A below average Chorizo Western about a desperado who struggles to determine his identity , while stopping a wealthy owner in a frontier town . In a small western town in Arizona called Jaspen , a baby is born on Christmas Day . Joseph "Joe" Novak is born in a makeshift shelter , but his mummy , Marika Novak dies during childbirth. Because of the day he was born , the boy will be nicknamed Christmas Joe . Joe Navidad (Jeffrey Hunter) is adopted by three godfathers (Gustavo Rojo , Luis Prendes , Reginald Gilliam) while his drunk father has an extreme resentment against him . As Joe's alcoholic father (Jack Taylor) will never forgive him for the death of his spouse , which will lead Joe toward a rebellious attitude . He will become a troubled adolescent , and will end up learning how to shoot and his father works badly as a blacksmith . Later on , Navidad will also reject his daddy's pacific attitude . Meanwhile , at town's surroundings is discovered a copper mine , and the location progresses and is elected as Mayor Luis Carrillo (Gustavo Rojo) . There comes the villain Culligan along with his lover (Perla Cristal) , he opens a busy saloon : ¨Grand Mercury Saloon Hotel¨ and buys a mean sheriff . Sheriff Anderson 's connection to Culligan is too obvious for everybody . However, the rest of the townspeople is completely fed-up with the situation . A meeting is organized and Joe Novak is selected as the new sheriff , although he doesn't want the job. He is selected anyway . The judge of the town , judge George Perkins (Luis Prendes), is the one who convinces everybody. Then , Joe works for Mike Culligan (Louis Hayward), the richest man in town , but later on , he resigns . Soon these rivals must make common cause in the face of the nasty owner Culligan and gunplay as well as betrayals ensue .
Tortilla/US Western with a good cast but wasted , as professional Hollywood B-actors, several Spanish secondaries and other expert technicians . As its director results to be Sidney Pink who lived in Madrid, Spain , where he produced many of the earliest spaghetti westerns , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent time of the rest of his career . Ordinary Western that doesn't follows the Sergio Leone wake , but it is proceeded in American models . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up , or stunts every few minutes , but being badly edited . There is an odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final gunfights and when Joe Navidad is condemned to hanging . Outdoor sequences with barren and rocky exteriors filmed in Spanish places located on AManzanares Del Real , Colmenar Viejo , La Pedriza (Madrid) that resulted to be the location in which was shot lots of Western produced and directed by Spanish , Italian and occasionally American people . It stars Jeffrey Hunter who played various Ford films as ¨The searchers¨, ¨Last Hurrah¨, Sergeant Rutlede¨, and made all kinds of genres as Wartime : ¨The longest day¨, ¨hell eternity¨, ¨Private navy of Sgt O'Farrell¨, ¨No man is an island¨¨ and Western : ¨The great locomotive chase¨, ¨7 cities of gold¨ , his greatest success was ¨King of kings¨ ; and played other Spanish films as ¨A witch without a broom¨. Furthermore , other American stars as Louis Hayward as Culligan who has always used the corrupt sheriffs to deal with the dirty side of his business . And a great number of Spanish secondaries as Jack Taylor , Luis Prendes , Fernando Hilbeck , Gustavo Rojo , Angel Menéndez and Alvaro De Luna .
Lousy cinematography in Eastmancolor by Manuel Hernandez San Juán , being necessary a perfect remastering because of the copy is washed-out . Anti-climatic musical score by musical score by Fernando García Morcillo . Being badly produced and directed by Sidney Pink . Sidney is generally considered to be a decent producer/director of B movies . He realized his first feature in 1953 titled I Was a Burlesque Queen . Although Sidney Pink couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . He began his film career as a projectionist in a theater owned by his wife's family . Pink was considered the pioneer of 3-D movies, having produced more than 50 of them . Produced the first widely released feature-length 3-D film, "Bwana Devil," presented in the polarized dual-projector system which became standard for the 1950's 3-D movie craze . Sidney was a producer and writer, known for Reptilicus (1961), The Angry Red Planet (1959) and Journey to the seventh planet (1962) .He also filmed thrillers as ¨Pyro¨ and more Western as "Seven Vengeful Women" and ¨Joe Navidad
