A blind gunman roams through Mexico carrying a baby and seeks vengeance against a cruel Mexican outlaw and hoodlums . TV Western filmed in location and deals with a Blindman who arrives in a town ravaged by bandits . The gunfighter enemy is Alacran and his gang who terrorize themselves the villagers . There appears Canaan ( Armand Assante) , a mysterious gunslinger left nearly blind from Civil War combat at the battle of Antietam . At the beginning Canaan rescues a man from bandits , he then passes through a border town where Union Cavalry officers (led by Adam Baldwin) assigned to deliver a load of silver are under attack from brutal outlaws . With some reluctance, Canaan steps in to help the soldiers . Later on , Clay is imprisoned by the bandit Alacran (Robert Davi) and also townsfolk is living in terror of his band . In the middle of these two waring parties is a beautiful woman (Elizabeth Shue) who helps and heals Canaan . The gunfighter enters the town caught between two feuding factions, a nasty U.S. officer and a gang of Mexican bandits attempting to take the shipment , and is caught up in a struggle against them . But here is a problem however, Canaan is blind.
The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , continuous flashbacks about Civil War , 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 . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the starring Armand Assante and his enemies , Robert Davi , Danny Nucci , among others . The movie contains gun-play, action Western , thrills and bloody spectacle . Screenplay with interesting premise about a 'blind gunfighter' though its origin results to be a Japanese series starred by ¨Zaitochi¨, a blind swordsman from the 60s and being recently remade by Takeshi Kitano . This interesting theme about a blind gunslinger is also treated in other films such as ¨The Blindman¨ by Ferdinando Baldi with Tony Anthony and Ringo Starr , ¨An eye for eye¨ by Michael Moore with Robert Lansing and ¨Minessota Clay¨ with Cameron Mitchell , directed by Sergio Corbucci . An interesting casting full of usual Titus Welliver , M.C.Gainey and brief appearance by then unknown Jack Black . Special mention to Robert Davi in his ordinary role as a cruelly baddie , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . The movie gets the ordinary Western issues, such as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , quick scenes and exaggerated baddies . It's an improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . Mediocre cinematography by Jack Conroy, but is necessary a perfect remastering , being the copy washed-out .
Direction by Richard Spence (New world disorder ,Brookside , Different for girls) is well crafted, here he is more cynical and violent and less inclined toward humor and packs too much action . Spence makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , moving shootouts and bemusing scenes . It's an outlandish , surprising and uneven story but will appeal to Western aficionados . Rating : 5,5 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough .
