L'Ouest en feu

The best thing about "Land Raiders" is Spain standing in for Arizona and some good photography of impressive scenery. The plot isn't too bad, though I agree with those who have remarked on the dissimilarity between the brothers Pablo and Vicente.

There were a couple of scenes that made me scoff: Kate's elegant dress on a three-week wagon-train journey, and Kate and Pablo's rapid arrival back in town looking remarkably clean after jumping out of a wagon and a long, hot walk. And there was the common feature of so many Westerns, firearms that appeared not to need re-loading.

Still, entertaining enough, and after a little hesitation I gave it seven points.

Released in 1969 and directed by Nathan Juran, "Land Raiders" is an American Western curiously shot in Europe starring Telly Savalas and George Maharis as estranged brothers in Arizona circa 1875. The former is greedy and stirs up hostilities with the Natives in order to drive out settlers so he can scarf up their land cheap. Meanwhile, the latter returns to the family ranch after a long absence smelling corruption. Guy Rolfe appears as the major of a local fort while Phil Brown is on hand as the local sheriff.

This is a well-made Western by the proved director of 1958's "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and 1962's "Jack the Giant Killer." If you didn't know better you'd think it was shot in Arizona, where the story takes place. The score is by Ennio Morricone's orchestrator Bruno Nicolai and it's decent. The cast is great with Savalas chewing the scenery as the charismatic brother on a power trip contrasted by handsome Maharis as the troubled, but noble sibling.

The movie does well in the female department with four – count 'em four – beautiful women in various roles: Janet Landgard plays the Sheriff's daughter, Arlene Dahl the corrupt brother's wife, Jocelyn Lane the noble brother's old flame and Marcella Saint-Amant a saloon senorita. Moreover, the film checks all the boxes of Western staples, like a saloon brawl, an Indian attack on a wagon train, cavalry & fort sequences, a stampede, shootouts and various romances. Furthermore, the plot is more interesting than the conventional revenge or greed motifs of Spaghetti oaters, which sort of gives away that it's an American production.

Unfortunately, the set-up of the first half is more promising than the somewhat comic booky execution of the second half; and the Natives are all obviously dark-skinned Caucasians from the Mediterranean (just guessing). It's also marred by the (obvious) use of stock footage in at least one of the action sequences. Nevertheless, "Land Raiders" delivers the goods as an action-packed American-trying-to-be-European Western with dramatic punch. I don't get why it's so obscure as it's just as good, if not better, than more well-known Westerns of the same period.

The movie runs 101 minutes and was shot in Spain and Hungary.

GRADE: Borderline B/B- (6.5/10 Stars)

Telly "Kojak" Savalas and George Maharis ('Route 66') play feuding brothers Vicente and Pablo, in this tale in which ultra-greedy land baron Vicente will stop at NOTHING to get his way. He pretty much owns the local Arizona community of Forge River lock, stock, and barrel, including weakling lawman John Mayfield (Phil Brown, "Star Wars"). He has a seething hatred for the local Apaches, and goes about ensuring that the people will eventually want to go to war with them.

Just for one example of how rotten Vicente is, there's a tragedy in the brothers' past, and Pablo is not completely convinced that it was an "accident". You can tell that Telly is relishing his role; while he stops short of real scenery-chewing, you just KNOW that he's having fun. In essence, his despicable heel is what makes the film truly worth watching.

Overall, it's nothing great, but it's an entertaining story capably told, by filmmaker Nathan H. Juran, in a rare Western assignment for the director; he was better known as a director of fantasy (ex. "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad") and sci-fi (ex. "The Brain from Planet Arous") pictures. Although peppered with obvious stock footage, its action scenes ARE well-done. It's also got a good supporting cast: Arlene Dahl ("Journey to the Center of the Earth"), Janet Landgard ("The Swimmer"), Guy Rolfe ("The Stranglers of Bombay"), George Coulouris ("Citizen Kane"), Jocelyn Lane ("Tickle Me"), Fernando Rey ("The French Connection"), and Robert Carricart ("The Milagro Beanfield War").

Fairly violent without ever being TOO gory, this does get a pretty big boost from the score by Bruno Nicolai, and from its location shooting in Spain (which leads some people to mistakenly assume it's a Euro-Western, when in fact it was an American production).

Seven out of 10.

Ruthless Vince Carden (Telly Savalas) dominates the Arizona-territory town of Forge River and buys the scalps of murdered Indians. He has driven his brother Paul (George Maharis)from his home, and this leads to the total disillusionment of his wife Martha (Arlene Dahl.) Haunted by the mysterious death of a girl he had loved, Paul ends his wandering and attaches himself to a wagon train heading for Forge River; with the train is Kate Mayfield (Janet Landgard), who is returning home after years of school in the East. Paul and Kate are the sole survivors when Apaches attack the train, in reprisal for a slaughter staged by Vince's men. Vince uses the Indian attack on the train as an excuse to lead the raid on a defenseless Apache village, which sparks a massive assault on Forge River. So, attack A leads to counter-attack B which leads to reprisal attack C which leads to final attack D, which leads to a climatic fight between Vince and Paul. Pass the pasta tamales, please.

Wealthy Spanish landowner Telly Savalas pays mercenaries to kill Apaches and then benefits when their reprisal killings against whites create cheap vacant properties for him to add to his empire. Meanwhile, his younger brother comes home and opposes him, opening up old wounds involving Telly's past misdeeds.

An American film shot in Europe (Spain?), Land Raiders is an obvious attempt to imitate the look and style of the Italian westerns popular at the time. Still, it's a pretty good movie with hard-boiled characters, splashes of blood, and a little bit of nudity thrown in, not to mention the score by Ennio Morricone's frequent arranger Bruno Nicolai.

Telly Savalas is smooth and sinister, appearing to have a lot of fun, while George Maharis gives a likable, noble performance as his brother.

Impressive looking stock footage pads out the action sequences nicely, but it's too easily distinguishable from the bulk of the film.