A Man Called Sledge (1970)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Vic Morrow

Writers:

Vic Morrow (writer) and
Frank Kowalski (writer) ...

Release Date:

9 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Savage. Ornery, Beautiful!

Plot Keywords:

Greed | Beautiful Woman | Jail Break | Poker | Gunfight

Cast

James Garner	...	Luther Sledge
Dennis Weaver	...	Erwin Ward
Claude Akins	...	Hooker
John Marley	...	Old Man
Laura Antonelli	...	Ria
Wayde Preston	...	Sheriff Ripley
Ken Clark	...	Floyd
Tony Young	...	Mallory
Allan Jones
Herman Reynoso	...	Simms
Steffen Zacharias	...	Red - Prison Guard
Didi Perego	...	Elizabeth
Paola Barbara	...	Jade
Mario Valgoi	...	Beetle
Laura Betti	...	Sister

Also Known As:

Sledge

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~4.7 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~4.5 seconds.

Soundtrack:

OTHER MEN'S GOLD

Flat and Uninteresting a/k/a "Boring"

Although there are a lot of familiar "television" names associated with "A Man Called Sledge", there is nothing extraordinary about the film itself or about any of the performances. In fact, the only thing that distinguishes it from a 1960's-70's television series like "The Rat Patrol" is a bigger cast and a lot more violence.

James Garner is the biggest star and apparently thought he should try to break away from all the light comedy stuff he had been doing ("Maverick", "Support Your Local Sheriff"-"Gunfighter" etc.). Unfortunately his earthy likability works against him, as Sledge is a humorless character written to cash in on the popularity of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western character. But Eastwood's stuff was not this flat and uninteresting.

I suppose that "A Man Called Sledge" could be classified as a spaghetti western although the pacing is too slow to really fit that sub-genre. Fans of the slow-paced "Combat" television series will feel an instant connection as Vic Morrow directed the film and co-wrote the script with Frank Kowalski. Throw in some then trendy slow-mo shots and cross-dissolves, which call attention to themselves rather than serve a story-telling purpose.

The plot is the standard "big heist" thing (insert "The War Wagon" here) with Sledge plotting how to heist a $300,000 gold shipment. His gang includes Claude Akins and Dennis Weaver. The problem is that while on the move the shipment is guarded by 40 outriders and while stopped it is locked in a vault inside the territorial prison. I think there was an episode of "Alias Smith and Jones" with the same plot.

The story would make a decent hour of television but gets old very fast as a very padded feature length film. Garner does not allow any of his charm to leak into his characterization and the film does not generate enough suspense to hold a viewer's interest.

The thing finally crashes and burns shortly after the heist when the gang engages in a contrived and totally illogical card game.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.