In Siete en la Mira, a biker gang, all wearing too much make-up, ride into a small Texas town. The sheriff (Mario Almada) tries to take a light handed approach, suggesting that the gang move on. However, when a biker rapes and accidentally kills a local woman, a deputy steals an illegal gun from a local mechanic and executes the assailant. The gun leads back to the innocent mechanic who is promptly arrested. The arrest does not satisfy the rest of the bikers. They take over a bar and a school, threatening to kill those inside the establishments if the mechanic is not turned over to them. The sheriff has to deal with the bikers, the hostages, and restless townspeople.
The basic plot elements could have been made as a traditional western, with horses and outlaws. This approach would have worked better. In the 1980's, the sheriff should have picked up the phone and called for help from the state police and maybe federal agents. The town would not have been as isolated in 1984 as it would have in 1884. The film does play with the western genre. The sheriff uses a bullwhip to kill one of the bikers. The film also has a final showdown where one character has to outdraw another.
I am not well versed in Mexican popular cinema. I have seen a couple masked wrestling films and a few of the 60's horror films released on DVD from Casa Negra. I do know that Siete en la Mira is slow going for the first half and the action in the second half is not very well staged. Also, some of the plot elements are just confusing. Why does the deputy need to get someone else's gun to kill a biker who had raped and murdered the townswoman? For that matter, why does he go after this gun instead of trying to stop the biker from raping the woman (he can see the couple through a window)? Why are the police so impotent to stop less than a dozen bikers?
Siete en la Mira seems to have a small cult following, but I don't see why. It is certainly not in the same league as second tier biker exploitation films like Northville Cemetery Massacre or Mad Foxes, let alone a classic like Mad Max.
