The Magnificent Texan (1967) Poster

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6/10
Spaghetti/Paella Western co-produced by Italy/Spain about a Mexican avenger seeking justice and vendetta
ma-cortes31 May 2015
This Chorizo/Spaghetti Western is filled with noisy action , thrills , intrigue and spectacular shootouts . It is starred by the ¨Desesperado¨ with Glenn Saxson as the dashing masked avenger . It starts with a group of cutthroats attack a farm of a Mexican family , killing all of them ; except the youngest son . Many years later , the little boy called Manuel Lopez becomes ¨El Desesperado¨ , a masked man who defends good people and specially the Mexican families harassed by American settlers . He poses as a foppish who travels with model girls but the takes a secret identity , disguising as the "The Desesperado" to combat enemies and to help Mexican peasants oppose a notorious land baron who has cruelly oppressed them . He faces a tough, gun-wielding saloon owner , Blackie Stark (Massimo Serato as John Barracuda) and corrupt Judge Wilkins (Beni Deus) . Then Manuel falls in love for the Judge's daughter (Barbara Loy) . When Manuel Lopez's friends become targets in this struggle , the full revenge of ¨El Desesperado¨ will be unveiled.

Agreeable movie , plenty of action , thrills , gun-play , a love story ; all meld together under Luigi Capuano's ordinary direction . It drags at times , balancing in ups and downs ; turning out to be entertaining enough . Although the story has been told before , similar to ¨Zorro¨ films , passable filmmaking and nice acting win out , but it results in an acceptable Western flick . The movie has the typical Spaghetti characters , as the violent facing , greedy antiheroes, bloody and spectacular showdowns, quick zooms , extreme baddies and being compellingly directed . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge , as a gunfighter looks for a man in a little town and seeks vendetta against the parents's killers . It is a combination of overwhelming crossfire and full of villainy , romance and heroism . Interesting screenplay by Manuel Martinez Remis who wrote various Macaroni/Chorizo Westerns such as "Quinto: Fighting Proud¨ , "God Was in the West, Too, at One Time" and ¨Reverendo Colt¨. Fun acting by Glenn Saxson as an adventurer who uses all kind of shrewdness in order to destroy his enemies . The starring is stunningly played by the Dutch Glenn Saxson . Glenn is very fine , he ravages the screen , he jumps , bounds and leaps , hit and run . Glenn as a brave and two-fisted gunslinger is terrific , subsequently the would play similar roles in other Spaghettis ; as he also starred "Django Spara Per Primo¨ and ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨ . Music original by Francesco De Massi composes a nice Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted and splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score . Support cast is frankly well , full of familiar faces from Tortilla/Spaghetti as Spanish players : Beni Deus , Gloria Osuna , Luis Induni , as Italian ones : Giorgo Cieroni , Nerio Bernardi , Glauco Onorato and Riccardo Pizzuti ; the latter , Hill-Spencer films's ordinary . There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction , adequate production design , and atmospheric cinematography by Pablo Ripoll , he creates an appropriate scenario on the interior ranch and barren outdoors , dirty as well as rocky landscapes , and being shot in Elios studios (Rome) , El Lazio and Spain : Manzanares Del Real , Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza , Madrid . However , a perfect remastering being necessary because of the copy is washed-out .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Luigi Capuano . He was a good craftsman who made all kind of genres , and especially adventure movie . Capuano directed Spaghetti Western such as "Il Magnifico Texano" , Peplum as ¨Revenge of Ursus¨ ,"Revenge of the Gladiators" , "Hercules and the Black Pirates" and of course Adventures such as "Zorro in the Court of Spain" , "Zorro, Rider of Vengeance" , ¨Zorro and three musketeers¨ ,"Tiger of the Seven Seas" , ¨leopard of Sarawak¨ , ¨Vengeance of Sandokan¨ , "Terror of the Red Mask" starred by Lex Barker and "The Lion of St. Mark" set in Venice and starred by Gordon Scott .
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6/10
Tough spagwest
Leofwine_draca11 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A pretty entertaining spaghetti western here. They know what they're doing and they do it adroitly with a minimum of fuss. Plenty of action as our heroes battle dastardly gunmen and other innocents get in the way. Shades of the old costume adventures with our hero donning a mask to get revenge on the corrupt and the violent. Glenn Saxson is okay as the protagonist but the best of the lot is the completely reliable Massimo Serato, always on form with another villain turn.
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4/10
Another low budget variation of low budget quickie b/w westerns
jordondave-280856 February 2023
DUBBED

The intro has a young boy hiding in the bushes while a group of outlaws shooting and wiping his family burning up his house. Many years later viewers now suspect that the young boy is now the masked avenger "El Desperado" played by Glenn Saxson, and keeps himself in disguise by wearing a bandana to cover the face down. Who is so fast enough to shoot at the hands upon people who draw on him. And of course, he is in search of the people who massacred his family. When he is not fighting crime, he would manage a brothel, showing the women with respect.

The idea of this was like from what one might see in a "Zorro" movie before it was coined to a low budget Western with the idea being the same, except that because I saw these westerns when I was just a child I barely remembered how bad they were in comparison to a critically acclaimed John Wayne or Clint Eastwood westerns. It's phony if the bad guy during fisticuffs can easily pull the masked Desperado's mask down.
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