El escuadrón de la muerte

MUTINY AT FORT SHARP is untypical for an Italian western, yet still an exciting and thoughtful film. It's set in the barren Mexican border area of the Southwest US, as many Italian westerns are, but instead of lone gunmen or bounty hunters or Mexicans, we have a confederate fort in the middle of nowhere led by a commander, Broderick Crawford, who has a "siege mentality" and is somewhat brutal in his leadership. When some French soldiers who are lost wander up from Mexico and arrive at the fort, the plot kicks into action. I won't give away where it goes from there as it is somewhat unexpected, but there is constant tension throughout until the film's sad but positive climax. Crawford is superb throughout as the dictatorial and delusional commander of the fort. Thankfully, the producers had him dub his own voice--you will remember how ineffective it was to have a generic dubbed voice for Crawford in GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON. Also, whoever dubbed the voice of the French captain here is the same person who provided the English language voice for many Eddie Constantine vehicles. Overall, a powerful western that's a lot more influenced by US "A" westerns of the 40s and 50s than by Leone or Corbucci.

The film may be Italian, but it's not a Spaghetti Western. It's more like an American western of the time. The acting and script isn't too bad. Basically we have a couple of soldiers in a fort who have to fend off the vicious Native Americans.

Passable Western regarding the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege , issue imitated many other times ; however , it packs a predictable ending . It deals with Captain Clermont (Mario Valdemarin) , a honorable cavalry officer of the Maximiliano Army and his Dragons garrison from Mexico and lost in American territory . After saving a damsel (Elisa Montes) in distress , they arrive in Fort Sharp commanded by a Confederate Colonel named Lenox (an elderly Broderick Crawford who gives overacting) who goes crazy . This is a grizzled Colonel who is saddled not only problems with Native American but irritability among his own troops , as he has to roust renegade soldiers and a tribe of 3.000 Navajo Indians led by Wichita . The insane Colonel executes severe punishments against his soldiers , being tied and flogged for desertion . Shortly after , soldiers learn his families and relatives have been overwhelmed by Indians and attempting to retrieve their comrades' bodies . The Indians are out on a rampage of killing , vengeance against the white intruders and with the aim for eliminating them .

Gritty and decently written Western by Jesus Navarro and Ugo Liberatore, exploring the anguish of soldiers , the hard relationship between Confederate and Maximilian troops and including jarring bursts of violence . This is an exciting tale of a nutty Colonel and a hard-bitten captain assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians . Problems emerge when the main roles led by Captain Clermont arrive at Fort Sharp and their different relation among them . This is a moving story about a surrounded garrison and director takes a fine penned script creating a cavalry-Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish and desperation of soldiers . This Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining . It is an uneven Western with a plot that several times reminds ¨Beau Geste¨ and following an American style more than Spaghetti , such as ¨Chuka¨ and ¨Only the valiant¨ by Gordon Douglas in which a fort is also besieged by Indians . It's the regular plot concerning a team stranded by hostile Indians , unfortunately, despite a few good elements like these , I didn't overall care for this movie and I usually like spaghetti westerns . The movie is sometimes slow-moving , and the characters mostly act alike . As the picture contains nice moments but partially unsatisfying for the reason of the claustrophobic environment . Being an Italian/Spanish production here appears several Spanish familiar actors giving brief but decent performances such as : Julio Peña , Tomás Picó , Lina Yegros , Francisco Guijar , José Marco , José Canalejas , José Truchado and José Sancho .

Produced by a great Western producer : Eduardo Manzanos who financed a lot of Chorizo/Spaghetti Westerns . Eduardo started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent . After that , he produced in his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , various Zorros and this one . He produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨ . In 1962 , Eduardo Manzanos created -near Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid)- the first Western scenario of the notorious Spaghetti/Paella sub-genre . This original initiative corresponded to this prestigious writer /producer/director Eduardo Brochero who saw the potential of European Westerns and commissioned to the production designers Jaime Pérez Cubero and José Luis Galicia (Construcine) the task of raising the set , as in 1962 the first ¨Paella¨ set in Spain was built . Then , the first filming there was made : ¨The terrible sheriff (62) . A year later , there came Sergio Leone to shoot the iconic ¨A fistful of Dollars¨ with which the boom of Spaghetti/Chorizo Western was burst . More than 50 Spaghetti Westerns were filmed here from 1962 to 73 . Since early 70s the shooting began to be less frequent due to the progressive decline of the genre and the producers preferred to shoot in Almeria . With the decline in the number of shootings , revenue also fell and the sets started slowly to deteriorate as it can be seen , for example , in ¨Matalo¡¨ and ¨Fast Hand¨ (73) by Mario Bianchi . As a result Manzanos decided in 1975 not to renew the contract , leaving a large debts . The remains of the set remained a few years , until the mid-80s or so to disappear later .

¨Escuadrón De La Muerte¨ or ¨Mutiny at Fort Sharpe" or "Por Un Dolar De Gloria"(1966) displays a colorful cinematography in Technicolor/Thecniscope by Emilio Foriscot , though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary . And shot on location in Hoyo De Manzanares, La Pedriza, Manzanares El Real, Madrid . In addition , atmospheric as well as evocative musical score by Carlos Savina . The motion picture was professionally directed by Fernando Cherchio . He written/directed several action/adventure/ mini-epics movies , such as : 1968 Los Cuatro Budas De Kriminal , 1967 Secretísimo , 1964 Totó against the Black Pirate ,1963 Totò and Cleopatra , 1962 The red mask , 1962 Daggers of blood , 1962 Totó versus Maciste , 1961 Queen of Nile , 1960 Il Sepolcro Dei Re , 1959 Giuditta and Oloferne , 1957 La Venere Di Cheronea , 1957 Desert lovers , 1957 Mysteries in Paris , 1955 I Quattro Del Getto Tonante , 1954 El Vizconde De Bragelonne , 1952 Il Bandolero Stanco and Son of Lagardere .

I would not rent this movie, but it was perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon. My kids were intrigued by the storyline and even though it was quite predictable, we had fun watching and commenting on the action. It definitely was a movie that called for a lot of ongoing analysis of character motivation ("now, why'd he do that?" and "my theory is, he is going ..."). A bit campy and predictable but fun.