Gunfight in the Red Sands

I had the chance of watching this great movie the other day. Everybody told me that it was a great "spaghetti-western", and I really believe it is. And I´ll tell you why. The movie plot is very intriguing, the rhythm is unbeatable, and it´s a story it could have happened somewhere in the west last century. It´s just wonderful, great. And by the way it´s also one of the first spaghetti-westerns. The great performances of Richard Harrison, Mikaela, Daniel Martín, and the rest of the cast make this movie absolutely delightful. And to boots the main title song called "A gringo like me" is one of the best pieces I´ve heard in a western of this kind: "Put your hand on your gun...don´t you trust anyone, there´s just one kind of man that you can trust, that´s a dead man... or a gringo like me...".

In an article from The New York Times from 2004, the very first 'spaghetti western' was "A Fistful of Dollars" back in 1964. Well, a Facebook friend recommended I see "Gunfight in the Red Sands" ("Duello nel Texas") and it clearly IS a spaghetti western. First, it has a lot of Italian and Spanish actors and was filmed in Spain (like these Italian westerns). Second, it has an American in the lead...not a requirement but common in the spaghetti films. Third, most of the music is from Ennio Moricone..the same guy who made the most iconic music from the genre, including his gorgeous music from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"!

When the story begins, three masked bandits come to the ranch owned by Gringo's father. They kill the old man, steal his money and shoot someone else. Gringo (Richard Harrison) is the dead man's adopted son...making him a white guy raised by Mexican-Americans. This also makes him REALLY irritable whenever folks make nasty comments about Mexicans!

The trail leads to a town where the sheriff insists there is no crime...none. Now considering he said this right AFTER two guys pick a fight with Gringo and try to beat him, I think the sheriff's credibility is low! And, as the film progresses, you realize that the sheriff is either incredibly stupid or a crook. After all, his response every time someone tries to kill Gringo is to lock up or threaten to lock up Gringo! To assist Gringo in his quest is his brother, Manuel. But do these two stand a chance against this crappy and corrupt town?!

The film looks like a spaghetti western in pretty much every way. My only complaints are minor. The opening song is godawful and sounds like it was recording in someone's bathroom (I am NOT exaggerating). The chase scenes on horseback are poorly filmed and very jerky. And, there are a few silly anachronisms (such as having folks gambling with 1960s US dollars and Manuel with a 1920s style .38 revolver). But the story is very involving and solid. Harrison (virtually unknown in his home in the USA) is very good as are the other actors. And, the action is very good. All in all, a very good film and better than most Italian westerns...and well worth seeing.

By the way, I tried watching this on YouTube but found they were putting commercials in the film every five minutes!! Instead, I found it on a Roku channel....with no commercials! My Facebook friend....he paid for it on Amazon Prime...which, in hindsight, he didn't have to do...but I am VERY glad he recommended the film to me.

1963...Sergio Leone had done 1 film as credited director..."Colossus of Rhodes"..; Clint Eastwood was still best known as "Rowdy Yates" on "Rawhide". Duello Nel Texas was released in Italy in Sept. 1963...Filmed in Northern Spain....using the set that would later be used as the town in FOD & FAFDM. Ricardo Blasco ..directed 8 other films..a couple of Zorro movies...most of his work was as Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. Massimo Dallamano, the cinematographer, went on to be director of photography on both Fistful Of Dollars and FAFDM.

Richard Harrison..had appeared in 1 previous "pre-spaghetti" Western..."El Sabor de la Venganza" (1963) (Gunfight at High Noon (USA) )....& went on to play Ringo in "$100,000 for Ringo"....Rocco in "Vengeance" (.Joko invoca Dio e muori).. & starred in "I'll Forgive You, Before I Kill You" .... .."Aquasanta Joe" & others. Gunfight at Red Sands is also noteworthy for being the first Italian Western to feature a Ennio Morricone score...& if my instincts are correct......a collaboration w/ Bruno Nicolai.

Harrison is Ricardo..a/k/a "Gringo"......who returns from an unsuccessful campaign fighting w/ guerillas in Mexico...& now just wants peace.......to discover that his adoptive father has been killed & the family's gold stolen. So he's gotta..avenge his father..& get the gold back.

This is Harrison without the stubble..not quite the antihero...an avenger...but not "The Stranger"...although he has been away for 4 years.

As for Ennio Morricone's first Western score.....parts of it are quite nice...others are just...OK...Hollywood-style stuff, as requested by the film's producers. ..Of course, early Morricone is very interesting...the title song (A Gringo Like Me) is a different version than the one that's become somewhat familiar...an earlier version w/ a different vocalist. He is also credited as musical director under the name of "Leo Nichols"...which for me is too close to Bruno Nicolai..that I suspect that to be a mistake..& Nicolai to be the true musical director.

