Powderkeg

Just watched it again and still love it. I was 13 when I first saw this movie and it grabbed me from the opening sequence. The musical score, the Bearcat car, Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole...and the impossible job. Very much in the vain of "Guns of Navarone" except in the Mexican desert--an impossible job but a small group of men, specialists, might pull it off. The characters are strong and fun to be with. This movie introduced me to Rod Taylor and I have been a fan ever since. The sad thing is this movie has drifted off the radar screen. It never shows up on old movie channels. I fear it will fade away. It's too bad, because it is a really solid movie and well worth the time. The style is definitely 70s and so is the script, with its double ententes and sexual innuendos. One bit of trivia, the actress who played Juanita Sierra-Perez is Luciana Paluzzi, she played the femme fatale in the James Bond classic "Thunderball."

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Mexican outlaw Chucho Morales (Fernando Lamas) hijacks a train with seventy-three passengers that become his hostages and asks the law student Ricardo Sandoval (Reni Santoni) to write a ransom note. He demands that his brother Paco Morales (Michael Ansara), who will be hanged in a couple of days, be released. He kills one passenger that was trying to protect his daughter Beth Parkinson (Tisha Sterling) and drops his body off the train on a station with the note. Ricardo, who is the son of the military Pablo Sandoval (Jay Novello), asks in the note to call Hank Brackett (Rod Taylor) and his partner Johnny Reach (Dennis Cole) to rescue them. Pablo meets the owner of the railroad Cyrus Davenport (John McIntire) and brings Hank and Johnny. Hank presents a daring plan, and Davenport asks the governor to switch Paco per the hostages. The problem is when Juanita Sierra-Perez (Luciana Paluzzi) poses as Paco's wife to visit him in jail and kills him to revenge her family. Now Hank's bold plan is the only possibility to rescue the hostages alive.

"Powderkeg" (1971) is a great pilot of the unknown series "Bearcats!". The plot is an entertaining western, with funny and violent scenes. Chucho Morales spending the night with Beth Parkinson is probably the worst, but subtle, scene without the need of any graphic scene. Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole are very funny in their roles and the gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi is in her heydays. The bandit Chucho Morales, performed by Fernando Lamas, is scary. This film was released in Brazil by an obscure distributor and terrible image but is worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Barril de Pólvora" ("Powderkeg")

Whacked-out bandito Fernando Llamas holds a train load of passengers hostage and moving in circles, while he ransoms them for the release of his brother, who's in jail awaiting hanging. The railroad calls on smooth soldiers-of-fortune Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole to rescue the hostages and neutralize their captors.

This exciting made-for-television movie/series pilot is way ahead of it's time, anticipating shows and movies like "The A Team", The Delta Force, and even Speed. Why the resulting series "The Bearcats" failed and was forgotten, remains a mystery.

Here, Llamas appears to be having a hell of a time, playing his role with relish. His amusing, over-the-top performance is probably the best thing about this this, although Taylor seems to be enjoying himself greatly as well.

Things seem a little stretched out, but the climax is definitely worth sticking around for.

A bandit takes a train with 73 passengers hostage in order to save his brother to be hanged, the only possible solution is to hire two brave adventurers who will do the impossible to accomplish their task. One more problem is at stake when a mexican lady (Paluzzi) decides to take revenge on the two bandit brothers. Taylor is excellent and Luciana Paluzzi beautiful as ever.Taylor & Paluzzi teamed before in 1967`s western

Powderkeg! was a movie filmed in 1971 starring the well known actor Rod Taylor, and Dennis Cole as two men living in the southwest just prior to WWl. It based around the premise that the pair had 'cleaned up' a couple of rough towns in self-defense, then other towns had come to them seeking help in doing the same for their communities. They had to get 'mercenary' about this and their fee was a blank check. "If you can put a price on it, you don't need 'em bad enough"! The two are contacted by a railroad magnate after one of his trains is hijacked, his best friend killed, and the friends daughter among the 73 people being held by the Morales gang, former revolutionaries turned bandits and murderers. The leader, Chuchu, (Fernando Lamas) has taken the hostages to be exchanged for his brother, being held in a small town jail after a raid by the gang. The plot then centers around Brackett and Reach (Taylor and Cole) devising a plan to seize the train and free the hostages, which they do cleverly and successfully. The movie served as the pilot for the show Bearcats!, which unfortunately, only lasted one season, mostly due to being up against the Flip Wilson show, well established and carrying high ratings. But for one memorable season, Taylor and Cole thrilled many a young lad and sometimes even the Dads as well, with an unusual, well done show with a very original premise, unlike so much of the drivel that 'graces' TV these days! My thanks to all involved in the show, I will never forget it.