A Town Called Hell

That's the question viewers continually ask themselves while watching A Town Called Hell.

Mexican Colonel Martin Landau wants Aguila captured, while former revolutionary Robert Shaw, now a priest knows what Aguila looks like but he's not telling and Stella Stevens thinks Aguila may have murdered her husband (when not lying in a coffin, pretending to be a corpse!), offering twenty thousand dollars to the person who points him out.

Macho posturing, a great all-star cast including Telly Savalas as the towns sleazy mayor, and strong visuals are all wasted on a confusing script and bad editing in this wannabe spaghetti western made by British filmmakers in Spain and set during the Mexican Revolution.

Everything's cleared up in the film's weird final scene, but by that time the viewer is so mentally exhausted as to no longer care! However, I'll grudgingly recommend this strictly for the action sequences and an odd dance-hall scene featuring a soundalike cover version of Johnny Horton's hit song "The Battle Of New Orleans", featuring a few verses I've never heard before!

This isn't a spaghetti western as some people have labeled it to be, seeing that there was no Italian involvement. Instead, it was a co-production between the United Kingdom and Spain. However, it all the same looks and feels just like a spaghetti western despite having an American (Robert Parrish) in the director's chair. Parrish certainly gives the movie a nice gritty feeling. Unfortunately, he seems unable to do much with the script. The story starts off making a reasonable amount of sense, but eventually starts to get very confusing thanks to the multiple characters and the various twists and turns. It doesn't help that a lot of the dialogue is poorly recorded, making it hard at times to figure out what the characters are saying. In the end, the movie becomes somewhat boring due to the confusion, as well as the fact that there is a lot less action than you might think. It also wastes a very interesting cast, who all seem to know they are stuck in a lesser movie and give half-hearted performances as a result.

This star-studded British/Spanish co-production looks great, what you can see of it. I have three versions, two VHS, one DVD, and all are terribly cropped, so badly that it looks as if buildings are having conversations with each other. Few films suffer as badly from pan and scan as this one, as director Robert Parrish seems to have been so enamored with the widescreen process that he tended to use both sides of the screen at once, neglecting the middle. Another user comments that we see the entire inhabitants of a church massacred at the beginning; not in any of the copies I have. There are some abrupt cuts of peasants firing their rifles, one Mexican officer is shot, Shaw and Landau celebrating, and that's it. We never find out why Shaw has become a priest (if he really is), we never find out what happens to Don Carlos (Savalas) although I suspect he was called home to star in Kojak, as his departure seems arbitrary. And there is a strange flashback sequence where Michael Craig (Mysterious Island) is dancing around in a bowler hat and bad suit in the great old English music hall tradition to the 1960 hit BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, not sung by Johnny Horton here but with some lyrics I've never heard before. On the plus side, the location is great, a huge old ruined fortress with Escher-style stairs leading nowhere, some nice scenery-chewing by Robert Shaw, and good performances by Stevens, Landau, Lettieri, and Telly Savalas as Telly Savalas. I didn't really like this film, but I haven't exactly seen it. I will seek the widescreen version and make my decision then.

When I see a late night film with 'bastard' in the title, I'm inclined to tape it and find out what it's about. (I've taped this twice and lost both, found it on DVD, seem to have lost that too). Yes it was listed as "A Town Called Bastard" by the BBC.

If you're one of those people who think a good Western needs Mexicans (e.g. The Wild Bunch) this has plenty: sombreros, moustaches, guns, tortilla-preparation, cruel laughter etc. A lot of these Mexicans die, perhaps somewhat gratuitously. So if you like guns and death in sunny Mexico, and you'd like to see Telly Savalas as the Mayor of a town called Bastardo - you'll love this.

e.g. "Who killed my husband?" demands the pale blonde: cue an old woman to shout the name from a high building - gun out, excellent shot (like shooting ducks at a fairground), another one bites the hot dry dust...

The rest has already been well covered by other user comments, worth watching if this is your sort of thing.

This offbeat film starts with a violent attack on a town by a revolutionary group , they murder a priest and his Christian followers . Later on , the leader (Robert Shaw) appears like a boozy-addicted priest in the town called Bastarda . There arrives on a hearse , a beautiful woman named Alvira (Stella Stevens) suited in black and lying into a coffin , the carriage is driven by a strange deaf-mute gunfighter named Espectro (Dudley Shutton) . The widower attempts the revenge from her husband's murderer named Aguila and offers to Carlos (Telly Savalas) , a violent ruler , a reward if he hands over her the killer . Then , the town is invaded by the Mexican army ruled by a cruel colonel (Martin Landau) , he also intents to encounter Aguila and threatens to hang and shoot inhabitants , unless he's delivered . Meanwhile , it is narrated a rare flashback with Paco (Michael Craig) in some sequences of hall dance and catching music , being pursued by the revolutionary character (Robert Shaw), posteriorly become priest .

The film contains Western action , shootouts , tortures , disturbing characters and lots of violence with strong hanging . It's developed on impressive sets , an enormous and old ruined fortress-town . Good performance by Robert Shaw as priest with a dark past , Martin Landau as a ruthless colonel , a mysterious Stella Stevens with a strange flashback like a vampire dreamed by the priest and Telly Savalas at a cynic and violent characterization , promptly finished for execution by one of his own henchmen , Al Lettieri . The movie gets usual Spaghetti Western elements , as greedy antiheroes , violent facing with revenger roles , quick Zooms and excessive close-up . Besides , appearing in secondary roles , habitual in Italian western genre , thus : Fernando Rey as the old blind man , Aldo Sambrell (Sergio Leone's ordinary) , Tito Garcia , Cris Huerta , Antonio Mayans , among others . Inclusively the starring Telly Savalas , though in a short-role , played various spaghetti (Pancho Villa , A reason to live a reason to die , Land raiders , Criminal story of an outlaw couple) . Colorful cinematography by Manuel Berenguer , he's a customary cameraman of US productions filmed in Spain (King of kings , Son of gunfighter , Pyro , Krakatoa). Cheesy and inappropriate musical score by Waldo Rios , he composed fine soundtracks (Murders in Rue Morgue , Bad man's river , Island of damned) until his early dead , but he committed suicide . The motion picture was regularly (it contains some cuts , flaws and gaps) directed by Robert Parrish . He was an Academy Award winning , film editor , won an Academy Award for ¨Body and soul (1947) and directed numerous films of all kind of genres , Sci-Fi (Doppelganger) , Western (Saddle the wind , The wonderful county) , action comedy (Casino Royale) and warlike (his main success : Purple plain with Gregory Peck) .