The Italian Western was still very much an American Western imitation..but we see the SWlike quirk here & there..a lot of "roots" of what was to come in many films....the weird villain type (giggling..twitching guy)............& there's gold..Mexican revolutionaries...a corrupt sheriff who hates Mexicans....more than a few killings..a couple of not very well done fistfights..a final showdown that's OK.......minor red herrings & misdirection..pretty straightforward. Good bit early..the shootout w/ the Federales...although it does come off as too theatrical. Check out the scene early on when a jeep drives by in the background. Rest of the cast ranges from pretty awful to pretty good... nice turn by Sara Lezana as Lisa..who gets to show off some action chops that a year later became traditionally not done by women in SW.

Gunfight At Red Sands is really a PRE-Spaghetti Western....in tone... & spirit....dramatically & musically. It has more in common with the Hollywood knockoffs produced in Italy pre '64...but SW devotees will definitely notice & appreciate the elements of future films that are there...

The style hadn't arrived yet......nor the twinkle in the eye..but something quite unique and wonderful was just about to be born.

Spaghetti Western? Maybe an Antipasto Western.

An avenging stranger (Richard Harrison) seeks vengeance against killers who have murdered his father . He guns down a gang of ruthless outlaws in revenge for the murder of his family . He returns a little town called Carterville where rules steadily a sheriff (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) and a Saloon owner (Barta Barri) . At the saloon the starring meets his old flame (Mikaela) .

This Chorizo Western packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . It contains bits of campy and refreshing events with turns and twists . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the starring Richard Harrison and his enemies . Outdoor sequences shot on outskirts of Madrid , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo , and Hoyo De Manzanares . The producer Jose Maesso ordered to build a Western village called ¨Golden City¨ where were shot a lot of Western . Being built by Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia in charge of production sets and subsequently designed numerous Westerns . One year later , most technicians , secondary actors (Aldo Sambrell , Daniel Martin), Production ( Jolly , Constantin Film) , cameraman (Maximo Dallamano) , musician (Ennio Morricone or Dan Savio) would work in the notorious ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ that created Spaghetti. Even the main role 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.

The picture is well starred by Richard Harrison , he is top notch as the brave hero who finds many dangerous situations while attempting to avenge his family and protect his true love played by Sara Lezana . Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury, Brad Harris, Kirk Morris, Reg Park, Mark Forest, among others, whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity. Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos ¨ and ¨South Pacific¨ , while shooting another inferior character in ¨Master of world (1961)¨ produced by American International , he met producer James H. Nicholson's daughter and married her within six months. Frustrated at not being able to secure meatier roles in America , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe along with his greatest success ¨The seven Spartans¨. He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades. His lead role, of course, immediately typed him as another Herculean type and, 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, Joe Dakota ¨ , Wartime genre as ¨Leopards of Churchill and 36 hours in hell¨ and spy intrigue as ¨Master stroke and 077 challenge to the killer's¨ . Once Italy closed down film production after the muscular craze had died down, he, like others, found himself unemployed. He did manage to scrape up work in Hong Kong, but a large portion of them were bottom-of-the-barrel Ninja movies.

Screenplay with interesting premise about a gunfighter seeking justice was written by Albert Band and the same director Ricardo Blasco. The producer Jose G . Maesso with his Cia. ¨Tecisa¨ produced several Western as ¨The ugly ones , Minnesota Clay , Django , A train to Durango , Hellbenders¨ and financed various pre-Leone Western as ¨Tierra Brutal¨ and along with those Western directed by Joaquin Romero Marchent as ¨Three Implacables¨ , ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ created the birth of European Western , before Leone-boom .

GUNFIGHT AT RED SANDS is a good-natured spaghetti western, made just one year before Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS helped to define the genre as we know it today. As such, GUNFIGHT is more in line with the kind of Hollywood westerns that were produced in the 1950s, such as HIGH NOON: it's neither as gritty nor as dark and violent as many of the spaghetti westerns made in the late '60s. Nevertheless, I'd recommend it as a film definitely worth a watch, because it has much going for it – not least another effective leading man performance from peplum actor Richard Harrison. Harrison, who made his name in equal numbers of westerns and historical adventures, is as tough and ready as he ever was on screen. He's no Eastwood, but he does a good job.

My biggest complaint with this movie is the score by Ennio Morricone. This guy is one of my favourite composers, thanks to his iconic work on Leone's DOLLARS trilogy, but his music here sounds twee and dated, as if it came from some '30s melodrama than a '60s western. It seems he's constrained here by the producers, and the lack of experimentation hurts the movie a lot. Still, it's not all bad. The screenplay by future trash director Albert Band breathes life into old genre staples – i.e. the adopted son, the corrupt lawman, the criminal gang, the fiery love interests – and the action is well-handled, with plenty of nicely-choreographed brawls, shoot-outs, and gun battles. The chief villain role goes to Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and he fits it like a glove; I never did like this actor when I saw him playing the 'good guy', much preferring him as a slimy creep. Mikaela and Sara Lezana play opposing love interests, the former fiery while the latter sweet, although astonishingly I read somewhere that Lezana was born in 1948, which made her only 15 when she appeared in this film, kissing and frolicking with Harrison – surely an error?