Content: What a happy day this could have been, especially if one considers the successful ripping of a Yankee gold transport. But as it comes to the sharing of the booty, Oaks (Piero Lulli), leader of the pack, isn’t up for letting his Mexican partners to share to the gold. Instead of gold dusk the Mexicanos get a load of lead, followed by a first class funeral in the desert sand. Only one of them (Tomas Milian) succeeds in escaping his dusty grave and is found by two Indians, who revive him rapidly and go along with him from now on. As a special present they found him some bullets out of some booty-gold.
in the meantime Oaks and his boys reach a little town, among Indians known as “The unhappy Place”. The citizens thump law, order and God, but maltreat women, children and animals at the same time to the worst. Spokesmen are saloon owner Templer (Milo Quesada) and the local shop-owner Hagerman (Francisco Sanz), who both discover very fast, who the newcomers are and what kind of goodies they carry. Under the cloak of love of justice they organize a lynchmob, which makes a good job of it. Additionally Hagerman and Templer make sure for the gold for themselves.
Then the stranger with his two companions enters the scene and perforates Oaks with some golden bullets without killing him. This is prevented by Mr. Zorro (Roberto Camardiel), who owns the whole neighbourhood: Zorro wants to save Oak’s life, because he needs some information from him. But as the citizens discover, that the bullets in Oak’s body are of pure gold: They eviscerate the man nearly with their bare hands. Bad luck, for Mr. Zorro.
After all Zorro realizes, what Hagerman and Templer, who antagonized each other in the meantime because of problems with dividing the gold, had cashed on. Now Zorro and his mob, dressed in black completely, reach out their greedy hands for the gold too. In the middle we see the stranger, whom everyone wants either to ally with or even better get to rid of.
| The Gunslinger says: Even a few days after starting, Questi’s single SW has vanished out of the Italian cinemas. The reason was not only, that the flick supplies some hardship, but also and even more, that there are a lot of political and religious allusions.
So Questi pampers us with an extreme rough pace, which offers some really hard physical brutalities. To begin with the killing of the Mexicanos, the lynchmob, the literal disrupture of Oak’s by the greedy citizens or the scalping of one of the Indians, with is shown at length. Hard stuff, even if you consider the year of origin. Furthermore the film includes with the character of gay Zorro and his mob, who rape Templer’s son Evan and drive him to commit suicide, a touch, which one can call homophobic.
But this is qualified, because anything and anyone get one’s just deserts. For example society and religion: Whereas Zorro and his mob make no bones about their ambitions, which they even opine offensively, the “honest” citizens conceal their greed, their racism, their horniness under a façade of decency and values. But they are demasked over and over: So the bandits are killed quite brutally; Templer immolates his son for the gold and later hides it in his coffin; the lynchmob kills an Indian only for being one; children serve as footstools, to mention only a few examples. The gold, which nearly everybody excepting the stranger tries to get, doesn’t bring good luck to any of its temporary proprietors, but only death. If you like, you can interpret this as critique against capitalism, but you can leave it be just as well ;-).
The Stranger’s character is interesting: It seems as if the Indians succeed in reviving him, but there are some indications, that he is returned as a living dead, to pay for his guilt. For example his astonishing fast recreation isn’t possible, even if you have got special Indian herbs ;-); the Indians always question him about his experiences in the afterworld; the bullets, Oaks fired on him at point-blank range seem to miss him; the number of golden bullets he owns, determines the duration of his stay in the village; he washes his hands frequently and intensively.
Despite of the rhythm, which to me is a bit slow, there’s hardly anything to complain about. The actors all are at their best, especially Roberto Camardiel, we usually know as humorous sidekick, comes across well as villain. The score by Ivan Vandor is very fine: It’s not outstanding, but supplies a catchy title theme, orchestrated basically with guitars and strings.
| Rating: $$$$+
| Bodycount: ca. 30 Gringos, ca 8 Mexicanos, 2 women
| Explicit Brutalities: - Oak’s men force the Mexicans to dig their own graves and bump them off cold blooded
- Children are used as footstools
- Lynchmob: The bandits are drowned, slew with rifle-butts, hung up with their feet, etc.
- The Stranger warps Oaks with some golden bullets without finally killing him. This is done later on by the citizens, who wrench the gold from him with bare hands
- Evan is raped by the Zorro gang
- The inhabitants scalp an Indian
- Zorro’s gang crucify the Stranger to question him fort he gold. The following torture with geckos and bats however is a bit cute
| Luv': There is some kind of love between Elisabeth, the „mad“ wife of Hagerman, held as a prisoner by her husband ... but, well, love's short and has no future: 0/10
| Gore: 5/10
| Specials:
- The stranger uses golden bullets
- A horse serves as demolition charge
- Well ... a blowtube
| Trailer: by ItaloWestern
|
| OT:
Se sei vivere, spara!
AT:
Oro maldito (SP)
Oro hondo (SP)
Year: I/SP 1967
D, S: Giulio Questi
S: Franco Arcalli, Maria del Carmen Román
C: Franco Delli Colli
M: Ivan Vandor
with: Tomas Milian, Roberto Camardiel, Milo Quesada, Francisco “Paco” Sanz
 | Piero Lulli doesn't want to devide the dough
|  | It's the same old song: Some people have the guns, ...
|  | ... the others have to dig
|  | Pleas don't perforate my sombrero, hombre
|  | Tomas Milian is coming to town
|  | Soo we'll have some action ... in gold, please
|  | If Mr. Milian doesn't want to ...
|  | ... the peroquet sure will
|  | Tomas Milian seems to pass a casting for "Jesus Christ Superstar"
|  | Ray Lovelock as the ountry cousin
|  | | Roberto Camardiel takes the complaints of "Paco" Sanz and Milo Quesada |
|
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