D: Cesare Canevari; S: Nico Ducci, Eduardo Manzanos Brochero, Mino Roli ; C: Julio Ortas; M: Mario Migliardi; with: Claudi Gravy, Luis Davila, Corrado Pani, Lou Castel

Young killer Burt (Corrado Pani) is standing under the gibbet, right on the highway to hell, as he is liberated by a bunch of mexican bandidos. Thankful as he is, he kills all Mexicanos after his successful escape. He is joined by his sidekicks Phil (Luis Davila) and psychotic Ted (Antonio Salines), with whom he wents straight to Benson City, an abandoned ghosttown. Phil’s girlfriend Mary (Claudia Gravy) arrives shortly after, completing the quartet. The four gangsters attack a stagecoach: Burt dies, but the surviving gang members are damn’ happy about 200.000 gold dollars. Back in Benson City the quarrel for the booty slightly begins, because none of the gangsters is in the mood for divide: For that reason Phil hides the money. In the same night the roof over their heads is inflamed. The gangsters detect an old woman (Ana Maria Mendoza), last inhabitant of Benson City, who dreams to re-animate the town. The other day a “freshly-baked” widow (Ana Maria Noé) and an invalidated stranger (Lou Castel) reach the town. These facts, the hidden booty and a petty jealousy around the greedy Mary result in a quite fierce atmosphere in the gang. Furthermore a meeting with a fence to wash the money fails, what causes the beginning of an open fight for the bucks. Even Burt, who has only faked his death, is back in the game.

E/I 1970

The Gunslinger says:

Wow! There aren’t many words; there isn’t even a sophisticated plot: This film is pure atmosphere, folx. Word’s aren’t necessary at all, because the protagonists in their hippiesque clothes and their world are completely bestialized. This becomes evident after the bloody liberation of Burt: After his mexican saviors have wished him good luck, he grabs his gun and kills them all in cold blood and with a little smile on his face. Then he takes back the money, he has payed to them. Later on brutality is added by the greed for gold, making it impossible for the men to show even a hint of empathy. The score of Migliardi supports this really genious: brute prog-rock during the action scenes, whereas the strange atmosphere in the ghost-town is accompanied with quite weird electronical sounds. The camera sneaks through and around the houses and intensifies the feeling of being observed. When the stranger uses his boomerangs, it follows the flight of these deadly weapons. “Kill him” is one of the most experimental but most interesting contributions to the genre. Concerning its setting and its psychedelic atmosphere, this film reminds me on the german movie “Deadlock”, made in the same year.

Benson City by the way is the same location, where “A Fistful of Dollar” was made nearly six years before.

Rating: $$$$+

Bodycount: ca 11 Mexicanos, ca. 17 Gringos, 4 Women

Explicit Brutalities:

- the gangsters maltreat the stranger and the young widow, because they don’t belief, that they have come into town incidentially

- after he is brushed off by Mary, Ted bashes the stranger with a chain. Afterwards he chases his victim through the empty town.

Luv’:

for money 10/10; flowery: 0/10

Splatter: 1/10

Specials:

- Burt has a good grasp of a strange warbler, confusing the pope under the gibbet

- the stranger isn’t able to use firearms, but instead he is a boomerang-pro