Black Killer (1971)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Carlo Croccolo

Writers:

Luigi Angelo (writer)
Carlo Croccolo (writer)

Release Date:

27 November 1971 (Italy)

Genre:

Western

Plot Keywords:

Spaghetti Western

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	James Webb, the lawyer
Fred Robsahm	...	Burt Collins
Antonio Cantafora	...	Ramon O'Hara
Marina Malfatti	...	Sarah Collins (as Marina Mulligan)
Enzo Pulcrano	...	Pedro O'Hara (as Paul Craine)
Tiziana Dini	...	Consuelo
Calogero Caruana	...	Miguel O'Hara (as Ted Jones)
Jerry Ross	...	Peter Collins, Burt's brother
Dante Maggio	...	Judge Wilson (as Dan May)
Claudio Trionfi
Antonio Danesi	...	Ryan O'Hara (as Robert Dannish)
Mimmo Maggio	...	Slide O'Hara (as Dick Foster)
Carlo Croccolo	...	Deputy sheriff

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:13

Company:

Tegica

Movie Connections:

Edited into Un Bounty killer a Trinità (1972)

Mediocre Spaghetti Western

I'm a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns, but unfortunately; Black Killer really isn't one of the best. The thing that I like best about this type of film is the entertainment value; and that is where Black Killer unfortunately falls down. The film is likely to be a target for many because of the fact that it stars the great Klaus Kinski, and indeed the actor the helped to make The Great Silence such a pleasure puts in a decent performance amidst a somewhat tedious movie. The plot is all over the place, but seems to have something to do with Kinski's lawyer character (complete with gun concealing books) and a band of Mexicans. The atmosphere is gritty, and the film features a handful of fairly nasty scenes; although it's not nearly as action packed as some of the other Spaghetti Westerns released around the same time. You cant really expect coherency from seventies Spaghetti Westerns, of course, and it really wouldn't be a problem if director Carlo Croccolo had managed to make the action entertaining and the characters interesting; but unfortunately this didn't happen. The title refers to the fact that Kinski dresses in black and goes around killing people; but even this theme has been done better in other films (e.g. The Grand Dual). Overall, someone may get some enjoyment out of this; but in a genre populated by entertaining films; I can't recommend seeing this one.