The Jack's (José Torres) gang (formed by Gaspar 'Indio' González as Francis , Rick Boyd , Antonio Cantafora and Roberto Maldera as Ted) robs a bank at a little town , but Ted takes the stolen money and flees , then Jack and his heinous band are detained and imprisoned . Escaping Ted from the bandits he is wounded and is healed by man named Joe (Richard Harrison) . Meanwhile , the outlaws who break out of jail search for the stranger called Dakota Joe who has the map to a get the stolen fortune and taken by Ted in the bank robbery. Later on , there happens a relentless and merciless chase.
This moving Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , riding pursuits , but being an inferior and twilight entry in this prolific Spaghetti genre . Italian production filmed in Laccio , Rome , Italy , being full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots , fights and with some looks that say it all , including an exciting and twisted ending that is the best part of the movie . Furthermore , including breif nudism by the beautiful Franca Polesello . Starring Richard Harrison who stands out his strong , piercing eyes and striking look , featuring as a man escaping from a band of cutthroats . Harrison is so-so as a peaceful man who heals ill people and turns a tough avenger when he is blinded by the ominous group of attackers , as he ravages the screen , he jumps , leaps and bounds , hits and runs ; besides , receiving violent punches , wounds , tortures and finally blinded . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between the two-fisted Richard Harrison against the dangerous and ambitious killers . Richard Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos¨, ¨South Pacific¨ and ¨Master of world . Then , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe . He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades . To avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the Red¨, ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo¨, ¨Stagecoach of the Condemned¨ , ¨Gunfight at High Noon¨ and this ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . Support cast is frankly good , thanks to the familiar secondary actors .Here appear important secondaries from Spaghetti Western , such as : José Torres , Gaspar 'Indio' González, Roberto Maldera , Corrado Olmi and Federico Boido or Rick Boyd and Antonio Cantafora or Michael Coby .
There are fine technicians , nice assistant direction and mediocre production design , creating an atmospheric scenario across the Italian outdoors , including the stark landscapes , dunes , rocks , and mountains . Adequate and evocative cinematography by Silvio Fraschetti , but a perfect remastering being necessary . Enjoyable musical score by Vasili Kojucharov as Maestro Vasco in Spaghetti style . This ¨Spara Joe... e così sia!¨or ¨Dakota Joe¨ or ¨Shoot Joe and Shoot again¨ was lousily directed by Emilio Miraglia as Hal Brady . He was a Second Unit Director or Assistant Director in 20 films and subsequently turned to filmmaking in a few titles , directing Giallo , Thriller and Western such as : The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave , The Red , Queen Kills Seven Times , At Any Price or The Vatican affaire , The Falling Man , Assassination and Dakota Joe . Rating . 3.5/10 . Below average . Only for Richard Harrison fans and Spaghetti western completists .
