Bandidos

This is really worth watching: Excellent cast (pity Salerno and Venantini didn't do more Western), good story, turns and twists, fine camera work (no wonder: Dallamano has control). Brilliant opening scene. Highly recommended.

The film starts with a train robbery where all but one passengers are killed. The rest of the film consists in a complex plot where basically the many bandits all kill each other. The 2 honest heroes who have a buddy relationship hardly contribute to the body count. All the leading actors give a good performance, specially Salerno playing the resentful Martin. Cinematography is good but not outstanding and the sets are often quite detailed. On the downside there is the lack of a real focus and too many senseless killings. Finally even bandits need some honest people to steal from. If you want you can call that nihilism as well.

Certainly above average Spaghetti Western. The German budget DVD could have a better image quality.

6 / 10

This film starts with a classic sequence in which a train is held up by Billy Kane (Venantini) and his bandits. All the passengers are brutally massacred because, as Kane rightly states, if you don't want your face on any reward posters, you don't leave any witnesses. There is one survivor however - Richard Martin (Salerno) - a renowned fast gunslinger who attempts to take on the gang singlehandedly. There is previous history between the gunmen, and to remove the threat Kane shoots and cripples both of Martin's hands, ending his gunslinging days for good.

Years pass, and Martin is now travelling from town to town, hosting a gunslinger show. Fate brings him face to face with escaped convict Ricky Shot (Jenkins) who he takes under his wing, passing on his prowess with a gun, with the aim of using the young hotshot to gain his revenge on Kane. As it happens, Ricky Shot has his own motive for facing Kane, as we find out as the story unfolds.

Bandidos is a classic spaghetti western in the revenge sphere. Whilst the cast features none of the usual spaghetti stalwarts that we know and love, it is well casted, particularly Salerno in the part of Martin. It is also superbly directed by Dallamano, a man better known for his thrillers.

The film contains some superbly tense gunfights, matched with a decent soundtrack. The story is at all times riveting, making Bandidos a highly recommended film for all lovers of Italian westerns, and maybe a few more besides.

Although very obscure and unsung, this is truly one of the best spaghetti westerns I ever saw! Massimo Dallamano's "Bandidos" has a good and compelling plot, albeit working from familiar western themes like blood vengeance and dueling gunmen, and most of all, it's unrelenting, mean-spirited, vile and extremely violent! First, a word of advice that I sadly must mention in too many of my user-comments: do not read the plot synopsis that is described here on the website! You are not supposed to know from beforehand who the protagonists of the story are and what connects them! The synopsis bluntly gives away why the three lead characters (Richard Martin, Billy Kane and Ricky Shot) hate each other's guts, but only in the final act of the film the pieces of the puzzle fit neatly together.

Everything obviously revolves around the extremely bloody train raid at the beginning. This is undoubtedly one of the cruelest massacres in western history! Relentless gangster Billy Kane and his fierce gang rob a driving train, steal all the passengers' belongings and then nihilistically execute everyone on board. Well, everyone except one, the meticulously sharp-shooting Richard Martin, whom Billy Kane clearly knows from a previous life. Kane shoots holes in both of Martin's hands, though, so that he can never operate a pistol again. Years later, Martin desperately tries to make a living out of training young gunslingers into masterful shootists and perform live-acts at town squares. His pupils keep getting killed by jesters, however, but then he meets a handsome and mysterious young stranger. Martin's intention is clearly to train his new pupil to be capable of murdering Billy Kane for him, but the clever Ricky Shot has his own secretive reasons for wanting to confront Kane.

"Bandidos" certainly hasn't stolen its title! It's full of loathsome, egocentric, double-crossing and furious men whose lives aren't worth more than the price of the bullets that kill them. The three relatively unknown lead actors give away terrific performances and Dallamano's direction is downright stupendous. I don't know what it was about this man, but practically every genre that he touched turned into gold! His "What have you done to Solange?" is my all-time favorite giallo (and I've seen more than 120 of those) and his "Colt .38 Special Squad" is one of the better Poliziotesschi thrillers out there. With "Bandidos", he also nailed the Spaghetti Western genre! As I watched the film in its original version, my sole complaint is that the characters' names sound ridiculous when pronounced in Italian.

This first movie by Dellamano is an above average western flick, stylishly photographed. Dellamano would go on to later make a name for himself in the giallo(police procedural/thriller) genre. This movie shows off the great character interaction, and memorable shots that would go on to become his trademark. a recommended movie.