Two bounty hunters (Anthony Steffen, William Berger) team up to take on a criminal network led by a powerful landowner (Riccardo Garrone) who smuggles Mexicans across the border to treat them as slaves. The large landowners of an American region bordering Mexico , representatives of the fiercest capitalism, need workers since their compatriots do not want to do certain jobs and then just as it happens today, they resort to illegal immigration and labor exploitation. A certain novelty -although not profound, since we are talking about Pasta Western- involves presenting so early the wetbacks clandestinely crossing the Mexican border to go to the United States to collect salaries of 50 pesos. The large landowners of the South no longer have black slaves to do certain jobs, so they hire Mexicans at miserable prices. It is not so bad that the scoundrels who organize the transfer kill them unceremoniously at the slightest risk of being detained by the Army. The nasty band who illegally introduce them into the United States, will not hesitate at the slightest problem to get rid of them and keep all the money.
A spaghetti western that has all the right ingredients, it's sinister, dark, violent and features two of the genre's most prolific stars. Film directed by Sergio Garrone in 1969 that has a somewhat original story, but that also never overcomes the limitations of the genre. Una lunga fila di croci(1969) has the peculiarity that it contains certain social content: Here there are no black slaves to work and to take advantage of the misery of the inhabitants of their countries, Southern neighbors hiring Mexicans who try to escape pagan poverty at a low price, and while the ambitious owners exploit them at work. Unknowingly, they pay for the trip to a gang of swindlers to smuggle them into the United States. But the band gets rid of them and keeps all the money. Given the army's inability to control the border, it has been decided to put a reward on the heads of the gang members, which will attract two bounty hunters by unknowingly traveling to a gang. Given the impossibility of the army to control the border, as it is very wide, it has been decided to put a price on the heads of most of the members of that gang, which will attract two bounty hunters. That's why our two tough bounty hunters: Anthony Steffen and William Berger show up . They will join forces to kill all the bandits and distribute the reward. I found Anthony Steffen more convincing than usual, perhaps because his character looks a lot and speaks very little, but as he always acts stoic and silent. And as a companion, called the preacher and carrying a kind of machine gun, is the usually effective William Berger stands out as the black-clad, Bible-reading, six-barreled shotgun-wielding bounty hunter. While the bad guy, an intelligent and Machiavellian individual who undoubtedly takes advantage of people's poverty, is played by a correct Riccardo Garrone, brother of the director in his third collaboration. Along with them is Mario Brega in an insubstantial role and the female presence, in a quite attractive role, of a beautiful Nicoletta Machiavelli, as well as the charming Maria Angela Giordano as a harassed Mexican.
We are looking at a spaghetti that is quite careful from a formal point of view since it has, in my opinion, acceptable direction by Sergio Garrone, which can be seen in the concern and care for the composition of the different scenes such as that of the duel final, a nice photograph by Franco Villa and a more than worthy setting. The soundtrack composed by Kojucharov-Mancuso, a tandem that collaborated on several spaghetti, is quite atmospheric. In addition to the script, also by Garrone, I think it is a little more worked than usual in spaghetti, although it is a shame that in the last third of the film there are several twists that seemed a little simple and not very believable to me. Sergio Garrone provides a professional but flawed direction, it's all gratuitous violence, implausible situations and run-of-the-mill performances, but being passable. Rating: 5.5/10.
