Ballad of Death Valley

This is the first entry I've watched in a long-running series of Spaghetti Westerns revolving around the titular figure, played here by William Berger; as such, he displays no particular features that would make him stand out from similar anti-heroes (such as The Man With No Name or Django) and, in fact, is never even referred to by that nickname! Incidentally, this seems to have been considerably trimmed for American export – given that the running-time is a mere 79 minutes; what remains is a thinly-plotted affair which virtually resolves itself into one long chase! Incidentally, the R2 C'Est La Vie DVD sports German credit titles and even the first spoken bits of dialogue is in that language!

Sartana springs a trio of no-good brothers from jail intending to cut in on a fortune in gold that awaits them; however, the latter soon double-cross him and he's stranded on foot and without provisions in Death Valley (hence the title) – they also get even with their former associates (including puppet-maker Luciano Pigozzi) for letting them take the rap. Eventually, of course, Sartana catches up with the gang – taking some time-out to romance a gal who aided in his convalescence…but she too turns out to be harboring ideas above her station! At the finale, the 'outlaw' is revealed to be a courier for the American cavalry entrusted with a crucial message – and his reward for the accomplishment of said mission is that he gets to keep the brothers' gold for himself! For the record, the song playing over the opening credits "King For A Day" is quite decent and is even warbled, for no good reason, by a blonde bar-room chanteuse at one point in the film.

I found this film quite disappointing. There are some good moments but the pace is pedantic. The storyline involves the usual hunt for hidden gold spaghetti western fare, but was, at times, non-sensical, unless I fell asleep in the middle, which may have happened. The dialogue and acting was quite poor in parts. William Berger's hair colour looked ridiculous and at time he almost looked like a peroxide blonde. The music was quite odd at times and often did not match the mood. The Japanese DVD release version was of surprisingly good quality. Not recommended unless you are a spaghetti western die-hard like me and must see them all.

Lee Galloway/Sartana (William Berger) is a wanted man. The film begins with an ill-fated bounty hunter on his tail (who, upon arriving in town finds the Sheriff is "tied up with a funeral"). Needless to say the hunter doesn't last long - Galloway then breaks the dangerous Craig brothers out of jail - in exchange for half of the gold the gang stole from the army. The brothers unsurprisingly doublecross Galloway and from then on the film degenerates into a formulaic game of cat-and-mouse; that said, I'm sure you can guess the outcome of this tired, uninspired western.

Although the whole affair's rather dull, there are a few nice touches: the scene involving the musical-doll maker (the fake Father Brown from "Sabata"); the catchy music and title song; the attractive landscapes (more lush-green than desert-yellow here); and a scene I find hilarious but shouldn't when, out of Galloway's shooting range, one of the Craig brothers gasps and pretends to have been hit - then sits up and blows Galloway a big raspberry! Alright, I know it's not exactly the Tuco/Gunsmith scene from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", but what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in it's short and sweetness. Trust me. Oh, please yourselves... Another plus is the presence of Berger and Wayde Preston. Both pretty much sleepwalk through their roles but they play them both straight and convincingly and stop this from being a complete and utter waste of time. I guess this isn't bad enough to be in the "so awful it's good" category, but for one or two viewings it's passable. Just make sure you go down the pub/bar before watching it...

*Dumb dialogue* The doll maker's daughter (Clementine in my version) commenting on how economically sound it is to waste food: "I do get pleasure from fixing dinner as if there were a lot of people around - to help us forget we're poor."

I liked William Berger in this film and I liked the story. The final gunfight was very exciting. It was something like the one in For a Few Dollars More.

The ending wasn't all that funny, though and I thought the film dragged somewhat in the middle. The jailbreak was good and so was the hunt through death valley. I think many of the same people who were in Sabata were in this film although I am not sure.

The theme song "King for a Day" was very good and fitted the film. All spaghettis should have good music and this one does.

Ice cold outlaw William Berger frees three brothers on the verge of execution in exchange for fifty percent of their unrecovered loot. Unfortunately for him, recovering the money isn't as easy as he'd hoped for, having not accounted for the double-cross the brothers have planned.

What could have been a run-of-the-mill spaghetti western is made more watchable by an interesting performance by Berger, who plays his role with no emotion whatsoever, making the few times he shows any joy or compassion look like the mimicry of a sociopath!

As far as everything else goes, direction and production values are adequate, though it's the gun-play and seeing how the aloof Berger reacts to different situations and challenges that really makes the film fun.