Land Raiders (1969)

An outlaw committing a string of robberies and murders manages to blame the crimes on Apaches, bringing about an Indian war.

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writers:

Jesse Lasky Jr. (story), Ken Pettus (screenplay),

Stars:

Telly Savalas, George Maharis, Arlene Dahl

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Telly Savalas	...	Vicente Cardenas
George Maharis	...	Pablo Cardenas
Arlene Dahl	...	Martha Cardenas
Janet Landgard	...	Kate Mayfield
Guy Rolfe	...	Major Tanner
Paul Picerni	...	Carney / Arturo (as H.P. Picerni)
Phil Brown	...	Sheriff John Mayfield
George Coulouris	...	Cardenas
Jocelyn Lane	...	Luisa Rojas
Fernando Rey	...	Priest
Robert Carricart	...	Julio Rojas
John Clark	...	Ace
Charles Stalmaker	...	Frank Willis (as Charles Stalnaker)
Marcella Saint-Amant	...	Luisa Montoya (as Marcella St. Amant)
Gustavo Rojo	...	Indio

Storyline

Ruthless Vince Carden dominates the Arizona-territory town of Forge River and buys the scalps of murdered Indians. He has driven his brother Paul from his home, and this leads to the total disillusionment of his wife Martha. Haunted by the mysterious death of a girl he had loved, Paul ends his wandering and joins a wagon train heading for Forge River; with the train is Kate Mayfield, who is returning home after years of school in the East. Paul and Kate are the sole survivors when Apaches attack the train, in reprisal for a slaughter staged by Vince's men. Vince uses the Indian attack on the train as an excuse to lead the raid on a defenseless Apache village, which sparks a massive assault on Forge River.

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Plot Keywords:

attack | raid | slaughter | outlaw | survivor | 

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Genres:

Action | Western

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Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

January 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Day of the Landgrabber

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morningside Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Vince Carden and two of his men escape from Apaches chasing them by jumping their horses into the river. When they arrive back at the town of Forge River, they're all completely dry.

User Reviews

Entertaining, Cynical Fake Spaghetti Western

Wealthy Spanish landowner Telly Savalas pays mercenaries to kill Apaches and then benefits when their reprisal killings against whites create cheap vacant properties for him to add to his empire. Meanwhile, his younger brother comes home and opposes him, opening up old wounds involving Telly's past misdeeds.

An American film shot in Europe (Spain?), Land Raiders is an obvious attempt to imitate the look and style of the Italian westerns popular at the time. Still, it's a pretty good movie with hard-boiled characters, splashes of blood, and a little bit of nudity thrown in, not to mention the score by Ennio Morricone's frequent arranger Bruno Nicolai.

Telly Savalas is smooth and sinister, appearing to have a lot of fun, while George Maharis gives a likable, noble performance as his brother.

Impressive looking stock footage pads out the action sequences nicely, but it's too easily distinguishable from the bulk of the film.