13e est un traitre

I've seen more than enough Spaghetti Westerns in my life to consider myself a fan, and I daresay I'm an expert when it comes to Gialli movies (violent and sleazy slashers). They both fabulous Italian sub genres of exploitation cinema from the 60s and 70s, but they are also very different and incomparable from every possible viewpoint.

And that's exactly why "The Last Traitor" is a total unicum! It's the closest thing I ever watched - and probably ever will watch - to a combo between Giallo and Western, and moreover, surprisingly succeeds reasonably well in both domains!

Thirteen gunslingers, mainly former soldiers who fought in the recently finished Civil War, have gathered in a little town near the Mexican border for the upcoming wedding of one of them. The bride is about to arrive in a stagecoach, and she does... only she, as well as the men accompanying her, has been viciously murdered. The newly widower wants revenge, obviously, and it's abundantly clear that one - or several - of his guests know more about the vicious crime. That part is pure Giallo-gold, if you ask me, and since it's also a western, there's also the complementary storyline about a stolen loot of gold hidden in the coal mines that belonged to the murdered girl's father.

"The Last Traitor", also known under the fantastic aka "The Thirteenth is always a Judas" is far from perfect, but the plot is compelling, there's plenty of brutal violence, and a terrific cast full of familiar Italian cult-actors, like Donald O'Brien ("Keoma", "Run Man Run", "Zombie Holocaust"), Maurice Poli ("Rabid Dogs", Baron Blood"), and Giuseppe Castellano ("Milano Calibro 9", "Bird with the Crystal Plumage", Island of the Fishmen"). The relatively unknown director Giuseppe Vari admirably keeps the circumstances of what happened to the unfortunate bride secret for a reasonably long time, and thus there's a lot of suspense and brooding atmosphere throughout the film. During the final act, the clichés of both genres - and especially the western ones - come to the surface, but the film remains entertaining and action-packed until the last moments. I wouldn't immediately recommend this to everyone, but for experienced fans of Italian cult cinema who are looking for something unique, "The Last Traitor" is certainly a title to put on your list.

This is a 'mash-up' as the kids say of Western and Gialli, with all the suspects a bunch of tobacco chewing gunslingers already gathered in one place as the film begins. These fellows are waiting in the village of Sonora for the arrival of bride to be Mary Bell, daughter of a recently deceased mine owner, and her groom is grizzled Donald O'Brien, who has gathered his buddies together.

One buddy, a dodgy priest (I mean he's not trustworthy, not 'dodgy priest' by today's standards) notices that there a thirteen at the table, and that in these gatherings, the thirteenth guest is always a Judas. We then discover that everyone here is a bit nasty, from the murderous brothers to Maurice Poli's card shark to the crooked judge. Things turn very suspicious when the bride arrives in the carriage, killed to death by murder! And those three corpses with her - they're not mere postal workers - them's federal agents!

Goshdarnit - We have a good old murder mystery on our hands, and one of the thirteen is a murderer. It actually turns out to be fourteen people if you count the constantly changing allegiance of local girl Emelia, but don't dwell on that too much. No one can trust anyone else, and there's plenty of secrets to be revealed before the usual gunfight (it being a Western at heart, really, at the end of the day once all is said and done, when you think about it upon reflection, amen).

I didn't mind the old double crossing and the people being murdered and such like. There isn't much gore or violence and both Maurice Poli and Donald O'Brien aren't the most emotive actors to appear in these films, but the whole thing plays like a late sixties giallo with twists and reveals right up until the end, when the word 'fine' flashes on screen, informing us the whole film was fine, but not great.

Don't think about that last sentence so much.

Ned Carter (Donal O'Brien) is waiting with a bunch of guests for Mary Belle, his bride. When they are noticing that they are exactly 13 people at the table, an unlucky number, some think it's an evil omen. And indeed, when the stagecoach arrives, the bride has been murdered. After the marriage is canceled, some of the 13 men are killed, others are investigating the case, assuming there is a connexion between the killings and stolen gold from the civil war days.

'Il tredicesimo e sempre Giuda' (literally: 'The 13th is always Judas') is a western with a crime investigation story, yet neither a particularly good western nor a thriller with really interesting characters. You need a clever script for this kind of genre crossover, but this just drags on and on. Voted 3 of 10.