Los pistoleros de Casa Grande

Veteran MGM B director Roy Rowland ended his career with three cheap westerns co-produced with MGM and shot in Spain. In some ways this looks like one of the gritty westerns that were being turned out by Italy, but while the body count is adequate, Rowland was too steeped in the MGM mystique -- this movie is too visually polite, the music score a tad too lush and the actors too clean to compare with Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name', so the result is nothing particular: too pretty for grit, too gritty for a traditional B and even a script co-written by Borden Chase can't do much.

The actors try to do something with their performances, particularly Alex Nicol, but his character lacks enough definition to be particularly interesting. Director Rowland's son, Steve has a featured role as 'The Kid'. One wonders how he felt about that during the shoot.

This must go down as the worst western I have seen. The film lacks a coherent plot, in general the acting and dialogue are terrible, the score is over the top and the colour of the film is way too bright.

The lead actor Alex Nichol- laughably named Joe Daylight in this- puts in a performance that must go down as one of the worst in memory from a leading man. Smug looking and lacking one iota of screen presence or talent, it is excruciating to watch. The only highlights in the acting stakes come from Jorge Mistral as the Traveler who seems the only male actor in this film to have any semblance of ability.

The plot is almost unintelligible- nothing much seems to happen and from half an hour in it became an ordeal just to get to the end. Scene after scene is amateurish beyond belief including one laughable scene in which Diana Lorys is whipped 5 times with a belt but has no marks. Yes this is a low budget film but there is no excuse for such a shoddy effort.

Watch this film and marvel at just how bad it is.

Average but with some good moments American/Tortilla Western decently co-produced and including attractive Spanish outdoors . The movie gets Western action , shootouts , romances , thrills and results to be quite entertaining . After American Civil War , circa 1866 , a gambler Joe Daylight (Alex Nicol ) wins a Mexican cattle ranch at a game of poker, as he schemes to drive the herd across the Rio Grande to Texas, sell the cattle and leave the ranch behind . Joe joins forces his henchmen , as the drunk doctor (Dick Bentley) , the traveler (Jorge Mistral) and Kid (Steve Rowland, director's son who usually plays for his father) and enter in Mexican territory . As the group of outlaws take over frontier lands and Joe hires on local hands , but during the drive , he discovers that the plans to cheat them . Meanwhile , the ex-bandits fall in love for beautiful women (Mercedes Alonso , Diana Lorys , María Granada) . Later on , Joe , Doc and the Traveler battle nasty outlaws led by the Bandit Chief , El Rojo , (Aldo Sambrell) .



Entertaining Chorizo/US Western well produced by Sam X. Abarbanel and José G Maesso with his production Company : Tecisa , including shoot'em up , action , violence , go riding , brawls and amusement . It is a passable Western with a few of surprises , thrills and including love stories . This film , realized in American Western style and no Spaghetti , contains Western-action , gun-play , fist-play and being enough amusing but mediocre . This Spanish/American western , probably won't be making too many top ten lists, but its an agreeable flick . It's a thrilling western that scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflict avaricious gunfighters , including breathtaking crossfire between protagonists and enemies when are besieged at a ranch during the ending . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values , pleasing results and turned to be shot entirely on location . Here filmmaker Roy Rowland delivers a decently-paced film , however he could be counted on to deliver solid "B" pictures which, at MGM , were often better than most other studios' . It's a stirring western with breathtaking gunfight between the brave protagonists : Alex Nicol , Jorge Mistral , Steve Rowland against the heartless Aldo Sambrell and his nasty hoodlums .Most players result to be too clean to compare with Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name', so the result is nothing particular: too pretty for grit, too gritty for a traditional B and even a script co-written by Western experts as Borden Chase and Clark Reynolds can't do much . 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 . Underrrated by some reviewers , but still interesting to watch . Atmospheric scenario with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under sunny Spanish exteriors and a shimmer sun and fine sets by expert craftsmen . Striking and colorful cinematography in Eastmancolor Cromoscope by Manuel Merino and José Aguayo , being shot on location in Colmenar Viejo , Manzanares Del Real and La Pedriza , Madrid .





