5/10
Ordinary Spaghetti with Gialli elements , including greedy antiheroes , violent facing off , quick zooms , and exaggerated baddies
11 April 2019
Spaghetti Western crammed with intrigue , murders , lots of fights , crossfire , twists and turns . An Italian production full of action , extreme characters, shootouts and loads of violence . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up , brawls , or stunts every few minutes . There's also an interesting intrigue and whodunit with some Giallo when happens a killing spree , and the question is : Who is the killer ? For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how ¡ . A slaughter and atrocity is committed when four people carry out a hold-up and they are killed at a saloon robbing . The townspeople pin the murderers on local no-count black sheep Chester Conway (Klaus Kinski) , subsequently condemned to gallows . As an unknown killer executes a single-handedly revenge , ravages and murders each person involved in dark events . Gunfighter Silver (Gianni Garco) is hired by lawyer Jeff Plummer (Franco) who doesn't believe that Chester is guilty of these crimes, to prove that his client Conway, is innocent of the saloon heist he's condemned to hang for. Silver is relentless in his mission , deadly in his hard investigation and he vows to take down the uncanny killer . Along the way there occurs more and more murders , the body count piles up and the clock ticks down to the day when the scapegoat about to go scaffold . He'd kill anyone for a price, but he'd kill one man for free !

It is a moving western with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Gianni Garco and his nasty enemies . It packs thrills , shoot-outs , violence , hooded murderers , nutty townfolk and resulting to be slightly entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . There is enough action in the movie , guaranteeing some pursuits , fights in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style , gunfire or stunts every few minutes . It is an acceptable , passable Western with several titles as La mano nascosta di Dio (Italy) , The Price of Death (Canada, English title) , La vengeance de Dieu (France) , Le prix de la mort (France) , Persecución mortal (Spain) that contains an interesting and twisted plot about an investigator gunman who starts piecing together the facts and finds out a terrible truth about some grisly killings , and , subsequently takes place the unavoidable final duel . It is a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist against the heartless enemies . The film blends violence , blood , tension , high body-count and quite entertaining thanks to the intriguing events . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final gunfights and the customary showdown conclusion . There are many fine technicians and nice production design , though mostly set at a little town shot in Elios studios , as usual . Stars Gianni Garco who gives a decent acting as the smooth and suave gunslinger Silver hired to prove Chester's innocence and find the real killer while he pieces together tracks . His role a bears remarkable resemblance to Sartana , as his character in equal parts mysterious , cool and deadly ; he shows up elegantly dressed and with a brilliant look , he is not out there to chase the bandits like a simple bounty hunter , he is just out for money and blood . His quirky gadgets often bring to mind the other similar role , Sabata , who starred Lee Van Cleef . Garco played a lot of Spaghetti , such as : Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay , Per 100.000 dollari t'ammazzo , 10,000 dollari per un massacro , Bad man river , Et.... Sabata les tua tous ,Sartana arrives ,His Name Was Holy Ghost , Taste of Vengeance , 7 Chacales , Those Dirty Dogs , and several others . Co-stars the popular Klaus Kinski as a suspicious man locked in prison and about to be hanged , at the time he gained a reputation for his ferocious talent and equally ferocious temper . Here he plays with lots of gesticulation and excessive gestures in a cruelly baddie role . As he is fine , as he ravages the screen with his peculiar face and using suddenly his weapons at the inevitable ending gundown . As Kinski starred numerous Spaghetti such as : Pray to Kill and Return Alive , Black Killer , If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death , Bullet King , Shangai Joe , Clint the solitary , The Ruthless Four , Nevada Kid , The return of Clint , and specially famous resulted to be his acting in ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨.This Spaghetti is made during his Italian period when Klaus starred a lot of Westerns , later he collaborated with Werner Herzog with whom played several prestigious films . They later collaborated on five movies : Aguirre (1972), Woyzeck (1979), Nosferatu, (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987). Furthermore, there appears briefly usual Italian Western secondaries , such as : Giancarlo Prete or Timothy Brent , Andrea Scotti , Fortunato Arena , Alfredo Rizzo ,Pietro Torrisi , Castellano and Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Lorenzo Gicca Palli . He was an artisan who directed a few films , such as : Giorni di sangue Primo tango a Roma... storia d'amore e d'alchimia , Lieber Lager , Black Corsair and wrote a lot of screenplays about all kinds of genres : Thriller , Wartime , Peplum , adventure , action , such as : La sfida dei giganti , Una voglia da moriré , Objective Rommel , Tiger of Kyber , Silenzio: Si uccide , and especially Spaghetti Western : La strada per Forte Alamo , La morte sull'alta collina , Zorro Monterrey , Last adventure Zorro , Giorni di sangue , Killer calibro 32 , Thompson 1880 , among others . Rating : 5/10 . Average Spaghetti Western but passable .
5 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed