Quatre hommes à abattre

Before gaining lasting iconic fame as the 60's Batman, Adam West starred in other things. One of those was this spaghetti western whose story is about a Texas ranger who is framed for a murder he did not commit by four corrupt bounty hunters who have a grudge against him.

The Relentless Four was an Italian western that came quite early in that cycle. This is part of the reason that it is pretty unlike most spaghetti westerns and in fact shows more of an influence of the traditional American western. This is partly due to its story-line whose hero is a lawman unfairly wronged, as opposed to the more usual anti-heroes who dominated the genre in later years. Consequently, it has much less of the cynicism and violence we normally see as well, although it admittedly does depict the townspeople as being very keen on lynching but that is about as transgressive as it gets. Ultimately, it is not a particularly great example of the genre but it is certainly a solid and entertaining enough entry. Its mostly interesting, though, as an example of one of the early entries in this celebrated Italian film cycle.