Fernando Lamas directs himself in this low-budget melodrama taking place in a New Mexico border town where one of three jailed white men is the assailant in a rape case involving a local girl (seems the last word the victim said before losing consciousness was "gringo"). There's the Polish troublemaker (Aldo Ray), the dishonorably discharged soldier (Tommy Sands, with impossibly black hair), and the smart-talking drifter (David Carradine). Deputy sheriff Lamas fears the townspeople will turn into a lynch mob after the victim dies, but all we see are extras running across the street and half-heartedly breaking into the police station. This is the laziest riot in the annals of B-movie cinema! Still, Lamas manages to move the story along, and it's rather enjoyable despite a poor car chase and clichéd dialogue throughout ("You've got a wrap-sheet as long as your arm!"). The location shooting is quite good, despite sloppy editing which repeats some footage, and the acting is solid by each of the principals. ** from ****
6 Reviews
David Carradine was evil from the start...
phibes01200017 May 2005
Although this Western isn't very good, its interesting for one of David Carradine's early performances. He plays one of three men accused of raping a young girl in a small New Mexico town. Fernando Lamas overplays the Mexican sheriff that has to find out who raped the girl, because the town's people are vengeful and ready to go a-lynchin'. Carradine shows that bad-guyness was one of his strong points as an actor even in his early years: at one point he keeps referring to the sheriff as "Mex," clearly getting under the poor man's skin. The film itself is kind of a bland drive-in type picture that would've played better on television. Aldo Ray also stars.
A sheriff and three prisoners on the run.
michaelRokeefe12 March 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Fernando Lamas directs and stars in this low budget looking crime drama. When a young woman(Melinda Marx)of a peaceful village populated by Hispanics is brutally raped and falling into a coma; she manages to partially identify her attacker as an outsider...a Caucasian. Sheriff Vega(Lamas)rounds up the only three strangers in town and places them in his jail. The father of the girl, that has now died, hates all Anglo-Americans and forms a lynch mob ready to string up all three making sure that they get the culprit. Sheriff Vega is not actually fond of gringos either, but his job is to protect his prisoners. Before the angry mob can get to the jail, Vega has already cuffed the three white men(David Carradine, Tommy Sands and Aldo Ray)together and slipped out the back door. One way or another justice will prevail. Don't expect any award nominations here.
They call him Mr. Vega.
mark.waltz4 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Tommy Sand ain't no babe in toyland anymore, David Carradine is suppressed from using his kung fu, and Aldo Ray certainly isn't the marrying kind in this cheap variation of "In the Heat of the Night" that really is much better than I thought it would be. The three men are arrested when the rape of a Mexican American girl results in her claiming in her last words before sinking into a coma were to identify her assailant as a white man.
She later dies, turning the charge from one count of rape to murder as well. This leads the townsfolk (more talked about than seen) threatening to riot for justice and lynch the three men. Sheriff Fernando Lamas grills each of the men, first with an understanding compassion, then with anger as their racism is exposed. The ringing of a bell gathers all of the town's men together threatening insurrection.
The one issue with this outside the cliched dialog in spots is the use of lower quality film, definitely not 35 millimeter. But the way it is presented is engrossing as the tension erupts, and I found myself intrigued and interested to see how it all unfolds.
Lamas risks his own safety to protect the three suspects even though he obviously abhors them. Even though the three men are wretched human beings in different ways, their performances are solid and it's hard not to root for the two innocent men even if you are not sure who the guilty one is. Perhaps that's the point, not to judge until the guilty party is exposed.
Sometimes with movies of the physical quality here, I make it nowhere past an hour, but I stuck with this one. With the desert location footage, this never stops with the action for a minute. It's amazingly timely for a 50+ year old film, and I felt real sympathy for Lamas's character who is torn both as a law enforcement officer and a member of the Hispanic community tired of being violated.
She later dies, turning the charge from one count of rape to murder as well. This leads the townsfolk (more talked about than seen) threatening to riot for justice and lynch the three men. Sheriff Fernando Lamas grills each of the men, first with an understanding compassion, then with anger as their racism is exposed. The ringing of a bell gathers all of the town's men together threatening insurrection.
The one issue with this outside the cliched dialog in spots is the use of lower quality film, definitely not 35 millimeter. But the way it is presented is engrossing as the tension erupts, and I found myself intrigued and interested to see how it all unfolds.
Lamas risks his own safety to protect the three suspects even though he obviously abhors them. Even though the three men are wretched human beings in different ways, their performances are solid and it's hard not to root for the two innocent men even if you are not sure who the guilty one is. Perhaps that's the point, not to judge until the guilty party is exposed.
Sometimes with movies of the physical quality here, I make it nowhere past an hour, but I stuck with this one. With the desert location footage, this never stops with the action for a minute. It's amazingly timely for a 50+ year old film, and I felt real sympathy for Lamas's character who is torn both as a law enforcement officer and a member of the Hispanic community tired of being violated.
Good!
RodrigAndrisan28 December 2020
Fernando Lamas did a good job, both as a director and as an actor. The other actors, Rodolfo Acosta, in the role of the raped and killed girl, Lisa Gaye, in the role of the nurse, plus David Carradine, Aldo Ray and Tommy Sands, in the roles of the 3 villains (of which only one is really the perpetrator), are convincing . Worth seeing!
"Classic Grindhouse Flavor"
kevinkishin19 July 2021
Hey, Grimey feel of this movie is classic for me, also it's hard too find there's no official DVD release, that being said if you like movies that get too the point without useless dialogue this is a must see, a true Grindhouse collector's must have.
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