Terror at Black Falls

After his son is lynched, a bandit by the name of "Juan Avila" (Peter Mamakos) swears revenge upon the local sheriff named "Cal" (House Peters Jr.) and the rest of the men in the town. Not long afterward he rides into town with his other two sons and after taking several men hostage in the local saloon announces that he will kill one person every ten minutes until Sheriff Cal comes in to face him. But the sheriff isn't too keen upon walking into a trap. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that for an old black-and-white film produced in the early 60's this particular picture wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, there was a certain amount of moralizing within the story, which was quite obvious and, in my opinion, lessened the overall effect. All things considered though, I thought it was an adequate western and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

There's a lynching, and the boy's father, Peter Mamakos tries to get vengeance, but is wounded by sheriff House Peters Jr.. and sent to prison. After he get out, he returns with his other sons and takes over the bar. He plans to kill the people there until Peters comes over to face him.

This movie sat on the shelf for three years before novice director Richard Sarafian got it released. It's pretty bad, with people doing dumb things, and Peters refusing to move while people die. Peters does a voice over which talks about the futility of hatred, but it doesn't serve anything other than to make this a long, slow slog of a movie, shot cheaply on two sets and a few minutes of outdoor shots.

If it were not for the increasingly banal narration we are subjected to on this standard B-movie western, it might have been quite an engaging watch. It's got all the usual ingredients as a recently released gunman is out seeking revenge on those who lynched his innocent son. What follows is a rather slow moving drama based around a siege in a saloon, as he holds some of the townsfolk hostage threatening to kill one every few minutes, until the crooked sheriff comes to face him. Sadly, the actors are all much of a muchness; there isn't really a star as such - and though the ensemble cast acquit themselves adequately, and the last ten minutes finally go some way to igniting this film; it's really just a rather procedural effort with a duff script and very few redeeming/memorable moments.