L'Évadé de Yuma

Great movie that's been down played and over looked for years. Reeves was born to make Westerns. If you loved his "Sword and Sandal" films this one won't let you down. Cool action, great shoot outs and that classic build that put's his contemporaries to shame. On the other hand, if you like the Westerns that were coming out of Italy at the time, you've got to check this one out. Not going to go so far as to say he rivals Eastwood but Reeves is heads above most of the guys who tried their hands in the genre. Best of all it shows off Revee's horse riding skills that were only hinted to in the "Hercules" type films. Very hard to find on tape but well worth the effort once you get your hands on a copy.

In his last film, Steve Reeves played his usual hero number (though a bit too sombre, with no glimpse of humor, as in the adventure films he starred in), doing not too different grimaces and acrobatics as the ones he performed for his incarnations of Romulus, Sir Henry Morgan, Hercules and Sandokan. It was adapted from a novel, and probably the scriptwriters (including Reeves) were too respectful of the original (written, as told by other reviewer, by a specialist in western novels) and took little advantage of the European western film craze of the 1960s. Even in the more serious western dramas (as Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West"), there were always bizarre elements and even a bit of Brechtian estrangement, making it obvious that it was a foreign concoction turning a classic genre upside down, every now and then revealing something that had not been told in the classic American westerns (although I believe the real revisionist westerns were made by American filmmakers, as Penn, Peckinpah, Altman and Gries). This one plays it straight, and maybe Reeves wanted to do a real western, but it just comes out as an average European western without zest.

While this is one of the better "spaghetti westerns" from the 1960s, it is little known in this country despite the presence of Steve Reeves in the starring role. Reeves' looks and presence here indicate that he could have had a post-Hercules career in the movies and it's both sad and puzzling that this career never evolved.

The movie itself lacks the flamboyant, even operatic style one often associates with these westerns, but unlike some of its competitors, this has a solid, well-constructed script which effectively uses the "revenge" theme without any digressions or detours. By some standards, this movie might even be labeled "minimalist!"

There is one missed opportunity, however. Reeves spends an entire reel laboring on a rock pile in one of those primitive, scorching-hot desert prisons manned by sadistic guards who are quick to dish out brutal punishments. (One is reminded of "Hellgate" or "There Was a Crooked Man.") He sometimes works with his shirt off -- giving us a look at that glorious, suntanned, sweat-streaked torso -- and he's sometimes given a punch or a kick or a shove. However, there's no scene of Reeves being tied to a post and given a savage flogging across his bare back. Since Reeves had one of those born-to-be-whipped bodies, it's unfortunate the makers of this movie didn't take advantage of this resource.

Four years after his appearance as Sandokan, Steve REEVES (1926-2000) returned in front of the cameras again, this time in a spaghetti western. Unfortunately, this was REEVES' last screen appearance, even though the film was really good.

Together with his brother Roy (Giovanni Ivan SCRATUGLIA), Mike Sturgis (Steve REEVES) runs a horse breeding business in Arizona. When they are attacked, they want revenge on the perpetrators. In doing so, they get involved in an even worse matter, in which the railway boss (Wayde PRESTON) and the sheriff (Mimmo PALMARA) also have their fingers in the game. Mike and his little brother end up in the notorious Yuma State Prison, which only the hunky Mike survives. Now the day of revenge has finally come...

Decent spaghetti western by Camillo BAZZONI, who knows how to tell his story in a straightforward manner. Mimmo PALMARA and Steve REEVES had known each other since the legendary Hercules films from 1958 and 1959, which marked the beginning of the rise and financial success (especially in N-America) of the Roman Cinecitta.

I saw this recently for the first time. Reeves is great in his final film, what a shame he was unable to continue making films because of an injury. He looks good and acts well in this revenge story which is head and (very broad) shoulders above of most of the post 66 Italian western output. Reeves could have been one of the great western stars but it wasn't to be. A glimpse of what he could have achieved can been found in such films as 'Sandokan' and 'Morgan the Pirate', non-sandal films that were great fun. I was glad to discover that his post-movie life was a success and that he was a happy and wealthy man. He is much missed by his fans.