El Condor

The plains of Spain was where this European western was shot with Americans Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef who team up to take a really impressive fortress entitled El Condor. It's commanded by General Patrick O'Neal with all the comforts of home including mistress Mariana Hill. The rest of the troops get an occasional peak and then make their trips to the bordello for relief.

Brown is an escaped convict and Van Cleef is a rogue of a prospector who has an in with the local Apaches whose chief is Iron Eyes Cody. There's reputed to be a vast fortune in gold bullion in the fort, the Mexican version of Fort Knox. The French want it, the Juaristas want it, various bandits want it, but it's O'Neal who has it and guards it zealously.

It's almost comical the way our heroes and the Apaches take the place. O'Neal and his troops behave like the stupid Germans did in a ton of World War II era propaganda flicks. In fact it's one of those trips to the bordello for the troops that's the start of their undoing.

The best thing that El Condor has going for it is the easy chemistry between the leads. Both of them rarely did any comedy, Van Cleef was almost always a bad guy in the 50s and 60s. Other heavies from that era, Lee Marvin, Claude Akins, Jack Elam, Neville Brand to name a few started doing more roles spoofing themselves, Van Cleef rarely did. As for Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns running back could lay claim to being the first black action/adventure star in film.

El Condor is a nice action/adventure western that's laced with some humor for the two stars. And fans of one or both should see this film.