Synopsis

Storyline:

Outlaw Luther Sledge and sidekick Mallory pull into the town of 3 W for an overnight stay. While Sledge heads upstairs to spend the night with long-time prostitute friend Ria and a bottle of rye, his sidekick Mallory enters a game of poker downstairs in the saloon. Frustrated with loosing their money to Mallory, two of the other gamblers shoot him dead. Alerted to the downstairs gunshot noise, Sledge descends in the saloon, pretending he’s drunk, catches the two gamblers unprepared and shoots them dead. An old man who witnessed the shooting offers to serve as Sledge’s witness and swear it was self-defense in case of an inquiry. The next day, Sledge leaves town to meet with the rest of his gang in the hills. He notices the old man from the saloon following him on horseback some distance away. Sledge stops the old man and asks him why he is following behind. The old man explains that he is not following Sledge but rather a convoy escorting a gold shipment. Interested, Sledge takes him …

Written by

nufs68

User Reviews: In the Old West, a gunfighting outlaw called Sledge(James Garner) connives his way into a prison in hopes of getting his hands a cache of gold on stored there . Sledge join forces with a varied bunch of bandits (John Marley , Dennis Weaver , Claude Akins , Bruno Corazzari , among others) attempting to take a large shipment of gold into a prison fort . The misfit group of outlaws wind up battling each over a cache of gold . A quintet of unlikely partners match wills and wits and fight enemies and each other .

Entertaining Spaghetti Western with shootouts , action ,violence and amusement . It is a mainstream Western amusement with a lot of surprises , thrills and including a love story between James Garner and a whore played by gorgeous Laura Antonelli . This film realized in Spaghetti style contains action-Western , gun-play , fist-play and is pretty bemusing . Vic Morrow’s spaghetti western, probably won’t be making too many top ten lists, but its an agreeable flick . It’s an exciting western that scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflicts a misfit group , including breathtaking showdown between protagonists and the enemies . The film blends violence , thrills , high body-count and it’s fast moving and exciting . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes , including a spectacular final confrontation . Although by many to be director Vic Morrow’s finest film , this is a tale of fear , greed and murder , as some partners fall out over the gold they have robbed from an impenetrable safe . It also has probably the most brutal prison escape ever put on film . Underrrated by some reviewers , but till interesting to watch . It above all things mostly also remains a real characters movie, in which the five main roles are the essentials . Their dynamic together is also great and is what mostly keeps this movie going. They are five totally different characters, which is the foremost reason why they work out so great together on film . This theme about confrontation among mean people for a cache of gold has been treated in various Spaghetti such as ¨Ruthless four¨ by Giorgo Capitani with Van Heflin , Gilbert Roland , George Hilton , and ¨A reason to live , a reason to die¨ by Tonino Valeri with James Coburn , Jose Suarez and Bud Spencer . Here James Garner is superbly believable and gives a nice portrait of an increasingly unhinged thief . James Garner enthusiasts might be surprised to see the star play a villain . Furthermore , John Marley is very good as a cunning old man and remaining support cast is pretty well . There appears Spaghetti’s ordinary actors such as Ken Clark , Wayde Preston , Steffen Zacharias , Fausto Tozzi , Bruno Corazzari , Angelo Infanti , Luciano Rossi , Barta Barry , among others.

The musician Gianni Ferrio composes a vibrant soundtrack and well conducted ; including a catching leitmotif and considered to be one of the best . In addition , a marvelous song at the beginning titled ¨Other men’s gold¨ , with lyrics by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter , sung by Stefan Grossman . Atmospheric scenario with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under sunny exteriors and a shimmer sun and fine sets by production designer Mario Chiari with striking cinematography by Luigi Kuiveiller . The picture resulted to be shot entirely on location in Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot innumerable Ravioli/Paella Westerns , and interiors in Dino De Laurentiis Cinematographica S.A. , Rome . The motion picture was well written by Frank Kowalski ad Vic Morrow who also directed . While Morrow was filming ¨Twilight zone : the movie¨ , he was unfortunately killed on the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 in a tragic, freak accident on the set while filming a scene involving a helicopter which crashed right on top of him and two young children . Rating : 6’5 , acceptable Spaghetti with good lead from James Garner .