3 Salopards, 1 poignée d'or

I normally love spaghetti westerns, but I have to admit that this one was kind of tough to sit through. It has an acceptable opening sequence, kind of comic in nature, and is followed by a weirdly comic (but infectious) opening credits song. However, just about all of what follows is done in a very serious tone. I could have lived with that change in tone had this seriousness been well done, but it really isn't. What follows is a rapid introduction of new characters and motivations that had me downright confused. It also didn't help that there is almost no action until the climatic sequence, which contributes heavily to the movie's main flaw of being extremely boring. Even if you are a fan of George Hilton, this is one pasta western that you'd be better off skipping.

Fake monk Hunt Powers travels around with a hollow wooden saint, filling it with stolen loot from elaborately staged bank robberies. Meanwhile, slacker George Hilton fistfights for fun and free drinks. When Powers' gang kills Hilton's sheriff brother and takes over the town, he's forced to take them on with help from Powers himself!

Things start off on a comedic note, before dramatically shifting to a darker, more violent tone, once the villains begin their standoff, then back to comedy in the last minute. It's tone is pretty uneven, to say the least.

On a whole though, there's plenty of action and suspense, with a few neat story touches here and there and some familiar European faces like Mario Brega and Erika Blanc.

You really can't go wrong with a western starring George Hilton. He has the right spirit, charisma, timing, and physicality to make just about anything he's in worth watching.

"The Greatest Robbery in the Weat", the real translation of the title, is solid entertainment. George Hilton is in top form, doing what only George Hilton could do. It's kind of a textbook example of what a spag should be: lots of action, more than a little offbeat, occasionally brutal and a touch of humor for good measure. Lots of familiar faces from the genre, too.

A gang under Jarret (Walter Barnes) robs a bank and is helped by Santo, a monk. After the robbery they wait for the native Indio who is supposed to lead them through the desert to Mexico. Santo who has his own plans kills Indio so that the bandits can't leave the town. That's the end of the plot and more or less the start of the film. Now the bad guys mostly kill each other with the exception of those killed by Billy (George Hilton) who is the brother of the killed sheriff and imprisoned for drinking. Hilton and Betts aren't bad but the rest of the cast hardly deserves to be mentioned. The muddle that is going on once on a while shifts into comedic waters which are soon left again.

Score is mediocre, sets are average at best. The really many bonus scenes on the DVD are symptom of heavy editing. It seems that every country got a slightly different version. The German DVD is acceptable for the low price.

4 / 10 (reviewed for the sake to have a review)