Les quatre mercenaires d'El Paso

Is it just me, or does James Mason wear a guilty look upon his face throughout this film, almost as if he's aware that he's wasting his talent in a sub standard cheapo? Bad Man's River is a bad film, but what makes it even more unforgivable is that a lot of classy stars were mysteriously persuaded to appear in it.

It's an eccentric paella western about various outlaws and swindlers trying to steal cash from the Mexican government. Mason was once quoted as saying that he made it for fun and money, never thinking that it would get a release in England, but much to his horror and dismay it was picked up by Rank and got cinematic distribution.

The film isn't as funny as it thinks it is and is made doubly irritating by frequent freeze frame shots (why were so many 70s films obsessed with the freeze frame gimmick?) and pantomime style music. It's a unique film, with a bizarre and unconventional flavour all of its own, but don't take that as a recommendation. The only thing I would recommend about this film is that you don't see it!

But for the horrible completely out of place soundtrack. Just ruins the mood and feel for an otherwise decent movie with the great LVC! Worst. Soundtrack. Ever.

Lovable rogue Lee Van Cleef steals from banks and blows things up for a living. He and his gang are hired by James Mason to explode an Army munitions stockpile in Mexico, using a luxury riverboat as a base of operations, only to be pulled into a bigger scheme that digs them even deeper into the revolution.

Like most of the Mexican Revolution spaghetti westerns (A Bullet For The General being one exception), this is an acquired taste. Production values are a little iffy and it does run out of steam a bit near the end. On the whole though, there's certainly a lot of action and adventure to make up for it's shortcomings.

A Spanish-made, but American-produced minor addition to the genre, this benefits from the participation of Hollywood veterans Philip Yordan and Bernard Gordon, as well as Van Cleef, Mason, and a few familiar European favorites like Aldo Sambrell, Eduardo Fajardo, Gianni Garko, Diana Lorys, and the beautiful Gina Lollabrigida.

An oddball soundtrack goes from really dated vocal-quartets, to early-seventies style hard rock, with a marching band in-between!

Recommended mainly for Van Cleef fanatics.

Not really a spaghetti western; as well as Italy it was financed by Spain and France. It's meant to be a comedy western, MEANT to be; it has a handful of funny lines and a bizarre accent from James Mason. It's a complete mystery to me why he and Lee Van Cleef bothered to appear in this. Put simply, the film is boring - the characters are cardboard and the actors look like they'd be having more fun watching paint dry. The plot is clichéd and contrived, and difficult to follow. The freeze-frames at the beginning are just plain stupid. Beautiful as Gina Lollobrigida is, she just can't carry the film alone. Eugenio Martin really hasn't got an excuse for rearing such a turkey here, as the following year, he [the director] went on to make the far superior horror classic "Horror Express".

And now, the plot: Roy King (Van Cleef) and his bank-robbing gang get caught up in a plan by his ex-wife and her new husband (James Mason) to steal $1 million from the Mexican government. But the group are captured and sent to a rebel stronghold. Besieged and under fire from the Mexican army, the rebel general is forced to offer King and his gang freedom if they can pull the rebel side through. And I only know that basic outline 'cause it's given in a slightly more in depth form on the packaging...

Like I say, "Bad Man's River" is unquestionably awful. It's simply not even worth seeing as a curiosity piece. I bought it in a 2 for £10 sale and now consider that to have been a waste of money. Some people say that for the sake of top billing, Lee Van Cleef appeared in some real stinkers. This time, I'm inclined to agree.

Lee Van Cleef, typically amusing, is cast as bandit Roy King, leader of a gang that also includes Angel Santos (Simon Andreu), Ed Pace (Gianni Garko), and Tom Odie (Jess Hahn). Roy makes the acquaintance of the devilish Alicia (Gina Lollobrigida), who's hatched a scheme with her fellow criminal Francisco Paco Montero to dupe the Mexican government out of a cool $1 million. But before that can happen, they fall into the clutches of revolutionaries (this tale takes place during the Mexican Revolution) and are forced to deal with them.

As written by director Eugenio Martin ("Horror Express") and Hollywood veteran Philip Yordan ("Johnny Guitar", "El Cid"), this is a rather lightweight, forgettable Euro Western- comedy. While it's always nice to see the leading actors in anything, they've certainly been better utilized before and after. In the beginning, the movie is decidedly annoying, with too many dopey songs and Martin overdoing it on use of freeze frames. While it's appreciable that Martin and Yordan were going for irreverence, they make things just a little too silly.

Adequate action sequences help, and the filmmaking is technically fairly slick. There are some fun gags, especially right at the start when two men are inside a bank vault.

Lollobrigida and her co-star Diana Lorys are fine scenery attractions, and the former plays such a conniving character that she helps to keep things interesting. The movie doesn't really hit its stride until James Mason shows up. (For fans of the actor, be warned that almost an hour is over until he does.) It's a treat to see him in this kind of setting, and he gives the story a real shot in the arm.

The exemplary cast of familiar faces also includes Aldo Sambrell, Lone Fleming, Eduardo Fajardo, and Sergio Fantoni.

Admittedly, if one is looking for a Lee Van Cleef fix, they could do a lot better than this, but "Bad Man's River" delivers some undemanding fun for 92 minutes.

Six out of 10.