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Directed by one time film critic Carlo Lizzani, "The Hills Run Red" is a welcome addition to anyone's spaghetti western collection.

The film begins with ex-confederates Jerry Brewster (Thomas Hunter) and Ken Seagall (Nando Gazzalo) fleeing by stagecoach from soldiers following a successful heist. They agree that the only chance for escape is if one of the partners bails out with the cash. To decide who should get away the two draw cards, with Brewster the unlucky loser. Seagall promises to look after Brewster's family before leaping from the stagecoach. He successfully hides with the money, whilst Brewster is captured and imprisoned for five years.

On his release, Brewster returns to his now derelict family home. He finds a diary from his wife, and learns that she has been living in poverty during his absence, struggling to bring up their son alone. Seagall had shunned them, keeping the money himself and starting a new life under the name Ken Milton.

Brewster screams out his intention for revenge, and is soon faced by gun-hands sent by Seagall. Luckily for him, an ageing gunman Winny Getz (Dan Duryea) is on hand to help out - a mysterious character that is never fully explained (although some assumptions can be made that I won't spoil here!) but acts as Brewster's "guardian angel" throughout the film.

Learning that his wife has died and his son is missing, Brewster decides to settle his score with Seagall. On beginning his search he discovers that Seagall is attempting to drive out the local inhabitants of Austin, and in particular the leading light and saloon owner Brian Homer (Geoffrey Copleston). Aided by the demented Garcia Mendez (Henry Silva) and his gang. To confront Seagall and get his revenge, Brewster is forced to infiltrate the gang.

"The Hills Run Red" certainly has some interesting characters. Silva plays Mendez as a black clad demented psychopath. Hunter's lead role is not too far behind in the madness stakes (presumably bought on by that five years stretch, which appeared quite a gruelling and cruel imprisonment). Lets just say that both have some serious issues!! Of the two, Silva is particularly convincing, and his is the stand-out performance of the film. Hunter meanwhile could be accused of over acting at times here, although it is still an enjoyable display. Duryea's portrayal of the mysterious Getz also merits much applause.

The love interest is provided by Nicoletta Machiavelli as Seagall's sister Mary-Ann. Constantly having to dismiss advances from Mendez, her attraction to Brewster is immediate.

Music is courtesy of one Leo Nichols (better known as Ennio Morricone to you and I). In truth it is not one of his better scores, but still adds great atmosphere to the film, as one would expect from the master. It just does not have anything to make it unique, and is not as memorable as his more heralded efforts.

All in all "The Hills Run Red" makes for a great viewing. At times it can be quite brutal (such as the saloon massacre). And how I winced as Brewster's tattoo is cut from his arm whilst he is awake! But it is a gripping story, well directed and well worth watching.

Jerry Brewster (Thomas Hunter) and Ken Seagull (Nando Gazzolo) are two ex-Confederates who've successfully stolen some of the governments' money. Realizing that only one of them can make good his escape, they draw cards, and Ken, having drawn the higher card, is allowed to bail out with the money. Jerry is captured by Union forces and imprisoned for five years. Unfortunately, he learns after being released that his wife died poor because Ken hogged all the money for himself. And now Ken is a bigshot in the small community of Austin. It's a given that Jerry is going to be ripe for revenge...

"The Hills Run Red", as directed by former critic Carlo Lizzani, is no great shakes, but offers a decent amount of entertainment. Its pace is acceptable, its photography nicely done, and its action reasonably rousing. Using the pseudonym of "Leo Nichols", Ennio Morricone composes the score; it's definitely one of his lesser efforts, but even so, lesser Morricone is still pretty good. The songs are certainly sung with passion. The script by Piero Regnoli is mostly straightforward, but it's got one interesting detail up its sleeve: the character of Colonel Winny Getz, played engagingly by genre veteran Dan Duryea. You're never quite sure what this guy's deal is until the end.

The acting is variable. Some members of the cast come off fairly well, such as the beautiful ladies Nicoletta Machiavelli and Gianna Serra, Gazzolo as the understated villain, and Geoffrey Copleston as saloon owner Brian Horner. Hunter delivers a performance that is amusingly over the top at certain points. But the most entertaining acting to watch is courtesy of a hilariously hammy Henry Silva, playing Seagulls' minion Garcia Mendez. There's nothing subtle about this guy; even his wardrobe is all black.

"The Hills Run Red" kills time easily enough for those who are devotees of the Spaghetti Western genre.

Six out of 10.

Imagine you have all these ingredients to make a dish. You can do it one way or another but at the end you have to end up with a good meal.

Viewing this movie, for me, was like following a recipe where the instructions we're all mix-up in some weird order.

You have all this elements for a Western. A clear protagonist with motivation and a villian who took advantage of him, the little town in trouble, the cheeky partner, the goon with radical methods and, of course, action (Fist fights, gun fights, showdowns,you name it.). But all this are executed in a weird, poorly and mishandle way. Not all is bad, some plot points and action scenes we're well executed with some shots that can be appreciated.

Thomas Hunter did a decent job as the protagonist but he had two moods, angry or calm. He could've make a better job, like Dan Duryea who's role i believe was misuse. Henry Silva, in another hand, steals the movie. Charismatic, hammy and funny, i ending up rooting for him for all the movie.

Personally, it was a decent view. Nothing great but entertaining nonetheless. Do you like westerns and want to see this? Go for it, I hope you end up appreciating this movie more than me. First western? Look for another title, the're better westerns out there.

I started watching this and thought oh, lord, another howler with every hokey cliché inherent to bad spaghetti westerns. Midway when we see the stunt men grabbing their bellies from feigned gut shots and doing the railing flip to land on their backs on balsa wood saloon tables, one has to wonder if there could be any other way to do it. However the story does develop to reveal some depth to both characters and plot. The clichés endure so don't expect any surprises by the time it's over, but enjoy this period piece as the simple story it was meant to be with a few standouts in the supporting cast roles, if not the lead. There are some memorable items in the soundtrack and the location work cinematography could be called exemplary. The credits state it's a Dino De Laurentis production with much of the shooting done in Rome, which does contradict some of the IMDb data, FWIW. All in all it's the kind of tale that Hollywood had so tired of by the mid sixties they'd have sent it up as a comedy romp with an all star cast cracking one liners- but with admirable humility the spaghetti western production crew delivered this with straight faced sincerity, as if they still believed in what they were doing. Considering that I give it 7 not 6 stars.

This is an unusually-structured western, but a very satisfying one. TCM played a nice letterboxed print of this, and it was a surprisingly-engrossing revenge drama. Some unexpected violence in the several shoot-outs made this more brutal than usual for a mid-sixties western.