It's thirty-seven minutes before a shot is fired in this film! That must be some sort of record for a non-comedic Spaghetti Western. Additionally, Klaus Kinski is the good guy! What is this, some kind of topsy turvy Spaghetti Western world where horses ride men and chickens eat Fernando Sancho?
No, it's not. It's a deadly serious revenge film that takes place almost in real time, most of it at night, which means it's a good idea to seek out a decent version of this film or else you'll see next to nothing.
Kinski is Gary Hamilton, a man we first see busting rocks in prison before being pardoned due to some loophole I didn't quite understand. Gary's slightly miffed because he was wrongly imprisoned and spent ten years in the pokey due to some guy called Acombar, so he lets bygones be bygones by getting out a jail, buying a rifle, and heading for town to kill Acombar and every single other person Acombar has hired to protect himself. Luckily, Gary bumps into Acombar's innocent, oblivious son on the way there and gets him to pass on the message, which leads to all kind of ominous staring. Even more luckily there's a scheduling conflict which means Gary will be arriving in town at exactly the same time as a tornado.
That's the plot, more or less. It's kind of like Django the Bastard in the way that Kinski slinks about the place wasting loads of bad guys in a creepy fashion, except this one plays up the horror angle even more (or Gothic horror angle I guess), with the continuous ringing of the church bell driving the hired goons mad, the relentless darkness and Kinski's big weird face. Acombar's main chamber is made of mirrored walls, which reminded me of the giallo Libido (which also has Luciano Pigozzi in it).
Speaking of Pigozzi, he suffers from one of the most unique and violent deaths in a Spaghetti Western, surpassed only by two incredibly horrible deaths in the film Django Kill if you live, shoot! Ear-splitting song at the start too which might put some people off, but stick with it – this is one of Antonio Margeherriti's best films.
No, it's not. It's a deadly serious revenge film that takes place almost in real time, most of it at night, which means it's a good idea to seek out a decent version of this film or else you'll see next to nothing.
Kinski is Gary Hamilton, a man we first see busting rocks in prison before being pardoned due to some loophole I didn't quite understand. Gary's slightly miffed because he was wrongly imprisoned and spent ten years in the pokey due to some guy called Acombar, so he lets bygones be bygones by getting out a jail, buying a rifle, and heading for town to kill Acombar and every single other person Acombar has hired to protect himself. Luckily, Gary bumps into Acombar's innocent, oblivious son on the way there and gets him to pass on the message, which leads to all kind of ominous staring. Even more luckily there's a scheduling conflict which means Gary will be arriving in town at exactly the same time as a tornado.
That's the plot, more or less. It's kind of like Django the Bastard in the way that Kinski slinks about the place wasting loads of bad guys in a creepy fashion, except this one plays up the horror angle even more (or Gothic horror angle I guess), with the continuous ringing of the church bell driving the hired goons mad, the relentless darkness and Kinski's big weird face. Acombar's main chamber is made of mirrored walls, which reminded me of the giallo Libido (which also has Luciano Pigozzi in it).
Speaking of Pigozzi, he suffers from one of the most unique and violent deaths in a Spaghetti Western, surpassed only by two incredibly horrible deaths in the film Django Kill if you live, shoot! Ear-splitting song at the start too which might put some people off, but stick with it – this is one of Antonio Margeherriti's best films.