Contrabbando per l'oriente

This western is ably directed by Ray Nazzaro, a veteran director, and stars George Montgomery who is an undercover agent, who along with his gun toting partner, is assigned to sort out the gold smugglers in Cripple Creek. It's routine plot is given a punch by some of the action, the hideout where the gold is processed, the well-staged fist fight, the nail biting Russian roulette sequence and the killer twist at the end. Having said that, a little more investigation by the hero would've been great, but it's still an entertaining western, which is the most important thing.

Cripple Creek is directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Richard Schayer. It stars George Montgomery, Jerome Courtland, Richard Egan, Karin Booth, John Dehner, Don Porter and William Bishop. Music is by Mischa Bakaleinikoff and Technicolor cinematography by William V. Skall.

Two secret service agents go undercover as gunmen in the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. Someone has been smuggling gold ore out of the country at a time when gold reserves are critically low.

Harmless, colourful and vigorous, Cripple Creek is solid Western entertainment. It packs a lot into its relatively short running time, with chases, gunfights, robberies and an almighty barroom brawl. The narrative is not without brains, with a healthy mystery element ticking away throughout, and in amongst the shifty shenanigans perpetrated by denizens of Cripple Creek there's some surprises in store. The acting is the standard fare for such a production, which is OK as the cast all engage with their efforts, while set designs and colour photography score favourably as well. 6.5/10

George Montgomery, Jerome Courtland and Richard Egan are undercover agents in the old west trying to break a gold smuggling ring working out of the town of Cripple Creek.

This is good, solid western entertainment. It's a buddy- western, shoot-em-up, fist-fight, and midnight rides type movie. I found it to be well paced, written and acted. It has some plot twists that make it more adultish than the usual kid-western fodder.

For the western movie fan, there's alot of other familiar faces among the cast, and everyone gives a fine performance.

This has been on Encore's Western Channel. Catch it if you can without commercials, it's so much better.

Real Saturday morning western with enough surprises and cliffhangers to have been a serial. Saw it today on TV and wondered why I'd never come across it before. Unusual subject matter for a western. Secret Service men brought in to deal with a gold smuggling operation in Cripple Creek , Colorado. Interestingly, a gang is stealing wagonloads of freshly mined ore, instead of the smelted gold. Why? Unless they're smelting it themselves? But then; where is it taken afterwards? It's up to agents Iverson (George Montgomery), Larry Galland (Jerome Courtland) and Strap Galland aka Gillis ( Richard Egan) to find out and thwart the operation, which they do by two of them posing as bandits on the run looking for profitable employment. As you would expect, they find it remarkably easy to be taken on by saloon owner William Bishop. Is he the big guy, surrounded by villainous henchmen? And what role does saloon gal Julia play? The final reveal, and the scale and purpose of the operation, come as something of a surprise. However, there is a big clue dropped early on, if you're paying attention. But,before that there's plenty of gunplay, fisticuffs, ruses and twists to satisfy any fan of the genre.

Set in the 19th century West, we have lawmen trying to catch some outlaws who have been a little too crafty to catch.

This is one of those "darkness before the Dawn" films that aren't that common. It's a story of a person in a situation where it looks totally hopeless and full of horror, with all allies destroyed, all hope of help from outside gone, and nothing to fight with.

In this case, it's an undercover cop in the old West, infiltrating a gang. We get a feeling of what is to come, and since most movies are stereotypical "all nice guys have to die" plots, the only thing that makes us think it's possible the undercover cop will live is because tough guy Montgomery portrays him. That makes it suspenseful, because now we feel it is an even money chance he will pull out alive some how.