Spaghetti Western icon Anthony Steffen stars as Shenandoah, a man of mystery who joins a vicious band of highwaymen after passing a near impossible and death defying initiation. When the gan... Read allSpaghetti Western icon Anthony Steffen stars as Shenandoah, a man of mystery who joins a vicious band of highwaymen after passing a near impossible and death defying initiation. When the gang begins to suspect Shenandoah may be a traitor in their midst; they learn the real reason... Read allSpaghetti Western icon Anthony Steffen stars as Shenandoah, a man of mystery who joins a vicious band of highwaymen after passing a near impossible and death defying initiation. When the gang begins to suspect Shenandoah may be a traitor in their midst; they learn the real reason he joined their degenerate gang of thieves: retribution.
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- Jerry Krueger
- (as Arthur Kent)
- Wilson
- (as George Rigaut)
- Mulligan
- (as Bob Johnson)
- Sheriff Gallagher
- (as Migule del Castillo)
- Lupe's Henchman
- (as Francisco Bragna)
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Featured reviews
Spaghetti starred by a Brazilian actor!!
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First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6
You Dirty Rat.
In the grand scheme of things as regards Pasta Westerns, Mario Caiano's Oater is strictly routine. The plot is the basic lone gunman out for revenge theme, where in the weathered scuzzy frontage of Anthony Steffen, it involves the infiltration into a gang of scum-bags to get said revenge.
It's atypical of the genre around this time, it's a picture more concerned with raising the pulse rather than making any sort of thematic statements. There's no great style to praise, the dubbing is poor, the fight choreography weak, while all the foxy women on show are given short shrift big time. However, the action is never far away, thus ensuring the pic is never ever dull.
Steffen makes for a cool dude under pressure, the actor would make a telling contribution to the genre with director Caiano, and he's given a number of scenes to hone his gruff rough and tough persona. The villains, fronted by an excitable Lupe Rojo (Calvo) and a maniacal Murdoch (Fajardo) are great fun. There's a great score from De Masi to help things along, and a super title song warbled by Peter Tevis lands in the ears and stays there. Hell! There's even a comedy old geezer doing his best Moore Marriott impression to keep us perky.
It's clichéd, it doesn't utilise the locales or the Widescreen format and it is scared to deviate away from the Spag Western film making 101 play book. Yet sometimes for genre fans this sort of fare is enough for a good time to be had, and so it proves. 6.5/10
Spaghetti/Paella Western co-produced between Italy and Spain , being starred by the usual Steffen and Fajardo
Offbeat ravioli/tortilla Western follows the Sergio Leone wake , as it is proceeded in Spaghetti models . It's an exciting western with breathtaking gunfight between the protagonist Anthony Steffen against the heartless Armando Calvo and his nasty hoodlums , in addition a stirring ending fight in the saloon and town square . This movie is a lot of fun to watch. It's an entertaining story with a touch of peculiarity , some great characters, and an amazing music score . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge , as a tough man seeks vendetta and his objective results to be a bloody revenge . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . Steffen is appropriate in his usual character , he ravages the screen , shoots , hit and run and kills . The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen . His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others . Steffen's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character , but the fantastic performance by the always great Eduardo Fajardo as the slimy, menacing outlaw make up for , here in his ordinary role as bandit and in a cruelly baddie character , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . There appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Frank Braña , Luis Barboo , George Rigaud , Tomas Torres , Santiago Rivero, Miguel De La Riva , among others .
The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , full of horse ridding , pursuits and shots 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 . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , such as in the final gunfights . The movie gets the usual Western issues , as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies and spectacular duels , among them . The sense of pacing is such interesting that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors , dirty and rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets by expert set designers Cubero and Galicia who designed several Westerns as Spanish as international ones . The musician Francesco De Massi composes a nice soundtrack and well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie; as it's full of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background . The opening and ending sounds are two of my favorites, and are of those unforgettable tunes that will play in your mind over and over long after the movie is realized . The soundtrack contributes tremendously to the atmosphere of the film, including an emotive leitmotif, the music score is perhaps the best part of this film . Striking cinematography by Julio Ortas , though is necessary a correct remastering . Outdoor sequences with barren and rocky exteriors filmed in Spanish places located on outskirts Madrid , Hoyo De Manzanares and La Pedriza , replacing Almeria . Colmenar Viejo and Hoyo de Manzanares where was built a Western village by the producer Eduardo Manzanos called 'Golden City' and resulted to be the locations in which were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Spanish and Italian and occasionally American people , because Almeria was too far and the landscapes bear remarkable resemblance .
Mario Caiano's direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and packs too much action , but especially this thrilling Western contains long shot'em up and violence . He directed this acceptable western , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed several Spaghetti : ¨Brandy¨, ¨Avenger of California¨ , ¨Ringo, face of revenge¨ , ¨Bullets don't argue¨, ¨Lone and angry man¨, ¨A train to Durango¨. Caiano is a craftsman who has directed all kind of genres as Peplum as ¨Ulisse vs Ercole¨, ¨I due Gladiatori¨, ¨Maciste Gadiatori di Sparta¨ and Terror : ¨Nightmare castle¨, ¨ Eye in the labyrinth¨ and even Pornonazi as ¨Nazi love camp 27¨. Although Caiano couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . Muddle and uneven Western but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 5,5 , riotous Western in which there's too much violence , action and enough excitement
A Solid Spaghetti Western
Relentless avenger
Simple, straight-forward revenge movie, nothing extraordinary, but it delivers perfectly what a genre fan expects. Director Mario Caiano, passed away in 2015, and composer Francesco De Masi were always reliable contributors. Shot in 1965, re-using some locations from "A Fistful of Dollars", this is a rather early Italian western following the big success of that movie. It doesn't feel tired yet, but has some relentless energy and good pace.
Did you know
- ConnectionsFeatured in Best in Action: 1965 (2021)
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Teksas Dzo
- Filming locations
- Galicia, Spain(Decorados)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 27m(87 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1






