Alfonso Brescia's "Killer Calibro 32" is a decent, although not exceptionally breathtaking Spaghetti Western, which does not get boring for a minute and shouldn't be missed by fans of the genre. "Killer Caliber .32" doesn't contain any new, or very imaginative elements, but the story of an antihero, a contract killer in this case, is delivered very well and although the movie is certainly no genre-highlight or masterpiece, lovers of the Italian Western should be pleased with this solid and very entertaining film.
Hired gun Silver (Peter Lee Lawrence) is a contract killer with style. He will kill a man for 1000 dollars, but he wouldn't quite take any job. He proudly says that he only kills people who deserve to die, he uses silver bullets, and he insists on being called 'Mr. Silver' not just 'Silver'. His paying customers include poor Mexican workers, who want him to get rid of their despotic boss, a sadistic landowner, or a saloon owner who needs him to kill a brutal bandit. Silver always waits for his target person to draw his gun out, so he can always claim self-defense. After doing a job in a little town, Silver gets hired by the owners of a local bank to eliminate a gang of outlaws who constantly rob the stagecoaches, and who killed all the passengers on their last raid.
When I first saw this film, I wasn't quite sure if Peter Lee Lawrence was the right man to play the role of contract killer Silver, since he just looked too young (early 20s), in my opinion. One must say, however, that he played his role well, and after seeing the movie I had changed my mind. Beautiful Hélène Chanel, who plays the daughter of a murder victim, also delivers a nice performance. The cast furthermore contains Alberto Dell'Acqua, whom Spaghetti Western fans might know for playing Franco Nero's younger brother in Ferdinando Baldi's "Texas Addio" of 1966. The rest of the performances are not bad either, but I can't say any of them were particularly worth mentioning. What I really liked about "Killer Caliber .32" was the fact that Silver stays an antihero throughout the whole movie, he doesn't have a problem to shoot people, even if they are already wounded and lying on the ground. The score by Robby Poitevin is also quite good, again, nothing phenomenal, but decent.
All said, "Killer Calibro 32" is a solid and very entertaining Spaghetti Western with a fair amount of violence, nothing spectacular, but certainly a film that my fellow fans of the genre should not miss. Recommended. 7/10
Hired gun Silver (Peter Lee Lawrence) is a contract killer with style. He will kill a man for 1000 dollars, but he wouldn't quite take any job. He proudly says that he only kills people who deserve to die, he uses silver bullets, and he insists on being called 'Mr. Silver' not just 'Silver'. His paying customers include poor Mexican workers, who want him to get rid of their despotic boss, a sadistic landowner, or a saloon owner who needs him to kill a brutal bandit. Silver always waits for his target person to draw his gun out, so he can always claim self-defense. After doing a job in a little town, Silver gets hired by the owners of a local bank to eliminate a gang of outlaws who constantly rob the stagecoaches, and who killed all the passengers on their last raid.
When I first saw this film, I wasn't quite sure if Peter Lee Lawrence was the right man to play the role of contract killer Silver, since he just looked too young (early 20s), in my opinion. One must say, however, that he played his role well, and after seeing the movie I had changed my mind. Beautiful Hélène Chanel, who plays the daughter of a murder victim, also delivers a nice performance. The cast furthermore contains Alberto Dell'Acqua, whom Spaghetti Western fans might know for playing Franco Nero's younger brother in Ferdinando Baldi's "Texas Addio" of 1966. The rest of the performances are not bad either, but I can't say any of them were particularly worth mentioning. What I really liked about "Killer Caliber .32" was the fact that Silver stays an antihero throughout the whole movie, he doesn't have a problem to shoot people, even if they are already wounded and lying on the ground. The score by Robby Poitevin is also quite good, again, nothing phenomenal, but decent.
All said, "Killer Calibro 32" is a solid and very entertaining Spaghetti Western with a fair amount of violence, nothing spectacular, but certainly a film that my fellow fans of the genre should not miss. Recommended. 7/10