Le rescapé de la vallée de la mort

Towards the end of the Italian western wave, ca. 1972-74, the movies tried either to be comedies or particularly violent. "Mi chiamavano Requiescat, ma avevano sbagliato" is an example for the latter, including bloody killings (for example with a fork through the throat) and torture with a branding iron. Madison (Alan Steel of 'Hercules' fame) has his right hand crippled by the bandit Machedo (William Berger). Madison decides to become an avenger, so he buys a black coat, black boots, a black hat and a black horse for the right look. For two years, he follows Machedo's gang, waiting the perfect time to strike. This opportunity comes when he can hide gold from a bank robbery. Madison knows this will attract Machedo, but the most interesting question of the movie is: how can he shoot him, because he can't use his right hand?

Alan Steel remains expressionless, while Berger is overacting. Not much to be seen of a director's style (Bianchi continued his career directing adult movies!) and the music is somewhat too modern for a western. The buildings of the western town have seen better times and are almost falling to pieces. A very, very cheap production scraping the bottom of the barrel. Worth a look for fans of William Berger, maybe, as he plays a really mean villain.

Alan Steel, a former Hercules star (HERCULES AGAINST THE MOONMEN), excels in this violent tale of revenge. Robbers rob a bank and then Alan Steel grabs their gold and arranges for them to find him so he can kill them. Previously the gang had tortured Alan, so he now has a "just" cause to go after them. Unfortunately. He gets captured several times which is kinda dumb. There are 2 versions on Y/T but both are missing several key scenes such as Torture and toplessness. I have posted a short clip on Y/T with those missing scenes so you can see the complete movie. Larry Anderson.

I found this movie on YouTube of all places. I had never heard of it, and usually when the genre is spaghetti westerns that's a poor start but not this time. The spaghetti westerns of the 70s were a totally different affair than those of the 60s. Usually the films followed one of two paths: silly comedies such as the Trinity movie with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer or ultra violent, like Cutthroats Nine. This is closer to the latter category but honestly feels more like a late 60s effort from Corbucci or Garrone with a little more violence. The cast - especially the always dependable William Berger - is up to snuff and the overall production is above average. This is a lost/forgotten gem of a spaghetti western that deserves to be seen.

This movie was made in 1972, but seems more like it came from the mid to late 60's when spaghetti westerns generally had a more serious tone.

It is a typical but very good revenge tale about an ex-union officer whose hand was crippled by an ex-confederate who leads a band of guerrillas who continue to terrorize people after the war is over. It's fun to watch as the now clad-in-black hero seems to come back from the dead, and hunts down and kills his enemies one by one.

Sergio Ciani plays the protagonist in a performance that is horrible even by spaghetti western standards. In all fairness though, there may be another person dubbing his voice who can be blamed in whole or in part for the wooden performance. I don't know, but it's pretty bad. Fortunately, William Berger makes up for it. He is excellent in the role of Machedo, the leader of the confederate gang. This is definitely Berger's movie. It's probably the best performance I've seen from him.

The music score by Ferrio is also very good.

If you are into Euro-westerns, this ones worth checking out.

Firearms used during the filming of this movie are of the highest end of the scale the villen manages to fire 21 shots from his six gun at the conclusion of the film the Cavalry are so ahead of their time that they have winchsters when only single shot carbines were available, having said that this is a brutal violent western with lots of blood,sweat and glaring at each other it is hansomely filmed even the Eastman Cloour is exceptable in fact if you like Spaghetti westerns with some grunt this ones for you Alan Steel has a change of outfits trading in his Pirate outfits and Togas for the blue of the Union army. Don't pass this one up enjoy Al Watts