Una colt en la mano del diablo

The movie begins at a prison camp in the desert. Jeremy Scott saves Roy Koster (Robert Woods) from the bullet of an angry warden. Scott dies soon afterwards, but with his last dying breath, he reveals the name of the place he came from: Silvertown. Koster, after his release from the camp, decides to visit Silvertown and see the family of Scott. However, he finds the town to be rather hostile, even the relatives of the deceased. Nobody wants to speak to him, the only one who does is hanged and Koster begins to suspect that Scott was innocent, thus the truth about the deed he was sentenced for is still hidden. The town is ruled by Warner (George Wang) and his gunmen, and when Koster starts investigating, he quickly makes a lot of enemies...

"Una colt in mano al diavolo" is quite a clever little movie. Obviously made on a shoestring budget, it manages to combine western with a crime investigation story, and the result surely is entertaining. Until a flashback explains what's going on after 30 minutes, the audience gets only few clues, and the mystery makes it interesting. William Berger got a good role as a saloon owner, even if the only thing he has got to do in the first half is stand around and look enigmatic. George Wang rides the same horse that Robert Woods was riding before (black with a white spot), apparently the producers couldn't afford another horse - go figure. My Italian DVD has a runtime of only 72 minutes, but it states that is the complete original version (as per censor rating 1972). The movie exceeded my expectations, I voted 6 of 10.