zardoz-13 Review of Bullets Don't Argue

Bullets Don't Argue (1964)

The Spaghetti Western in its Earliest Incarnation

[5/10 · 27 April 2010]

Director Mario Caiano's serious, straightforward Continental western "Bullets Don't Argue" exemplifies the Spaghetti western in its earliest phrase. Basically, anything predating Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dollars" qualifies as first phrase Spaghetti western when the genre still bore an amazing resemblance to American westerns. Bounty hunters weren't heroes, while lawmen were. Rod Cameron stars here as a Randolph Scott type hero, and "Bullets Don't Argue" resembles a low-budget Budd Boetticher horse opera that mismanages two western legends. This routine, by-the-numbers shootout lacks few surprises and the narrative unfolds along the course of a life and death journey. Rod Cameron seems personable enough as Sheriff Pat Garrett of Rivertown, an American border town on Rio Grande, who must recover thousands of dollars that two outlaws stole from the town bank. The outlaws gun down a couple of bar employees and hightail it for the border. They robbed the bank while the town lawman was getting married. Garrett and a posse follow the outlaws to the Rio Grande but only Garrett crosses over in Mexico. He has to capture Billy Clanton (Horst Frank of "The Grand Duel") and his younger brother George (Ángel Aranda of "The Hellbenders"). Mind you, Billy Clanton is a far cry from Billy the Kid, and the real Billy Clanton died in Tombstone's infamous O. K. Corral shootout. Nevertheless, Horst Frank seems perfectly cast as the trigger-happy Billy. Dick Palmer isn't flamboyant enough as the villain Santero. Later, Spaghetti western Mexicans would behave like diabolical fiends, but Palmer is just plain dull. The only distinctive things about "Bullets Don't Argue" is an anonymous Ennio Morricone orchestral score and Carlo Simi's striking art direction. Scenarists Gianni Castellano, Pedro de Juan, and Giuseppe Moccia keep the clichés intact in this thoroughly traditional law & order western that looks as saddle sore as Rod Cameron. Not only does Cameron have the equivalent of a bad Stetson day with a shapeless looking hat, but he also winds up in an oater that kills off its primary villain three-quarters of the way through it. During his ride through Mexico, Garrett struggles to avoid a confrontation with the Rurales, the Mexican authorities, because he fears that they won't recognize the legality of his actions. When Garrett pays $2,000 for food and horses to a Mexican businessman, the latter wastes no time informing Santero about the thousands in cash that Garrett has. The Mexicans try to take the money from Garrett and at one point, things look pretty bleak for our protagonist when he has to hole up with a rancher to hold off Santero's gunmen. The ending is straight out of an American western. While there is little that is unique about this standard-issue oater, it never wears out its welcome.