Passable Western regarding the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege , issue imitated many other times ; however , it packs a predictable ending . It deals with Captain Clermont (Mario Valdemarin) , a honorable cavalry officer of the Maximiliano Army and his Dragons garrison from Mexico and lost in American territory . After saving a damsel (Elisa Montes) in distress , they arrive in Fort Sharp commanded by a Confederate Colonel named Lenox (an elderly Broderick Crawford who gives overacting) who goes crazy . This is a grizzled Colonel who is saddled not only problems with Native American but irritability among his own troops , as he has to roust renegade soldiers and a tribe of 3.000 Navajo Indians led by Wichita . The insane Colonel executes severe punishments against his soldiers , being tied and flogged for desertion . Shortly after , soldiers learn his families and relatives have been overwhelmed by Indians and attempting to retrieve their comrades' bodies . The Indians are out on a rampage of killing , vengeance against the white intruders and with the aim for eliminating them .
Gritty and decently written Western by Jesus Navarro and Ugo Liberatore, exploring the anguish of soldiers , the hard relationship between Confederate and Maximilian troops and including jarring bursts of violence . This is an exciting tale of a nutty Colonel and a hard-bitten captain assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians . Problems emerge when the main roles led by Captain Clermont arrive at Fort Sharp and their different relation among them . This is a moving story about a surrounded garrison and director takes a fine penned script creating a cavalry-Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish and desperation of soldiers . This Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining . It is an uneven Western with a plot that several times reminds ¨Beau Geste¨ and following an American style more than Spaghetti , such as ¨Chuka¨ and ¨Only the valiant¨ by Gordon Douglas in which a fort is also besieged by Indians . It's the regular plot concerning a team stranded by hostile Indians , unfortunately, despite a few good elements like these , I didn't overall care for this movie and I usually like spaghetti westerns . The movie is sometimes slow-moving , and the characters mostly act alike . As the picture contains nice moments but partially unsatisfying for the reason of the claustrophobic environment . Being an Italian/Spanish production here appears several Spanish familiar actors giving brief but decent performances such as : Julio Peña , Tomás Picó , Lina Yegros , Francisco Guijar , José Marco , José Canalejas , José Truchado and José Sancho .
Produced by a great Western producer : Eduardo Manzanos who financed a lot of Chorizo/Spaghetti Westerns . Eduardo started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent . After that , he produced in his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , various Zorros and this one . He produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨ . In 1962 , Eduardo Manzanos created -near Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid)- the first Western scenario of the notorious Spaghetti/Paella sub-genre . This original initiative corresponded to this prestigious writer /producer/director Eduardo Brochero who saw the potential of European Westerns and commissioned to the production designers Jaime Pérez Cubero and José Luis Galicia (Construcine) the task of raising the set , as in 1962 the first ¨Paella¨ set in Spain was built . Then , the first filming there was made : ¨The terrible sheriff (62) . A year later , there came Sergio Leone to shoot the iconic ¨A fistful of Dollars¨ with which the boom of Spaghetti/Chorizo Western was burst . More than 50 Spaghetti Westerns were filmed here from 1962 to 73 . Since early 70s the shooting began to be less frequent due to the progressive decline of the genre and the producers preferred to shoot in Almeria . With the decline in the number of shootings , revenue also fell and the sets started slowly to deteriorate as it can be seen , for example , in ¨Matalo¡¨ and ¨Fast Hand¨ (73) by Mario Bianchi . As a result Manzanos decided in 1975 not to renew the contract , leaving a large debts . The remains of the set remained a few years , until the mid-80s or so to disappear later .
¨Escuadrón De La Muerte¨ or ¨Mutiny at Fort Sharpe" or "Por Un Dolar De Gloria"(1966) displays a colorful cinematography in Technicolor/Thecniscope by Emilio Foriscot , though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary . And shot on location in Hoyo De Manzanares, La Pedriza, Manzanares El Real, Madrid . In addition , atmospheric as well as evocative musical score by Carlos Savina . The motion picture was professionally directed by Fernando Cherchio . He written/directed several action/adventure/ mini-epics movies , such as : 1968 Los Cuatro Budas De Kriminal , 1967 Secretísimo , 1964 Totó against the Black Pirate ,1963 Totò and Cleopatra , 1962 The red mask , 1962 Daggers of blood , 1962 Totó versus Maciste , 1961 Queen of Nile , 1960 Il Sepolcro Dei Re , 1959 Giuditta and Oloferne , 1957 La Venere Di Cheronea , 1957 Desert lovers , 1957 Mysteries in Paris , 1955 I Quattro Del Getto Tonante , 1954 El Vizconde De Bragelonne , 1952 Il Bandolero Stanco and Son of Lagardere .
