Mutiny at Fort Sharpe

MUTINY AT FORT SHARP is untypical for an Italian western, yet still an exciting and thoughtful film. It's set in the barren Mexican border area of the Southwest US, as many Italian westerns are, but instead of lone gunmen or bounty hunters or Mexicans, we have a confederate fort in the middle of nowhere led by a commander, Broderick Crawford, who has a "siege mentality" and is somewhat brutal in his leadership. When some French soldiers who are lost wander up from Mexico and arrive at the fort, the plot kicks into action. I won't give away where it goes from there as it is somewhat unexpected, but there is constant tension throughout until the film's sad but positive climax. Crawford is superb throughout as the dictatorial and delusional commander of the fort. Thankfully, the producers had him dub his own voice--you will remember how ineffective it was to have a generic dubbed voice for Crawford in GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON. Also, whoever dubbed the voice of the French captain here is the same person who provided the English language voice for many Eddie Constantine vehicles. Overall, a powerful western that's a lot more influenced by US "A" westerns of the 40s and 50s than by Leone or Corbucci.