Il californiano

Guns of Diablo (1964)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

By the numbers Western will work a lot better if you're fans of Charles Bronson and Kurt Russell. In the film, wagon trail leader Linc Murdock (Bronson) and his young pal (Russell) head into town for some supplies but once there Linc sees the woman (Susan Oliver) who he fell in love with years earlier but also the three brothers who kept them apart and now want him dead. This feature was taken from episodes of "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" and you can see in various scenes that it has a TV look. While there's nothing overly special here I think fans of Bronson and Russell with enjoy their performances enough to make this film worth viewing. What we've got here are two TV episodes built around some new footage, which includes a pretty risqué love scene between Bronson and Oliver, which was clearly added for the European market where this film mostly played. This and the rather violent shoot-out at the end are two of the better sequences but we also get a pretty good open with the wagons trying to cross a violent river when Bronson must jump in to save a man. Another good sequence is a 20-minute flashback where we see how Bronson came to be so hated. This here was taken from the TV episode but it actually features some pretty good cinematography and nice drama. Bronson actually turns in a pretty good performance here as he gets to throw in some romance as well as tender drama, which is something he wouldn't get to do decades later when he was appearing in various Canon films. He works well with Oliver and the two have great chemistry together and really sell the love story side of the film. Russell is also very energetic here and makes for a good sidekick to Bronson. Seeing the two (now) legends together was a lot of fun and I think fans of both will enjoy seeing them here. The supporting villains aren't written too well and John Fiedler (12 ANGRY MEN) doesn't come off too well either. Douglas Fowley gets some good scenes with Russell as the elderly man who claims to be a millionaire. If one comes to this film expecting a John Ford production then they're going to be disappointed. If you have 79-minutes to kill and are a fan of the cast then I'm sure you'll at least stay entertained from start to finish.