Gunfighters of Casa Grande (1964) User Reviews

End of the Line

[boblipton · 4/10 · 8 November 2006]

Veteran MGM B director Roy Rowland ended his career with three cheap westerns co-produced with MGM and shot in Spain. In some ways this looks like one of the gritty westerns that were being turned out by Italy, but while the body count is adequate, Rowland was too steeped in the MGM mystique -- this movie is too visually polite, the music score a tad too lush and the actors too clean to compare with Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name', so the result is nothing particular: too pretty for grit, too gritty for a traditional B and even a script co-written by Borden Chase can't do much.

The actors try to do something with their performances, particularly Alex Nicol, but his character lacks enough definition to be particularly interesting. Director Rowland's son, Steve has a featured role as 'The Kid'. One wonders how he felt about that during the shoot.

So-so American/Paella Western co-produced by USA and Spain and directed by a Hollywood filmmaker.

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 9 January 2018]

Average but with some good moments American/Tortilla Western decently co-produced and including attractive Spanish outdoors . The movie gets Western action , shootouts , romances , thrills and results to be quite entertaining . After American Civil War , circa 1866 , a gambler Joe Daylight (Alex Nicol ) wins a Mexican cattle ranch at a game of poker, as he schemes to drive the herd across the Rio Grande to Texas, sell the cattle and leave the ranch behind . Joe joins forces his henchmen , as the drunk doctor (Dick Bentley) , the traveler (Jorge Mistral) and Kid (Steve Rowland, director's son who usually plays for his father) and enter in Mexican territory . As the group of outlaws take over frontier lands and Joe hires on local hands , but during the drive , he discovers that the plans to cheat them . Meanwhile , the ex-bandits fall in love for beautiful women (Mercedes Alonso , Diana Lorys , María Granada) . Later on , Joe , Doc and the Traveler battle nasty outlaws led by the Bandit Chief , El Rojo , (Aldo Sambrell) .



Entertaining Chorizo/US Western well produced by Sam X. Abarbanel and José G Maesso with his production Company : Tecisa , including shoot'em up , action , violence , go riding , brawls and amusement . It is a passable Western with a few of surprises , thrills and including love stories . This film , realized in American Western style and no Spaghetti , contains Western-action , gun-play , fist-play and being enough amusing but mediocre . This Spanish/American western , probably won't be making too many top ten lists, but its an agreeable flick . It's a thrilling western that scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflict avaricious gunfighters , including breathtaking crossfire between protagonists and enemies when are besieged at a ranch during the ending . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values , pleasing results and turned to be shot entirely on location . Here filmmaker Roy Rowland delivers a decently-paced film , however he could be counted on to deliver solid "B" pictures which, at MGM , were often better than most other studios' . It's a stirring western with breathtaking gunfight between the brave protagonists : Alex Nicol , Jorge Mistral , Steve Rowland against the heartless Aldo Sambrell and his nasty hoodlums .Most players result to be too clean to compare with Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name', so the result is nothing particular: too pretty for grit, too gritty for a traditional B and even a script co-written by Western experts as Borden Chase and Clark Reynolds can't do much . The film blends violence , thrills , high body-count and it's fast moving and exciting . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes , including a spectacular final confrontation . Underrrated by some reviewers , but still interesting to watch . Atmospheric scenario with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under sunny Spanish exteriors and a shimmer sun and fine sets by expert craftsmen . Striking and colorful cinematography in Eastmancolor Cromoscope by Manuel Merino and José Aguayo , being shot on location in Colmenar Viejo , Manzanares Del Real and La Pedriza , Madrid .





