Land Raiders (1969)
7/10
Entertaining, Cynical Fake Spaghetti Western
9 December 2009
Wealthy Spanish landowner Telly Savalas pays mercenaries to kill Apaches and then benefits when their reprisal killings against whites create cheap vacant properties for him to add to his empire. Meanwhile, his younger brother comes home and opposes him, opening up old wounds involving Telly's past misdeeds.

An American film shot in Europe (Spain?), Land Raiders is an obvious attempt to imitate the look and style of the Italian westerns popular at the time. Still, it's a pretty good movie with hard-boiled characters, splashes of blood, and a little bit of nudity thrown in, not to mention the score by Ennio Morricone's frequent arranger Bruno Nicolai.

Telly Savalas is smooth and sinister, appearing to have a lot of fun, while George Maharis gives a likable, noble performance as his brother.

Impressive looking stock footage pads out the action sequences nicely, but it's too easily distinguishable from the bulk of the film.
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