The motion picture was professionally directed by Roy Rowland and it has ups and downs . Roy sharpened his directing chops at MGM with a series of shorts starting in the 1930s, then moved up to features in 1943 . Roy spent quite a bit of time at the studio, from 1943-51 and again from 1954-58 ; he had the good fortune to marry the niece of Louis B. Mayer and was the father of actor Steve Rowland . While not one of the studio's top-rank directors , he was a good professional who had a considerable success . Most were B-movies, but he occasionally handled such A-graders . His greatest hit was , of course , the fantasy movie titled The 5000 fingers of Dr T (1953) . Rowland made an action picture for independent release based on a Mickey Spillane "Mike Hammer" novel starring Spillane himself (Girl hunters (1963)) . He specialized in a variety of genres, including musicals : ¡Viva Las Vegas! (1956) The seven hills of Rome (57) , Two weeks with love (50) and dramas : Our wines have tender grapes 45 with Edward G Robinson (1945). He was also responsible for the tough, fast-paced Rogue Cop (1954), one of the few MGM films that could be considered "film noir" . Roy was a Western expert , as the last film he made at MGM was this "B" western with Stewart Granger, Gun Glory (1957) ; besides , he filmed Outriders with Joel McCrea , Bugles in the afternoon with Ray Milland and Many rivers to cross with Robert Taylor ; after which and then he traveled to Europe for a string of Spanish/Italian-made westerns such as Los Pistoleros De Casa Grande and Ley Del Forastero . His final film as director was a somewhat cheesy pirate movie (he was uncredited ; his Italian co-director Sergio Bergonzelli got sole credit) called El Tigre De Los 7 Mares and its sequel : Tormenta Sobre el Pacífico (1966) . He was associate producer on Nathan Juran's Spain-shot Western : Al Infierno, gringo (1969), after which he retired .

Gunfighters of Casa Grande is directed by Roy Rowland and written by Clarke Reynolds and Borden and Patricia Chase. It stars Alex Nicol, Jorge Mistral, Dick Bentley, Steve Rowland, Phil Posner, Mercedes Alonso, Diana Lorys, María Granada. Music is by Johnny Douglas and cinematography by José F. Aguayo and Manuel MerinoJose.

After the war between The States, when the Eastern part of the United States was beef starved and inflated prices were paid at Northern railroad points ... a border raider evolved a plan that would lead to the greatest stolen cattle herd and pay off in the history of the West.

Out of MGM, this Spanish/American Western was filmed in Mexico and is a CinemaScope/Metrocolor production. What with that value and the opening salvo as written above, one wouldn't be unfair to expect a good movie. Sadly this isn't the case. The whole stolen herd thing is a bum steer, the narrative a muddled mess that ultimately loses focus on story telling sense. On breaking it down we have an uneasy group dynamic, where a handful of sharp shooting men - led by a devious tyrant wannabe called Joe Daylight (Nicol) - end up getting women trouble whilst dealing with bandido baddies.

It's all on testosterone overdrive, complete with what can only be described as a pissing contest, with the acting close to being as poor as the choppy story. The musical score is schizophrenic, with some of it sounding oddly like a play on The White Cliffs of Dover and comedy fare that wouldn't be out of place in a Cary Grant screwball piece. Locations are nice, but the colour mix is way too bright, but at least we have two entries in the Victor Mature and James Caan look a like competition...

Some competent action scenes, such as the finale and a defence of Casa Grande (the ranch) stop it being a complete dead loss, but it's not one that Western fans should seek out as a matter of need. 3/10

Over the years I've watched hundreds of Westerns--both B movies and so-called A movies--and this has to be one of the worst I've ever seen. The costumes were flagrantly ill-considered, if not totally inappropriate to the individual actors, i.e. hats that seemed only reminiscently western or unsuitable to the individual actor; a hackneyed and sometimes non-existent plot; mostly no-name actors with virtually no talent; dialogue that belonged in a cartoon; and character names that bespoke of some foreign writer unfamiliar with the concept of exaggeration...not to mention unfamiliar with viewer etiquette, i.e. how not to insult the palette and intelligence of movie fans.

I can think of no redeeming grace for this film except the possibility of its inclusion in a list of the worst movie Westerns of all time.