This film begins with a group of outlaws led by a man named "Sandy Cassel" (George Martin) attacking a peaceful ranch and, after killing several cowboys, stealing all of the horses in the corral. Not long after that, having witnessed part of the shootout between the horse thieves and the ranch hands, a smaller group of cowboys led by a man named "Billy Mack" (Craig Hill) negotiates with the widowed owner of the ranch to retrieve the stolen horses--for a price. After she accepts the offer, Billy Mack's men ride off in search of the horses. The scene then shifts to yet another widow by the name of "Mrs. Cook" (Margarita Lozano) helping one of her daughters named "Anne Cook" (Maria Montez) prepare for her wedding scheduled for the next day. As fate would have it, however, Sandy Cassel's men just happen to appear and politely ask to stay for the night with a promise to leave in the morning. Mrs. Cook graciously agrees and tells them they can sleep in the barn. It's then that Billy Mack appears with his men and they are also allowed to stay the night as well. Unfortunately, not long afterward, a man slips into the house and brutally kills Mrs. Cook, Anne and the younger daughter "Elizabeth Cook" (Eleonora Brown). Needless to say, when the word gets out about what has happened, both Sandy and Billy Mack are quite upset. Unfortunately, they have no time to find the guilty culprit because the news has also reached the citizens of a nearby town and an extremely large posse is headed their way--and they are determined to see each and every one of them hanged. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather disappointing Spaghetti western due in large part to the way the numerous subplots were connected with one another. Nothing seemed to flow together very well and that made everything seem quite uneven. Likewise, considering that the horse thieves had previously murdered several ranch hands in cold blood, it was hard to feel any sympathy for them when the lynch mob started closing in on them. Be that as it may, I don't consider this to be one of the better Spanish-Italian efforts and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
Review of 15 Scaffolds for a Murderer
