Ravioli/Chorizo Western with a prolific Italian director and two main actors from Spaghetti . Entertaining Spaghetti Western with shootouts , action ,violence and amusement . The story is similar to previous classic ¨The treasure of the Sierra Madre¨ but realized in Spaghetti style and bears remarkable resemblance to "The Ruthless Four" by Giorgo Capitani . This is a tale of fear , greed and murder , as three partners fall out over the gold they have clawed out of the inhospitable and bandit-ridden deserts and mountains . IT deals with two adventurers (Anthony Steffen , Antonio Fajardo) save the life of a man (Armando Calvo) who has a tattooed treasure map on his back. The second needed map is on the back of a sheriff (Alfonso Goda) and the chase starts . They form a trio of unlikely pals ; both of whom match wills and wits and fight outlaws , elements and ambition among them . Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding the mine , but also bandits , betrayals , and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster . As they struggle among themselves to unearth a fortune in gold from a remote mine without falling prey to each other's bullets. Along the way they save the damsel in distress (Alejandra Nilo) who is being pursued by the Mexican local population .
Offbeat ravioli/tortilla Western follows the Sergio Leone wake , especially to ¨The bad , the bad and the ugly¨ , as it is proceeded in Spaghetti models . It's an exciting western with breathtaking gunfight between the protagonist Anthony Steffen against the heartless Frank Wolff and his nasty hoodlums and a stirring ending fight .It's an entertaining story with a touch of peculiarity , some great characters, and an amazing music . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . Steffen is appropriate in his usual character , he ravages the screen , shoots , hit and run and kills . The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include features as ¨Seven Dollars to Kill¨, ¨The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨ and ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ . Steffen's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character , but the fantastic performance by the always great Eduardo Fajardo as the slimy, menacing outlaw make up for , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar roles .
The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , full of horse ridding , pursuits and shots and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , such as in the ending gunfights . The movie gets the usual Western issues , as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies and spectacular duels , among them . The sense of pacing is such interesting that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors , rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets by expert set designers Cubero and Galicia who designed several Westerns as Spanish as international ones . The musician Francesco De Massi composes a nice soundtrack and well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie; as it's full of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background . It contributes tremendously to the atmosphere of the film, including an emotive leitmotif, the score is perhaps the best part of this film . Striking cinematography by Julio Ortas including a correct remastering . Outdoor sequences with barren and rocky exteriors filmed in Spanish places located on outskirts Madrid , Colmenar Viejo , Hoyo De Manzanares and La Pedriza , and of course , Almeria . In Hoyo de Manzanares was built a Western village by the producer Eduardo Manzanos Brochero , here screenwriter too , called 'Golden City' and resulted to be the locations in which were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Spanish and Italian and occasionally American people.
Mario Caiano's direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and packs too much action , but especially this thrilling Western contains long shot'em up and violence . He directed this acceptable western , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed several Spaghetti : ¨Brandy¨, ¨Avenger of California¨ , ¨Ringo, face of revenge¨ , ¨Bullets don't argue¨, ¨Lone and angry man¨, ¨A train to Durango¨. Caiano is a craftsman who has directed all kind of genres as Peplum as ¨Ulisse vs Ercole¨, ¨I due Gladiatori¨, ¨Maciste Gadiatori di Sparta¨ and Terror : ¨Nightmare castle¨, ¨ Eye in the labyrinth¨ and even Pornonazi as ¨Nazi love camp 27¨. Although Caiano couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . Muddle and uneven Western but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much violence , action and enough excitement
