As Petroleiras

Goofy and entertaining tongue-in-cheek European Western about bands of female outlaws led by two sexpots : B.B and C.C . Funny but mediocre film with tame action , struggles, and shootouts by the veteran Christian Jaque in frank decadence . The film starts with such a train robbery by Frenchie and his gang who actually are Marie Sarrazin (Claudia Cardinale showing cleavage and singing an enjoyable song ) and her four brothers disguised as men in black . Meantime , Louise (gorgeous Brigitte Bardot who also played a better Western : ¨Viva Maria¨ by Louis Malle) and her four sisters ( various Eurotrash girls as Teresa Gimpera , Emma Cohen and Patty Shepard) inherit from their parents a valuable propriety and decide to go the ranch for a while. There is oil on the lands and the neighboring rancher (Claudia Cardinale) wants to take them out. Later on , there takes places a series of disputes and fights between the two leaders in encounter the propriety . Meanwhile , a botcher sheriff (Michael J. Pollard ) meddles on the issues of the outlaws .

This is a muddle and regular Spanish-Italian-French co-production Western in Trinity and Bambino style with an appropriately goofy tone , customary issue in this sub-genre . The film has brief action, fun , brawls , light-weight comedy , cat-fight, shootouts and surprise-filled entertainment . The picture contains funny gun-play along with fist-fight very much in the Trinity's Terence Hill/Bud Spencer territory . The picture displays crazy characters with silly plot and some amusing moments here and there . It does eventually outstay its welcome, and there are a surprising amount of embarrassing fights and laughters . The pictures results to be a crossover between ¨Morris's brothers Dalton¨ , ¨Hill-Spencer¨ movies and ¨Seven brides for seven brothers ¨ , regarding the romantic pairing off of the four sisters and the four brothers . Michael J. Pollard -still recent his successful support role in Bonny and Clyde- steals the show with his gestures , faces and excesses as bungler marshal . It certainly has an enthusiastic cast , as there appears usual Spanish secondary actors as Antonio Casas , Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez , Chris Huerta , ApocalypJose Maria Caffarel , Luis Induni , Maria Vico, Miguel Del Castillo , Manuel Zarzo and several others. A really catching score musical with lively leitmotif by Christian Gaubert . Atmospheric cinematography filmed in Madrid surroundings , Manzanares Del Real and of course Almeria , desert of Tabernas , Spain . Silly screenplay with ridiculous situations written by the usual , also producer Eduardo Manzanos Brochero ( he produced several Western as ¨Apocalypse Joe , Danger Pass , Winchester one among thousand , Arrival Sartana , Djanjo the condemned ¨) . Good ambiance design and acceptable production design by Cubero and Galicia , both of whom created lots of sets in several Western filmed in the 60s and 70s. However , the photography is washed-out and for that reason is necessary an urgent remastering . This is a bewildering story , funny in some moment but falls flat and it will appeal to poor Spaghetti Western fans . It's a below average film , but still better than a lot of the ulterior spaghetti western comedies to come . If you enjoy to laugh at absurd movies , then this one is for you .

Two sexy superstar actresses in a cowgirl/cowboy western, with the erotic overtones an Italian film will add. Brigitte Bardot is the train robber, accompanied by her gang of attractive women in this female-dominated movie. Set in a "French" western city in the U.S. Combined with the sexiness is a very humorous, entertaining storyline about rivalry for an oil ranch, as the sexual tension between the two leading actresses (who are rivals) and a goofy sheriff is complemented and eventually superseded by the tension between Brigitte's gang of lovelies and Claudia's supporting brothers (which eventually certainly is not tension). A fabulous must-see, with a wonderful catfight, and women should enjoy it as much as men.

After the first half of the sixties,Christian-Jaque 's talent began to deteriorate .It was extraordinary he fell so quickly and so low after the brilliant works of the thirties ,forties ,fifties and even early sixties.

Probably made to capitalize on the success of Louis Malle's "Viva Maria" where BB met Jeanne Moreau in 1965, "Le petroleuses" is a slapstick comedy where two gorgeous cowgirls fight for an oilfield. In her memoirs,BB remembers she could not ride a horse,and she was terrified each time she had to get back into the saddle.Her screams (Mama!Mama!) used to make CC laugh until she cried.She did not like the film.I didn't either.

Claudia Cardinale is in my dreamy Top Ten. Cardinale does not disappoint in "The Legend of Frenchie King". Brigitte Bardot is also no slouch. Bardot's all girl gang fills out the rest of the card. Throw in Michael J. Pollard as the marshall and you have all the makings of an enjoyable spaghetti western. "The Legend of Frenchie King" is enjoyable all the way as it builds to the greatest catfight in spaghetti western history. But I have to admit, the dubbing in this movie is ridiculous. They didn't even try to match it up to the lips. I'm guessing they figured nobody would by looking at their lips anyway so why bother. They weren't wrong.

This film begins with five female marauders led by a mysterious bandit known as "Frenchie King" (Brigitte Bardot) robbing a train and then riding off with the loot. The scene then shifts to a family of five ranchers led by a woman named "Miss Maria Sarrazin" (Claudia Cardinale) riding into town to acquire some Christmas packages which were due to arrive on that same train. However, when the train doesn't stop at the town like it's supposed to, Maria and her four brothers ride out to catch it. Although they recover their packages from the train, they also accidentally acquire a secret map detailing where a large deposit of oil is located. As it so happens, however, Frenchie King and her four sisters get the title for that very same land, and so the destinies of both Frenchie King and her gang, along with Maria and her brothers, are strangely intertwined. To further add to the confusion the "town marshal" (played by Michael J. Pollard) is not only deeply in love with Maria but also becomes highly suspicious of "Mademoiselle Louisa" (as one of the many names Frenchie King uses) and sets out to investigate all of the strange things going on in his jurisdiction. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will say that the main attribute of this film is the casting of Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, who were both international sex symbols during this time. There were also a few other beautiful women in supporting roles as well. On the flip side, however, as a Western, this film didn't quite have the same quality as many others in the genre, and a major reason could be the fact that it was intended more for European audiences. In any case, while it wasn't a bad movie for the most part, I thought it should have been much better, and for that reason, I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.