Le Pistolero de Paso Bravo

A good western with a typical plot of the hero - an Henry Fonda lookalike - seeking revenge for his wife and son's death. Soon there's bullets flying, and the ending with the hero shooting from the roof is quite tense. However, I wish there was more mystery and investigation occurring before he learnt who is the culprit.

Decent Maccaroni/Chorizo Western well written by ordinary writers: Federico De Urrutia, Lucio Battistrada and Eduardo Manzanos dealing with a deadly confrontation , including interesting elements about a violent confrontation , though it has some flaws and gaps , too . This above average Spaghetti results to be an oater plenty of action , thrills , gun-play , in a word : emotion .A drifter called Gary Hamilton (Anthony Hamilton) goes back to a small town called Paso Bravo to avenge the killing of his wife and two daughters who were butchered by house firing . Along the way he befriends a water salesman (José Calvo) and falls for a saloon girl (gorgeous Adriana Ambesi). Finally , he faces off a wealthy Mexican land baron , Acombar (Eduardo Fajardo). When Acombar's son (Franco De Rosa) appears murdered his father offers one thousand dollars for Hamilton's head , as he is wanted here and there by bounty hunters all around the country .

It is a thrilling , moving western that packs a story full of violence , fights , killings and subsequent suspense , so-so dramatic pace , twists and slick direction . Outstanding Anthony Steffen who here is pretty good as the revenger Gary Hamilton along with a lot of familiar faces from Pasta/Chorizo Western . Besides , it contains effective action sequences as when there takes place the final attack on the house or the exciting ending gun-down . It's a medium budget film with passable actors , technicians, production values and ordinary results . Here there are ritual shootouts among gunslingers confronting each other in some quick-draw duels in the accepted Western movie fashion . It follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . Acceptable action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts . Charismatic performance for the whole casting . Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Steffen was one of the most popular actors of the genre - at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics. The handsome, Italian-born - actually at the Brazilian embassy in Rome - Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz began working in films as a studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica . From there, Steffen began acting in sword-and-sandal epics, later moving onto the Western genre , where he found his niche . Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood, however, Steffen never became a top international box-office attraction. His acting is often accused of being wooden , but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several othersc. He was still enjoyable in other genres, specially Giallos as the successful The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave¨, ¨Death in Haiti¨ or The ¨Crimes of the Black Cat¨, a good example of Giallo where he played a blind pianist - one of his roles he most liked- , and ¨Killer Fish¨. He is well accompanied by a nice plethora of secondaries , being a Spanish/Italian coproduction there appears Spaniard people as the great Eduardo Fajardo playing his regular character , José Calvo , José Jaspe , Jesús Tordesillas , Antonio Cintado , José Canalejas , Luis Gaspar , Miguel Del Castillo and Italian ones as Ignazio Leone , Corrado Olmi , Franco De Rosa . And two Eurotrash goddesses : Adiana Ambesi , Giulia Rubini.

The picture displays a resounding and appropriate musical score in Ennio Morricone style by the prolific Angelo Francesco Lavagnino who composes one of the his best Western soundtracks . And colorful and glimmer cinematography by Alfonso Nieva .Being filmed on location in Hoyo Manzanares del Real , Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza , Madrid , but not Almeria .This Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Italy and important Spanish participation by Arturo Marcos , being decently shot by the Italian professional Salvatore Rosso , in his only one , as he was usually a director assistant .

This film begins with a cowboy by the name of "Gary Hamilton" (Anthony Steffen) wandering alone in the desert and in desperate need of water. Suddenly he hears a sound and upon going to check it out stumbles upon a peddler (played by Jose Calvo) who sells him some water and a mule to carry him into the town of Paso Bravo approximately 20 miles away. When he finally arrives there he immediately finds himself caught in a deadly crossfire which ends up with two men on one side dead--along with his mule. Although he is not armed he insists on being recompensed from the leader of the winning side. Yet even though his demand is honored, what he doesn't realize is that he has just made some enemies who don't forgive or forget too easily. On that same note, what nobody in the town of Paso Bravo fully understand is that Gary has come to Paso Bravo for a reason and it involves a mysterious fire that killed his wife and child while he was in prison-and he doesn't forgive or forget too easily either. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I was not at all impressed with this movie for several reasons. For starters, the film was poorly edited and as a result the scenes did not flow very smoothly from one to another. Likewise, the dubbing from Italian to English could have also used some improvement as well. In addition to that, I didn't really care for the ending either. Now, it is possible that there are a couple of versions of this film out there and the one I watched wasn't one of the better ones available. Maybe. Be that as it may, I can only comment on what was available to me and the faults just mentioned were much too obvious to be ignored-and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

This is a solid spaghetti western that has a great cast and lots of cool Euro-western style.

The music is very good. Some parts of the score are very minimalist, using only a single guitar. A couple of other parts sound kind of creepy, almost like they are using a theremin. All of it sounds very appropriate for a spaghetti western. It also has a great typical spaghetti-style opening theme.

Anthony Steffen does a fine job as the revenge seeking stranger Gary Hamilton. Anyone who thinks his unemotional performance in "Django the Bastard" (aka "Stranger's Gundown") was unintentional should see this movie, because here he proves that he can show feelings if the part requires it. Eduardo Fajardo is great as the scumbag town boss Acombar. Here he plays a character that is more over-the-top than his usually more refined villainous roles. I love the part where he tells his men to bring him Gary Hamilton's head because he wants to see it on a pole.

What is it with these names? In Antonio Margheriti's "And God Said to Cain," there is also a man named Gary Hamilton seeking revenge against a man named Acombar, though the story and characters are completely different. I'd love to know the story behind this. It doesn't seem like something that would be mere coincidence.

Another interesting thing about this movie is that it makes no bones about being an Italian western. Pepe Calvo (as the water salesman) speaks with an obvious accent, as does the beautiful Adriana Ambesi (as Rosy). Ambesi also sings a song in Italian in the saloon. This adds a nice touch to the film. It's also refreshing to see a Euro-western that doesn't make a vain attempt to hide its origins.

This is a cool movie for people whose interest in spaghetti westerns goes beyond just liking the Leone/Eastwood movies.