D: Aldo Florio; S: A.F., Bruno di Geronimo, Eduardo Brochero; C: Emilio
Foriscot; M: Bruno Nicolai; with: Fabio Testi, Eduardo Fajardo, Romano Puppo (“Roman Barrett”), Charo Lopez, José
“Pepe” Calvo, Francisco Sanz
Roy Greenford (Fabio Testi) and his friend Emiliano (Massimo Serato)
escape out of a stone-pit. Emiliano dies completely exhausted, but before his dead he tells his friend something about a gold
treasure. Greenford hides himself at Joselito (José “Pepe” Calvo), who is forced like many others to plod in a
goldmine. The mineros have to deliver the whole gold to the villains Redfield (Eduardo Fajardo), Newman (Romano Puppo) and
Lawrens (Ben Carra). Otherwise they are killed by the many hired gunslingers. Greenford, supplied adequately with the help
of Joselito, starts to rough up the three gangsters and – naturally - to get the gold. As he arrives in the little village,
he firstly has to bump off some guys, getting a little bit nervous as he mentions the name of his dead mate. Furthermore he
has to fight the mobsters of the three rogues. These have to realize, that Greenford can’t be killed, so they decide
to hire him insteadly. Greenford finds out, that Redfield plays his own game – without his companions, but he can’t
spot his own role in this game. With a false telegram he forces the rogues to bring their gold to Tucson, so that Roy can
take possession of the treasure. But nevertheless things seem to work out fine for Redfield.
I/E 1971
The Gunslinger says:
It’s an oppulent pasta-dish served by Aldo Florio: a first-class Spaghetti-Western,
absolutely al dente. Good Fabio Testi in his role as gunman, following his mission, is a younger Clint-Eastwood-Lookalike
for long periods. Great and hard-boiled atmosphere, good actors and a complex story, which is disclosed piece by piece by
capable used flashbacks, gives the film character. Once again Bruno Nicolai composed a great score, which reminds me a bit
at Morricone’s work for “Once upon a Time in the West”. The composition of the final showdown is similar
to Leone’s masterpiece too.
If you compare this film with the earlier and much weaker Florio-Western
“No Drums, no Trumpets” it’s a completely different ballgame, even if you might criticize Florio`s strong
dependance on Sergio Leone.
Rating: $$$$$-
Bodycount: ca. 22 Gringos, 15 Mexicanos
Explicit Brutalities:
- Jessica is raped by Lawrens several times
- The hired gunmen kill weaponless mineros without any pity
- Greenford is beaten up by Redfield’s mobsters, because he has stolen
the gold. Among their fists they use a thick axeshaft.
- Joselito is tortured to tell something about the whereabout of Roy and
Jessica (Charo Lopez)
- The minero Miguel is a stool, so his former comrades kill him with a kind
of choke chain
- Roy and Emiliano are chained together. As Emiliano dies, Roy has to cut
off the foot of the corpse with a rusty knife.
Liebe:
Well, there seems to be some kind of love growing between Jessica and Roy,
but after the final credits: 0/10
Splatter: 4/10