The motion picture was professionally directed by Roy Rowland and it has ups and downs . Roy sharpened his directing chops at MGM with a series of shorts starting in the 1930s, then moved up to features in 1943 . Roy spent quite a bit of time at the studio, from 1943-51 and again from 1954-58 ; he had the good fortune to marry the niece of Louis B. Mayer and was the father of actor Steve Rowland . While not one of the studio's top-rank directors , he was a good professional who had a considerable success . Most were B-movies, but he occasionally handled such A-graders . His greatest hit was , of course , the fantasy movie titled The 5000 fingers of Dr T (1953) . Rowland made an action picture for independent release based on a Mickey Spillane "Mike Hammer" novel starring Spillane himself (Girl hunters (1963)) . He specialized in a variety of genres, including musicals : ¡Viva Las Vegas! (1956) The seven hills of Rome (57) , Two weeks with love (50) and dramas : Our wines have tender grapes 45 with Edward G Robinson (1945). He was also responsible for the tough, fast-paced Rogue Cop (1954), one of the few MGM films that could be considered "film noir" . Roy was a Western expert , as the last film he made at MGM was this "B" western with Stewart Granger, Gun Glory (1957) ; besides , he filmed Outriders with Joel McCrea , Bugles in the afternoon with Ray Milland and Many rivers to cross with Robert Taylor ; after which and then he traveled to Europe for a string of Spanish/Italian-made westerns such as Los Pistoleros De Casa Grande and Ley Del Forastero . His final film as director was a somewhat cheesy pirate movie (he was uncredited ; his Italian co-director Sergio Bergonzelli got sole credit) called El Tigre De Los 7 Mares and its sequel : Tormenta Sobre el Pacífico (1966) . He was associate producer on Nathan Juran's Spain-shot Western : Al Infierno, gringo (1969), after which he retired .

Routine Horse Opera About Cattle Rustlers

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 26 May 2016]

Lanky "Man from Laramie" actor Alex Nicol could play obnoxious dastards, and he amounts to one in "Bugles in the Afternoon" director Roy Rowland's European western "Gunfighters of the Casa Grande," with Jorge Mistral, Dick Bentley, Steve Rowland, Phil Posner, and Diana Lorys. The sprawling landscape is sun-scorched; the widescreen photography is epic; and armed heroes and villains clash in gunfights throughout this polished-looking, MGM production that features a largely foreign cast of actors and actresses. Although he receives top billing over Jorge Mistral, Alex Nicol qualifies in the long run as a truly treacherous villain. Aside from Nicol, the biggest name as far as Spaghetti western fans will know is gimlet-eyed Aldo Sambrell of "Navajo Joe" who plays the bandit chieftain Rojo. Despite its European setting and cast, "Gunfighters of the Casa Grande" shares more in common with the sagebrushers that Rowland made when he was helming horse operas in Hollywood. This horse opera contains more than enough action, and the performances are okay.

The action unfolds as a posse gallops in hot pursuit after Joe Daylight (Alex Nicol of "The Savage Guns") during the introductory credits. Rowland adds a prologue to this scene: "After the War Between the States, when the eastern part of the United States was beef starved and inflated prices were paid at northern railroad buying points, a border raider evolved a plan that would lead to the greatest stolen cattle herd and payoff in the history of the West." This sounds a lot like "Red River" without a heroic cattleman. Daylight manages to elude the posse by plunging his horse across the border out of their jurisdiction. One deputy wants to finish off Daylight with a rifle bullet, but the Sheriff (Jim Gillen) reminds Zeb (Mike Ekiss) that he cannot shoot at Daylight once he has crossed the Rio Grande. "I'm getting darned tired of being stopped at the Rio Grande," the frustrated deputy grumbles to the sheriff as he puts up his Winchester. As it turns out, Daylight has just dug up a set of saddle bags with loot and is off to rendezvous with his gang. He had let the loot cool off for three months before he recovered it. Daylight surprises his gang of greedy outlaws on the south side of the border when he announces that he has bought a hacienda named the Casa Grande. He plans to launch a "Red River" type cattle drive with the other ranchers. No sooner than Daylight and his gunmen cross onto the lands of hacienda owner Don Ariola do they take the high ground and shoot it out with Ariola's gun-toting vaqueros. They drive them off and finish their ride to the Casa Grande. The newest member of Daylight's gang is a Mexican named Viajero (Jorge Mistrial of "Boy on a Dolphin") who is ironically dressed from head to toe in black but is the least untrustworthy of the bunch. After he takes over control the Casa Grande, Daylight changes his name so that he will sound like a respectable land owner. Nevertheless, it is all a ruse by the duplicitious Daylight. Daylight doesn't take the responsibilities of being a rancher as seriously as Viajero suggests that he must.

