RELEASE DATE: 1977
RATED: Unrated In The States
REVIEWED BY: The DarkSider
The movie begins with a grimy fellow running from a man on a horse. He stumbles in slow motion and finally meets face to face with his pursuer. He reaches for his gun but the man on the horse chucks an axe his way chopping his hand off. The fellow on the horse would be Blade by the way...no not the day walking vampire... Blade the bounty hunter.
Anyhow, Blade takes off with his prisoner named Burt Craven in tow. Immediately we get introduced to a song that is repeated more in this movie than Celine Dion on a light radio station. It basically is a low key depressing number which sounds like it was sung by some drunk dude doing his best Johnny Cash imitation. The lyrics talk about "a solitary man" who is out in the world, blah blah blah. Blade makes it into the nearest town to find they are without a Marshall. He is told that local silver miner McGowan has shut down all saloons in town to make his people work harder. McGowan's right hand man Voller is in town so Blade pays him a visit.
Blade breaks up the rather feminine Voller's crooked card game and wins $5000 from him. Voller doesn't take kindly to this so he has his henchmen try to kill Blade. Blade shoots all their guns out of their hands and clubs Voller's dogs back with the blunt end of his axe. With money back in his life, Voller lets Burt go and takes shelter in town.
Blade pays a visit to the silver mine and starts having flashbacks involving trees. Hmmm...bad acid I'm assuming. He witnesses a shipment of silver get overtaken by some coach robbers. That night he drops in to McGowan's place and meets his daughter Deborah. The crippled McGowan holds him at gunpoint and Blade informs him that he wants to be hired as a shotgun rider for his coach. McGowan considers the offer and the next day Voller arrives with some henchmen to test Blade's fighting skills. Blade takes them on hand to hand and topples them all under McGowan's watchful eye.
Voller, angry that his pretty clothes got ruined, sends his henchmen out to kill Blade. They set up an explosion which wounds Blade but before you know it, all the henchmen die at Blade's hand. Blade passes out but is rescued by the traveling whore show brought to you by Johnny Johnny. Voller heads out to look for Blade and Johnny Johnny helps in hiding him.
Blade quickly recuperates and takes a liking for one of the whores named Angela. Meanwhile, Voller is told to escort Deborah to New Orleans by McGowan. However, the coach that takes them is part of a set up by Voller to kidnap Deborah and hold her for ransom. All innocent bystanders on the coach are massacred including an old lady (hehe). However, the coachman is left barley alive and takes off with the coach.
Meanwhile, Johnny Johnny arrives in town to put on a show for the workers. McGowan arrives and orders all the women punished for their sins. Blade puts an end to it by quickly killing off several of McGowan's men. The gunfight comes to an end when the nearly dead coachman arrives to tell McGowan of Deborah's kidnaping.
McGowan is told by Voller's henchmen to supply everything he owns as ransom. McGowan asks Blade to be the middle man in all of this. Blade informs him that he will do it but at a healthy cost. He wants "10x10" thousand...because saying 100 thousand just isn't cool in the wild west. He also demands that Johnny Johnny be allowed to set up his whore show in town. You know...so the workers have something to j*rk off to once and awhile. Blade also informs McGowan that he is the son of a man who was killed by a falling tree caused by McGowan's crew in the past.
McGowan agrees to Blade's demands but when the drop is made, all hell breaks loose. Blade ends up in a gunfight and quickly learns the Deborah is in cahoots with Voller. Voller finds out Blade replaced the gold ransom with stones. He orders his men to destroy Johnny Johnny's place and abduct Angela. They do this and Blade tells Voller where the gold is hidden.
Voller kills Angela in front of Blade and instead of putting a bullet in his head, comes up with an elaborate death for Blade. Go figure...he buries him neck deep in soil and sews his eyes open so they can get burned out by the sun. Blade almost dies but is rescued last minute by Burt Craven who has a hook for a hand. Craven tends after the blinded Blade in a cave as a favor for letting him go. Meanwhile Blade starts working on some new axes. Meanwhile Voller arrives with Deborah and tells McGowan of their plans to wed. Voller takes over the business with an iron fist which causes an employee revolt. During the revolt, McGowan gets killed by Voller.
Burt Craven proves his actions are not without reason when he tells Voller of Blade's current where-abouts. Voller sends more henchmen...where the f*ck Voller kept getting them is beyond me. Anyhow, Blade kills them all off in the cave and shoots Burt Craven dead in a duel. With his sight fully restored, Blade rides into town to take on Voller. After killing Voller's dogs, Blade supplies Voller with an axe to the chest.
So there it was...one of the last spaghetti westerns. The world was on the verge of a sci-fi explosion with the release of Star Wars. Before the world knew it, revolvers were quickly replaced with laser blasters.
Director Sergio Martino does give the film a good gritty and dark feeling. The story line, although it lags at times, is easy to follow. I compare this movie to the last of the summer days. The earlier days were the best and although the last days are nice, a whole bunch of cold sh*t awaits you right around the corner. However, cold sh*t in this situation would be the unfortunate death of the spaghetti western.
1.) Looky Here - Blade is buried from the neck up and has his eyes stitched open so they can be burnt out by the sun. There is nothing more horrendous than staring at the sun against your will. Well maybe aside being forced to stare at Bea Arthur in bikini.
2.) Handy Man - Blade hacks off Burt's arm off with a throwing axe. He becomes a hooker later in the film...with a new hook for a hand that is.
1.) Voller - This fellow has a gang of baddies working for him and two large guard dogs at his disposal. However, I would say he is more of a poodle man than a guard dog man if you get my drift.
2.) McGowan Family - Mr. McGowan and his daughter Deborah may not see eye to eye however there is one thing they can both agree on; they both like cowboy Voller who looks and acts more gay than the cowboy from the Village People.
3.) Burt Craven - Burt turns heel on Blade and gets his in a duel. When Burt's partner Ernie was notified in the Sesame Street Coral, I imagine he was devastated.
