Il était une fois à El Paso

Oh sure, as far as film goes, it's awful. But if you adore Italian produced spaghetti westerns as much as I do Roberto Montero's THUNDER OVER EL PASO (as the version I saw was titled) is pretty much everything fans of Italo Westerns watch them for. Cynical anti-heroes, offbeat locations, low-rent production values, atmospheric photography, some pretty Euro damsels ready to hop in bed with the lead actor and a healthy, bone crunching quota of violence ruthlessly dished out. Plus a compelling little musical score, this one an upbeat harmonica led folker by Carlo Savina.

Polizichetti tough guy actor Antonio Sabato joins forces with Chris Avram as a pair of surprisingly vicious black hat heroes who go after a big greasy pistolero boss and his gang of cutthroats who nabbed $200,000 in gold bars. So much for the plot; The rest of the movie is an enjoyable if forgettable mish-mash of shootings, beatings, knife throwing, jail breaks, showdowns, plots, counter-plots and a few minutes cozying up with jaw droppingly beautiful Pilar Velazquez. Her pickup line "I'm 18 and I know what I like!" would work on me too.

Director Roberto Bianchi Montero is perhaps better known for his Giallo exploitation masterpiece SO SWEET SO DEAD and demonstrates a similar skill at moving the plot forward. The pace never drags and while nothing overtly spectacular or memorable happens the movie never pushes a wrong button. Even the requisite Torture Scene is over & done with without much fuss, and interestingly is inflicted by the protagonists rather than on them. Here are two guys who'd waterboard somebody without thinking about it, the only difference between themselves & the villain being that they get to score with the leading ladies.

One interesting aspect about the film is that it's pretty much an all Italian affair with no imported big-name Yankee star. Then again by 1972 the Italians no longer felt the urgency to have a recognizable name for the American markets and just got on with the business at hand of making their movies. Also for a 1972 spaghetti western it is notable for not having a comedy formula ala the Trinity films, and instead focuses squarely on the juvenile fantasy & violence angle. Good show!

6/10

This is a thrilling Spaghetti Chorizo western with plenty of action , crosses and double crosses, fights , shootouts , pursuits , violence and customary outdoors from Manzanares del Real, LaPedriza and Almeria Spain .It deals with two gunslingers El Santo : Antonio Sabato and Minnesota :Chris Avram , they join forces with similar purports. Minnesota receives an offer by the tough as well as suspect sheriff : Paolo Gozlino , to track down Corvancho , wanted dead or alive for a big reward : 2o.oooo dollars . El Santo is an outlaw pursued by the Justice and Minnesota is a two-fisted bounty hunter . Both of whom unite to find a Mexican bandit called Corbancho : Jose Jaspe who rules the Paso zone .His last heist was the bank of Tucson where he and his hoodlums robbed a loot of 400.000 dollars in gold bars.

Average Paella pasta Western follows Sergio Leone including macabre hanging and a bounty hunter in "for a fistful dollars more" style .It is a moving Ravioli with breathtaking gunfight between protagonists: Chris Avram , Alfonso Sabato against the hearless nasty Jose Jaspe and his henchmen .Acceptable action scenes with rousing attacks , assaults , go riding , and spectacular gunplay.Charismatic acting for the whole casting . It stars Antonio Sabato, father of Tv actor Antonio Sabato Jr. , Antonio played various Westerns as Beyond the law, Twice a Judas, Hate for hate ,Miss Dynamite but also made others genres as action , adventure and especially Italian Cop subgenre. Co-starred the early deceased Chris Avram who performed Western as California and Viva Django. Furthermore , the Eurotrash Goddess Erica Blanc , here playing a cunning Femme Fatale . In addition , A great number of ordinar support actos , most of them Spanish ones , uncredited and making brief appearances as Victor Israel, Beny Deus , Jose Canalejas, Lorenzo Robledo ,

The motion picture was regularly directed by Roberto B Montero who directed a lot of films through a long career from the forties. Making all kinds o genres as WWII : The battle of damned, 36 hours in inferno ; Adventures : Robin Hood , Thaurus don of Attila; Eurospy : Agent Z55 mission Hong Kong , Agent Z55 atomic secret, Voyage to danger; Westerns : Oklahoma John , Two sides of the dollar,Arriba Durango; Erotic movies as The hot nights of Caligula and Una Donna per 7 bastards and Sexy shock documentaries.