Professionisti per un massacro

During the American Civil War, a trio of criminals are given a reprieve from execution and instead are given a dangerous mission to find a corrupt army general and retrieve the gold he has stolen. A gang of Mexican bandits enter the scene and complicate matters further.

I would have to consider this one as a better than average spaghetti western. There's nothing precisely very original about it or anything but it manages to do a thing which is quite rare in these kinds of movies in that is successfully integrates a comic tone into its narrative without being annoying in doing so. Most westerns that attempt to use comedy aren't very successful at it and the spaghetti ones in particular are usually pretty dire, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a movie pull it off well. It's not all japery here though as the story includes a healthy amount of action and even a massacre, so it never forgets to cover its bread and butter elements too. Its well-paced as well with some decent performances, especially from Italian genre film regular George Hilton who appears as an ex-priest who has turned to crime. Nobody would claim that this flick breaks the mould as such but it does what it does with energy and some fun.

This 1967 spaghetti western features former teen idol Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Italian western favorite George Hilton. The somewhat confusing plot involves hired gun mercenaries doing battle with a series of would-be tough guys and their corrupt leader.

Byrnes starred in several foreign westerns during this period of his career, with varying degrees of success. Several in 1967 paired Byrnes with Hilton. These were entertaining, though hardly memorable.

Fans of the spaghetti genre will find this one interesting, with both lead actors doing their best to raise the level of the film a few notches. Others beware, this one can be a little hard to follow at times!

Probably the one factor that may attract western fans to "Red Blood, Yellow Gold" is the fact that one of the stars is Edd "Kookie" Byrnes from the television show "77 Sunset Strip". Whether you think that Byrnes will bring some campiness or not, most likely you'll be disappointed in the way the movie uses him. Nothing in the movie makes him stand out from the three other characters he's paired up with in this done-to-death plot (a search for gold). Even if you happen to be a spaghetti western fanatic, chances are you'll still be let down by this movie. It's slow-moving, with scenes that have little to no consequence, showing how padded this old plot is. Also, the last third of the movie is somewhat confusing, with various adversaries getting all mixed up in a way that makes you wonder who is who and what each person wants. Not the worst western made, but nothing about it makes it worth seeing.

Three Confederates sell their own regiment's guns to some union soldiers. Just before they're shot at dawn as traitors, General Sibley steps in and commissions them to recover a wagon of gold stolen from the Confederates. At least, I think that's the plot.

Edd Byrnes, with this super-cool hair. George Hilton as a dynamite-happy priest. And some random fake Mexican are the hired guns. Lots of mayhem ensues. Lots of fights and gunplay. And they up things real good.

I couldn't follow the half of it, since the one thing that marks spaghetti westerns is the total lack of continuity. I swear most of these movies - from the lowest dregs right up to Sergio Leone - were filmed, cut up by a blind butcher, and randomly taped back together by studio janitors.

The most memorable thing about this movie is that some of the random characters are extraordinarly ugly, even by spaghetti western standards. I mean, they're repulsive.

Despite the title, this is an easy-going Spaghetti Western with tongue firmly in cheek; plot-wise, it’s basically THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) out West and with the Civil War for backdrop – as a trio of adventurers (George Hilton, George Martin and Edd Byrnes) are saved from the gallows, so that they can retrieve gold stolen from the Confederates by a renegade band of soldiers led by Gerard Herter (from Sergio Sollima’s marvelous THE BIG GUNDOWN [1966]). Along the way, they also have to deal with a band of Mexican outlaws (who, naturally, covet the gold): interestingly, this is presented as a family unit (albeit a loutish and ugly-looking bunch) controlled by an old woman who all she seems to do is stuff herself with food!

The heroes, then, all have their characteristics: Martin is himself a Mexican horse-thief, Hilton a defrocked priest with a penchant for explosives(!) – this combination of sardonic piety and ecstatic outbursts results in an occasionally hammy performance, while Byrnes is the requisite renegade American (amusingly called “Chattanooga Jim”); for the record, Hilton and Byrnes would re-unite soon after for the similarly lightweight ANY GUN CAN PLAY (1967). Given that they’re technically prisoners till the accomplishment of the mission, their movements are overseen by an officer; however, half-way through, the latter leaves with a girl they come across at an isolated house (whose other inhabitants had all been murdered by Herter & Co.) in order to drum up support for the inevitable confrontation between prisoners, soldiers and outlaws…except that the Cavalry that charges to the ‘rescue’ is from the opposite side, the Unionists, since the officer turns out to have been a spy all along!

Anyway, being a generally light-hearted entertainment, the heroes still end up in possession of the gold – amid brawling, double-crosses and shoot-outs galore! Incidentally, director Cicero would spend most of his later career helming low-brow sex comedies featuring Edwige Fenech and the like. The film under review does provide a typically pleasant score courtesy of one Carlo Pes.