Meantime, the evil Bandit Chieftain Rojo (Aldo Sambrell) menaces the ranchers until Daylight shows up. He manages to unify the Mexican ranchers against Rojo's bandit army of 200 guns. One by one, members of Daylight's outlaw gang get whittled down, until even Daylight dies after he gun downs Doc (Dick Bentley of "The Sundowners") following the big showdown against Rojo's men. The grand finale finds the unified landowners and Daylight and company blasting away at Rojo's pistoleros. The villains are caught out in the open and the heroes detonate buried bundles of dynamite that explode and kill the bandits. Co-lensers José F. Aguayo and Manuel Merino give this sagebrusher a larger-than-life look, and most of the action occurs on actual locations rather than cramped studio backlots. For the record, veteran western scenarist Borden Chase of "Red River" penned the story and screenplay with his wife Patricia Chase. "Shalako's" Clarke Reynolds contributed to the script, too. Mind you, Chase inked his share of memorable westerns, including "Bend of the River," "Backtrack," "Backlash," "Winchester '73," "Night Passage," "The Far County," "Rails into Laramie," "Man Without a Star," and "Ride A Crooked Trail." Chase has lifted a scene from a Gary Cooper & Burt Lancaster western "Vera Cruz" where the Americans display their marksmanship for the benefit of the Mexicans. Indeed, Alex Nicol's character shares something in common with the Burt Lancaster character from "Vera Cruz" when he compliments Viajero about his ethics. Clocking in at 92 lean minutes, "Gunfighters of the Casa Grande" doesn't wear out its welcome. Gunfights occur periodically throughout this western. Altogether, despite an interesting plot, this oater is pretty routine and Roy Rowland doesn't give it as much zip as it required.

Amazingly bad western

[MattyGibbs · 2/10 · 14 November 2012]

This must go down as the worst western I have seen. The film lacks a coherent plot, in general the acting and dialogue are terrible, the score is over the top and the colour of the film is way too bright.

The lead actor Alex Nichol- laughably named Joe Daylight in this- puts in a performance that must go down as one of the worst in memory from a leading man. Smug looking and lacking one iota of screen presence or talent, it is excruciating to watch. The only highlights in the acting stakes come from Jorge Mistral as the Traveler who seems the only male actor in this film to have any semblance of ability.

The plot is almost unintelligible- nothing much seems to happen and from half an hour in it became an ordeal just to get to the end. Scene after scene is amateurish beyond belief including one laughable scene in which Diana Lorys is whipped 5 times with a belt but has no marks. Yes this is a low budget film but there is no excuse for such a shoddy effort.

Watch this film and marvel at just how bad it is.

Gunfighters of Casa Grande

[clangeditor · 1/10 · 12 July 2008]

Over the years I've watched hundreds of Westerns--both B movies and so-called A movies--and this has to be one of the worst I've ever seen. The costumes were flagrantly ill-considered, if not totally inappropriate to the individual actors, i.e. hats that seemed only reminiscently western or unsuitable to the individual actor; a hackneyed and sometimes non-existent plot; mostly no-name actors with virtually no talent; dialogue that belonged in a cartoon; and character names that bespoke of some foreign writer unfamiliar with the concept of exaggeration...not to mention unfamiliar with viewer etiquette, i.e. how not to insult the palette and intelligence of movie fans.

I can think of no redeeming grace for this film except the possibility of its inclusion in a list of the worst movie Westerns of all time.

Ill Manor.

[hitchcockthelegend · 3/10 · 11 July 2017]

Gunfighters of Casa Grande is directed by Roy Rowland and written by Clarke Reynolds and Borden and Patricia Chase. It stars Alex Nicol, Jorge Mistral, Dick Bentley, Steve Rowland, Phil Posner, Mercedes Alonso, Diana Lorys, María Granada. Music is by Johnny Douglas and cinematography by José F. Aguayo and Manuel MerinoJose.

After the war between The States, when the Eastern part of the United States was beef starved and inflated prices were paid at Northern railroad points ... a border raider evolved a plan that would lead to the greatest stolen cattle herd and pay off in the history of the West.

Out of MGM, this Spanish/American Western was filmed in Mexico and is a CinemaScope/Metrocolor production. What with that value and the opening salvo as written above, one wouldn't be unfair to expect a good movie. Sadly this isn't the case. The whole stolen herd thing is a bum steer, the narrative a muddled mess that ultimately loses focus on story telling sense. On breaking it down we have an uneasy group dynamic, where a handful of sharp shooting men - led by a devious tyrant wannabe called Joe Daylight (Nicol) - end up getting women trouble whilst dealing with bandido baddies.

