Regular Pasta Western , this Massacro al Grande Canyon (1965) stars a fine cast as James Mitchum , George Ardisson, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Jill Powers, Eduardo Ciannelli and Andrea Giordana . This is a story of vengeance and love in which Wes Evans (James Mitchum) returns to his local town and becomes involved into a lot of problem . At the beginning he is already involved in a crossfire among rival factions : the Dancer , the Mason and Whitmore clans , the reason for some disputed lands . After a search for his dad's killers, he supports the local sheriff (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) to keep peace and order . While Wes attempts to make peace among old warring cattle barons trying to take over the whole land but then the son (Andrea Giordana) of a powerful owner (Eduardo Ciannelli) is taken as a hostage and another son (George Ardisson) seeks for revenge .
Italian made spaghetti that contains thrills , action , violence , lots of gratuitous gunplay and bloody conflicts. The picture with no much plot displays usual elements about land confrontation , following more the classical American wake than the recent Sergio Leone style that started in ¨Fistful of dollars¨ . There is action enough in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts and fights but it doesn't have a high body count , as there wasn't any one-sided slaughter, or massacre as the film title announces . This Spaghetti was filmed in 1964 , a notorious year in the development of European western that almost doubled since former year with movies mostly filmed in Spain and Italy . This is a thrilling western with breathtaking crossfire and showdown between the starring and his enemies along the rocky Croatian mountains and at the little town , they are the higlights of the movie and adding the moving ending in which the son -Andrea Giordana- of the wealthy owner is about to be hanged. James Mitchum provides an ordinary interpretation as the young gunslinger who goes back home only to find himself involved in a bloody land dispute. Like father like son : Robert/James Mitchum , as James gives a similar style of acting , as both of whom are often described as laid back , slow-talking and laconic actors . He's a spitting image of his dad , a real doppelganger , bearing remarkable resemblance -as physical as acting- to his famous father. Great to watch notorious secondaries from Spaghetti Western and other Italian genres as Giacomo Rossi Stuart , Andrea Giordana, Ferdinando Poggi , Benito Stefanelli and George Ardisson . And in a smaller part that you'd expected from his billing , the always excellent Eduardo Ciannelli ; in one of his last films . Atmospheric cinematography in EastmanColor by Enzo Barboni in scope, 35mm , shot on location , Grobnicko polje, Croatia and Trieste , Italy , though nor Almeria .
Sergio Corbucci direction - under pseudonym Stanley Corbett- is middling ; after that , he would make several Spaghetti classics : ¨The great silence¨, ¨Compañeros¨ and ¨the Mercenary¨ and other considerable Westerns : ¨Hellbenders¨, ¨Far west story¨ , ¨Johnny Oro¨ and ¨Navajo Joe¨. A veteran filmmaker, co-director Albert Band was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors who started his career in the early 50s. He began financing a number of motion pictures through the seventies and eighties and helped his son, Charles Band, bring together his own production company, 'Empire Pictures', in the early eighties. Upon the collapse of Empire Pictures in the early nineties, Band continued to work with his son and help bring a number of low-budget and medium budget films to the Hollywood screen and direct to video releases. Band directed some Western such as ¨She came to the Valley¨, ¨Massacre at Grand Canyon¨, ¨The Young Guns¨ and this ¨The Tramplers ¨ at his best ; furthermore , he made terror , action and of all kind of genres . Rating : 4.5/10 mediocre.
