¨Dollar for the dead¨is an acceptable Spanish/USA co-production with intelligent writing and slick direction by Gene Quintano . This Quintano's Western is packed with noisy action and lots of violence . American-Spanish co-production financed by Enrique Cerezo and Tony Anthony (who in the 60s and 70s starred various Spaghetti as ¨Blindman¨) full of action , exaggerated characters, shootouts and drama . This is a surprisingly low-key Spaghetti Western set in the post-Civil War era in which a washed-out gunslinger (Emilio Estevez) join forces with a cripple Confederate ex-soldier (William Forsythe) and taking on a variety of problems and risks with the aim to get a treasure . As two diverse characters unite forces to carry out the robbing a loot . They are being pursued by Union soldiers (Jonathan Banks) and an avenger super-quick gunfighter (Howie Long ). They find numerous complications when free a man (Ed Lauter) with part of the map to the gold which appears drawn on various cartridges holders. It all leads to an outer border small town terrorized by a Federale captain(Jordi Molla) and led a by a Mexican priest named Friar Ramon(Joaquim De Almeida) who also has knowledge of the hidden gold.
This entertaining picture contains action Western , shootouts and bits of campy and refreshing events with turns and twists . It's an improbable blending of standard Western , including Spaghetti's homage , with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining. An interesting casting full of American actors as Estevez , Long , Forsythe , Lauter and Spanish players as Simon Andreu , Jordi Molla and Portugues as Joaquin De Almeida ; all of them make this oater well worth the watching . Delightful Western in which a violent ¨Man with no name¨ using his wits , breaking all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants realizes a killing spree , as he relentlessly robs and murders by means of some spectacular showdowns in operatic style taken from John Woo films . Amiable but sometimes lumbering Western goes on and on about the same premise , as minutes are superfluous , it has quarter hour of excess , as it packs some moments turn out to be dull and tiring . There is plenty of action and lots of stunts in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts, fights or stunts every few minutes . The musician George S. Clinton composes a nice soundtrack with catching leitmotif and well conducted in Ennio Morricone style ; it's full of strange sounds with use of harmonica , trumpets and guitar. Striking cinematography by Giovanni Fiore with barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun, and outdoor sequences shot on outskirts of Madrid and LaTabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain .
Gene Quintano's direction is well crafted, here he's more cynical and violent and less inclined toward humor and packs too much action , but especially this moving Western contains broad violence . He also wrote ¨The long Kill¨ with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Simon Andreu realized by Bill Corcoran at the same time and in similar ink . The movie contains gun-play, action Western, bloody spectacle and fist-fights . It's an offbeat , surprising and uneven Western particularly influenced by Sergio Leone from ¨One time in the West¨and Sergio Corbucci from ¨Djanjo¨ but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and enough excitement .
