Uma Cidade Chamada Bastardo

This offbeat film starts with a violent attack on a town by a revolutionary group , they murder a priest and his Christian followers . Later on , the leader (Robert Shaw) appears like a boozy-addicted priest in the town called Bastarda . There arrives on a hearse , a beautiful woman named Alvira (Stella Stevens) suited in black and lying into a coffin , the carriage is driven by a strange deaf-mute gunfighter named Espectro (Dudley Shutton) . The widower attempts the revenge from her husband's murderer named Aguila and offers to Carlos (Telly Savalas) , a violent ruler , a reward if he hands over her the killer . Then , the town is invaded by the Mexican army ruled by a cruel colonel (Martin Landau) , he also intents to encounter Aguila and threatens to hang and shoot inhabitants , unless he's delivered . Meanwhile , it is narrated a rare flashback with Paco (Michael Craig) in some sequences of hall dance and catching music , being pursued by the revolutionary character (Robert Shaw), posteriorly become priest .

The film contains Western action , shootouts , tortures , disturbing characters and lots of violence with strong hanging . It's developed on impressive sets , an enormous and old ruined fortress-town . Good performance by Robert Shaw as priest with a dark past , Martin Landau as a ruthless colonel , a mysterious Stella Stevens with a strange flashback like a vampire dreamed by the priest and Telly Savalas at a cynic and violent characterization , promptly finished for execution by one of his own henchmen , Al Lettieri . The movie gets usual Spaghetti Western elements , as greedy antiheroes , violent facing with revenger roles , quick Zooms and excessive close-up . Besides , appearing in secondary roles , habitual in Italian western genre , thus : Fernando Rey as the old blind man , Aldo Sambrell (Sergio Leone's ordinary) , Tito Garcia , Cris Huerta , Antonio Mayans , among others . Inclusively the starring Telly Savalas , though in a short-role , played various spaghetti (Pancho Villa , A reason to live a reason to die , Land raiders , Criminal story of an outlaw couple) . Colorful cinematography by Manuel Berenguer , he's a customary cameraman of US productions filmed in Spain (King of kings , Son of gunfighter , Pyro , Krakatoa). Cheesy and inappropriate musical score by Waldo Rios , he composed fine soundtracks (Murders in Rue Morgue , Bad man's river , Island of damned) until his early dead , but he committed suicide . The motion picture was regularly (it contains some cuts , flaws and gaps) directed by Robert Parrish . He was an Academy Award winning , film editor , won an Academy Award for ¨Body and soul (1947) and directed numerous films of all kind of genres , Sci-Fi (Doppelganger) , Western (Saddle the wind , The wonderful county) , action comedy (Casino Royale) and warlike (his main success : Purple plain with Gregory Peck) .

I'm not going to write a synopsis for this movie because

1 ) Unlike many reviewers I don't normally write a synopsis

2 ) I'd have to understand a movie in the first place

The problem with A TOWN CALLED HELL is that lot of things happen but none of them seem to tie in with the plot . The film opens with a bunch of Mexican revolutionaries attacking a town in 1895 then the story jumps forward to the same location ten years later where the revolutionary leader is now a priest and someone who the audience has no knowledge of rules the town in a similar manner to Mr Kurtz in HEART OF DARKNESS . A woman arrives offering a bounty for the body of the man who killed her husband . Other things happen that make little sense and the story is made even difficult to follow by characters continually appearing and disappearing . For example did Don Carlos live or die ? Your guess is as good as mine . We are also shown a lengthy flashback sequence and it only becomes obvious that it's a flashback after the fact

This is a badly developed , badly edited and confusing movie but not one that is unwatchable . Indeed it's a fairly entertaining movie if you can stomach the sadistic attitude and what a lesser film this would have been without Telly Savalas executing everyone who gets in his way with the most memorable sequence being the hanging scene . Just a pity we never find out his fate for certain . Also of worthy note is the sentry getting killed via barbed wire and LOVEJOY's side kick revealing himself to be a mean assassin . Does this all sound very silly ? Of course but it's also entertaining in a morbid sense

As a footnote this movie was often screened on British television under the title A TOWN CALLED BASTARD and the town is referred on screen as " Bastardo " so that title would be more accurate but I guess TV companies get a lot of complaints and now call it A TOWN CALLED HELL to save on the switchboard staff

Robert Shaw, Martin Landau, Stella Stevens and Telly Savalas star in this spaghetti western mystery drama about a Mexican-revolutionary- turned priest (Shaw) who becomes haunted by his past when a mysterious vengeful white woman (Stevens) arrives in the isolated desert town he is residing in. The woman has returned to seek revenge against her husband's killer years ago, and for reasons unexplained, she knows that he must be in town. Savalas plays Don Carlos, a sadistic town bandit leader who gets in the widow's way as he tries to threaten her stay in the town. Matters become complicated when the Colonel (Landau), Shaw's revolutionary comrade now a military officer, and his men, returns to the town to search for a fugitive named Aguila – the same man wanted by the mysterious widow. Who is this mysterious Aguila? Will the widow get her revenge? What will happen to the townsfolk, who have been terrorized for years by Don Carlos and his henchmen? And what will happen to the Priest?

A Town Called Hell is a slow-paced but quite interesting spaghetti western. Some subplots are not resolved, which leave viewers scratching their heads, like what happened to Don Carlos? What made Shaw become a priest and live in the same town where he ruthlessly killed the town priest? Who is the real Aguila? Despite these unanswered questions, the film is still worth a look especially if you like Shaw, Landau, and Savalas.

That's the question viewers continually ask themselves while watching A Town Called Hell.

Mexican Colonel Martin Landau wants Aguila captured, while former revolutionary Robert Shaw, now a priest knows what Aguila looks like but he's not telling and Stella Stevens thinks Aguila may have murdered her husband (when not lying in a coffin, pretending to be a corpse!), offering twenty thousand dollars to the person who points him out.

Macho posturing, a great all-star cast including Telly Savalas as the towns sleazy mayor, and strong visuals are all wasted on a confusing script and bad editing in this wannabe spaghetti western made by British filmmakers in Spain and set during the Mexican Revolution.

Everything's cleared up in the film's weird final scene, but by that time the viewer is so mentally exhausted as to no longer care! However, I'll grudgingly recommend this strictly for the action sequences and an odd dance-hall scene featuring a soundalike cover version of Johnny Horton's hit song "The Battle Of New Orleans", featuring a few verses I've never heard before!

There really is no substitute for a Sergio Leone to make this style of film work properly, and even "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" could have bombed out badly if there had been any uncertainty about the direction and editing.

That seems to be the problem with "A town called Bastard". The theme has great potential, and the cast are just the ticket for the job. The locations and sets are pretty good and much of the camera work is impressive. However, it somehow just doesn't seem to integrate as it should. Too many loose ends maybe.

Leone would have been more diligent about making sure the audience knew in what direction the film was heading, even if the destination was not revealed until the very last scene.

Parts of the film are quite memorable and it does help to watch it at least three times; but the point is that you shouldn't have to if the director is doing his job properly. Robert Shaw and Martin Landau play their parts faultlessly and at least the director gives these masters of their craft a free hand to develop their characters; but good acting alone doesn't make a successful film.

Overall a disappointment but still good to view again from time to time. Could be well worth a remake to get it right. Maybe Tarantino could do something with it ?

R. B.