It's all on testosterone overdrive, complete with what can only be described as a pissing contest, with the acting close to being as poor as the choppy story. The musical score is schizophrenic, with some of it sounding oddly like a play on The White Cliffs of Dover and comedy fare that wouldn't be out of place in a Cary Grant screwball piece. Locations are nice, but the colour mix is way too bright, but at least we have two entries in the Victor Mature and James Caan look a like competition...

Some competent action scenes, such as the finale and a defence of Casa Grande (the ranch) stop it being a complete dead loss, but it's not one that Western fans should seek out as a matter of need. 3/10

Not bad at all if you do not consume too much Westerners

[bigdogtim7-418-694044 · 6/10 · 10 May 2019]

I found the story to be interesting and very different from most Westerns, as there are no stereotypical Hero's in it. There is the hope that the bad Cowboys will change their ways, which is interesting in and of itself. I thought the ending fitting & enjoyed watching this film.

Worth Watching

[januszlvii · 9/10 · 26 December 2018]

Gunfighters Of Casa Grande is a very different western. First it was made in Spain ( different for the year it came out ( 1964)). 2: spoilers ahead: The person who ended up the hero and got the girl ( Dona María) is Mexican: Viajero 'The Traveller' while the American Joe Daylight gets killed off by Viajero. 3: Dona Maria is not the hottest woman in the movie. It is actually her maid Pacesita who ends up with 'The Kid' For those reasons plus lots of action and beautiful women, Gunfighters Of Casa Grande is worth watching. 9/10 stars.

Spectacular scenic Western that succeeds where lame spaghetti failed

[drystyx · 9/10 · 10 November 2018]

No doubt the usual Beavis and Butthead bubble boys will hate this Western for being entertaining. Speaking of course about the dead head spaghetti fans.

Here, we have a 1964 entry into Westerns featuring Alex Nicol as his usual charismatic villain, in what preceded the spaghetti garbage.

A word about Alex. He may win the prize for being in the most underrated great films ever. THEN THERE WERE THREE is one of the greatest war films ever, and he plays a very similar character there.

Unlike the spaghetti crap, we have the best of both worlds in this tale of demi gods. The spaghetti movies were totally back flips to classic Greek heroes, demi gods who could only be defeated by other demi gods. No "demi god" can be shot in the back by a mortal.

So this Western does match the spaghetti in showing classic heroes and villains as opposed to anti heroes. The spaghetti Westerns pretty much NEVER have an anti hero. These are definitive classic clones of Odysseus and other Greek heroes.

However, instead of the worst of both worlds given to us by the spaghetti crap, in which we are given dull scenery (giving us the idea that the movie is "realistic") and non identifiable one dimensional characters, GUNFIGHTERS OF CASA GRANDE does the opposite, giving us the spectacle and grandeur that makes a film superior, along with more identifiable and credible characters.

The characters are still "demi god" characters, but at least they have motivation. The villain is more eighteenth century fun lover than what the geek today will accept, but which is totally credible to sane and objective viewers.

Alex plays a charismatic creep very similar to Dan Duryea's villains. He is mostly just a low IQ tough guy who is great with his guns. He doesn't think much, as we see throughout, although like most such low mentality leaders, he believes he is a great thinker. In fact, his resemblance in personality matches a certain U.S. president whose last name rhymes with "Chump", but I won't mention any names.

Alex is about a hundred times more handsome than the president I mention, but he plays a character here whose personality is identical.

I'll likely get hate mail from people complaining that I underestimated Alex as being "only" 100 times more handsome. I apologize. I do understate some things.

The characters are very interesting. "Doc" comes closest to "anti hero" status, and makes this film stick out. "Traveler" and "Kid" are also more "anti hero" than a spaghetti Western will usually show. They have actual motivation in their actions.

The action is extreme, and this has "sprawling epic" appeal. We want the villain (named "Daylight" ironically) to turn out good, and to change, but his character is really just a dumb thug who finds himself the leader of a band of more intelligent outlaws. There is great pathos in his story. He's like a tragic Shakespearean king.

This is a fantastic Western. It will leave you emotionally charged, and a bit sad, but it works on every level.