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Quel Caldo Maledetto Giorno Di Fuoco" , Italy (original title)or "Damned Hot Day of Fire" USA title results to be an Italian/Spanish co-production directed by Paolo Bianchini with noisy action , intrigue and crossfire . Set during the American Civil War , there Richard Gatling (was an actual character who really existed) , ending his invention , which will completely change the course of the war, the machine gun called Gatlin . A North secret government commission interviews Gatlin to collect the gun in his house, in a small town in New Mexico . But there are two gunmen kill the commissioners, and kidnap the inventor and the machine gun . A few weeks later , Tanner (Robert Woods) an Union lieutenant unjustly accused of treason comes to town , by the issue of the gun , and by all means tries to know what happened in order to prove his innocence . He discovers that behind everything appears Tarpas (John Ireland) , a half-breed outlaw , who has the idea to sell the Gatlin machine gun to Northern government , and do the same with the Confederation , but selling it to the South.

"Gatling Gun" or "Machine Gun Killers" packs thrills , action , and lots of shots and gunplay . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes . However , there are numerous night scenes and a lousy cinematography ; adding bad situations and some turn of script that no one understands . Acceptable screenplay by José Luis Merino , Western's expert writer and filmmaker , though this theme about a ¨Machine Gun¨ has been treated in several films such as ¨Thompson 1880¨ (1968) by Guido Zurli , ¨Something Big" (1971) by Andrew V MacLagen , ¨The Gatling Gun¨ (1973) by Robert Gordon . Starring Robert Woods is cool as an Union officer accused as a traitor , he is fine as the hero of the story . Robert Woods is very nice , he ravages the screen, he jumps, leaps and bounds , hits and runs , besides receives violent punches , kicks and wounds . However , John Ireland steals the spectacle as a crazed psychopath , a local mestizo magnificently interpreted by this veteran Hollywood actor . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Robert Woods and John Ireland with some looks that say it all , including a thrilling ending using the relentless machine gun . It's an exciting SW with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Robert Woods and the hoodlums enemies as Gerard Herter -unforgettable nasty from ¨The hawk and the prey¨- , Ivan Scratuglia and George Rigaud . Furthermore, there appears usual secondaries of Italian/Spanish Western as Italian actors as the femmes fatal Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli , Claudia Lange , Ivan Scratuglia ; as well as Spanish players : Roberto Camardiel , Fernando Bilbao , Alfonso De La Vega and Jorge Rigaud . Badly photographed by Francisco Marin , being necessary a right remastering . Filmed on location in Aranjuez , Madrid , Colmenar Viejo, Madrid, La Pedriza and Feria del Campo, Madrid , Spain . Original Music by Piero Piccioni who composes a mediocre soundtrack . The movie was produced in low budget by Atlantida Films/Jose Frade productions that financed several Western during the 60s and early 70s such as ¨Cuatreros¨ , ¨Mestizo¨ , ¨Challenge of McKenna¨ , ¨The mercenary¨ , ¨Los Compañeros¨, ¨twenty dollars for seven¨ and ¨Saddle tramps¨ , among others.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Paolo Bianchini and he often used the pseudonym as Paul Maxwell. At this film he inclined toward violence and too much action . He made various ¨Spaghetti¨ such as Ehi Amigo... Sei Morto! , 1968 Lo Quiero Muerto , 1968 God Made Them... I Kill Them and ¨Spy genre¨ such as 1969 Devilman Story , 1968 Superargo, 1967 Hypnos Follia Di Un massacre , 1966 Il Gioco Delle Spie . Rating : 5 , average Western , though passable for some scenes typical Spaghetti .

This euro-western has an engaging storyline that involves historical figures, the American Civil War, political intrigue, government agents, and some detective work. If you like "Il Prezzo di Potere" (The Price of Power), you will probably like this movie.

The music score is not one of the great ones, but it is adequate and appropriate for a spaghetti western.

John Ireland is great as the greedy villain who tries to extort money from the North as well as the South by holding the inventor of the machine gun and his prototype weapon for ransom. This is the best performance I've seen from him in a spaghetti western. Robert Woods also does a great job here. He is almost as good in this film as he was in "Black Jack."

Euro-western fans should take notice. See this movie if you can find it!

"Gatling Gun", or as it's called on video, "Damned Hot Day of Fire", might also be known as "Strange on the Range." It is really a conglomeration of scenes that are supposed to tell a historical Civil War story, yet the gayety that surrounds the tale fails to elicit any war-like substance. In fact in the middle of the film, a rodeo suddenly appears out of nowhere, that seems totally out of place. Another aspect of the movie that is bizarre, are unrelated scenes that somehow are trying to convey a vague social message about racial injustice. Overly dark shootouts in a house and a cemetery, only further add to the frustration. Finally the jazzy musical score seems like it is from the wrong film. Overall a disappointment. MERK.

This film takes place during the American Civil War with several Pinkerton agents being assigned the task of escorting an inventor named "Richard Gatling" (Ennio Balbo) and his new type of machine gun from Las Cruses, New Mexico to Washington D. C. for mass distribution in the Union army. However, upon starting out both Mr. Gatling and his new weapon is seized by what they presume to be Rebel forces and all but one of the Pinkerton agents by the name of "Chris Tanner" (Robert Woods) is killed. So considering that only a handful of people were even aware of this mission Chris is subsequently court-martialed for treason and sentenced to death. Before that can happen, however, one of his superiors switches his identity to another prisoner and gives him 30 days to uncover what happened and bring either Richard Gatling or his new weapon back. What Chris doesn't know, however, is that one of the Pinkerton agents presumed to be killed is still alive and this presents a unique challenge to everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had an interesting premise but the director (Paolo Bianchini) seemed to lose his focus here and there which tended to lessen what could have been an excellent picture. On a similar note, while I liked having two attractive actresses like Evelyn Stewart (as "Belinda Boyd") and Claudia Lange ("Martha Simpson"), neither of them were used sufficiently enough to overcome the rather meandering plot and this movie suffered as a result. Be that as it may, although this film had its weaknesses here and there, it still managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Average.