . The motion picture was well directed by Don Chaffey , though results to be a little bit boring . Don began directing in 1951 , often working on films aimed at children , as he directed various kiddies films as ¨Magic of Lassie¨ , ¨Greyfriars Bobby¨, ¨The horse without head¨, ¨3 lives of Thomasina¨ , ¨Pete's dragon¨ , ¨Ride a wild Pony¨. He branched out into television in the mid-'50s, turning out many of the best episodes of such classic series as ¨Danger Man¨ (1960), ¨The prisoner¨ (1967) and ¨The avengers¨ (1961). Although he worked in many film genres , such as Romance/drama : ¨The gift of love¨ , ¨Four wishes¨, Prehistorical : ¨Creatures of the world forgot¨ , ¨One million years B.C.¨ , Thriller : ¨Casino¨, Comedy : ¨Dentist in chair¨ , ¨A matter of Who¨, his best work is generally acknowledged to be the crackerjack fantasy ¨Jasón and the Argonauts¨ (1963). On the other hand, he was also responsible for the lugubrious, box-office disaster ¨The viking queen¨ (1967), one of the few productions from Hammer Films that lost money. In the late 1970s Chaffey traveled to the US and worked primarily there, often in made-for-TV movies .
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★ 6 / 10
Interesting film
denzil-09434
The production values of this film are spectacularly poor. Especially at the beginning. In spite of that it's a fairly gripping drama that leaves the viewer…
The production values of this film are spectacularly poor. Especially at the beginning. In spite of that it's a fairly gripping drama that leaves the viewer with plenty of food for thought. Well worth watching. Don't let the first 10 minutes put you off.
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5.9/10
394
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I have to wonder if Richard Roundtree didn't do this before SHAFT, but after that movie's popularity this movie was dug off the shelf and re-released to take advantage of his star power.