Dead Men Ride (1971) Poster

(1971)

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6/10
Chorizo /Spaghetti Western starred by an Italian hero , Fabio Testi and a Spanish villain , Eduardo Fajardo .
ma-cortes2 July 2012
Spanish-Italian co-production full of action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . A good example of Latino western genre mostly filmed in Spain . This is a co-production Spanish-Italian with a varied cast formed by actors of diverse countries . This meaty Western contains interesting plot , violence , shoot'em up and is quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , drama with surprising final . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . After escaping prison Roy (Fabio Testi) crosses Mexico frontier , being wounded he seeks shelter in a mining community where is healed . The miners (Jose Calvo , Daniel Martin , both of whom appear in ¨For a fistful of dollars¨) implore the help Roy to protect them from three corrupt owners Redfield (Fajardo) , the hunchback Lawrence (Carra) and Newman (Romano Puppo). As Roy posing as a card-player arrives in a little town dominated by villain Redfield(Eduardo Fajardo , unforgettable nasty in Django ) and his underlings . Roy goes out to avenge battling murderous and executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots, hits and kills each person involved in his imprisonment . As Roy seeks vengeance against Redfield and is only helped by a mining leader (Jose Calvo) who is caught and hung . While the Redfield' hoodlums kill , mistreat and harass miners . Roy Greenford is trapped and receives violent punches, kicks , and ultimately is helped by Jessica (Charo Lopez) .

Paella/Spaghetti Western with two top-of -the range players as Fabio Testi and Eduardo Fajardo . Offbeat Chorizo-Spaghetti Western co-produced by Spain and Italy and follows the Sergio Leone wake and it is proceeded in violent style . The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Fabio Testi against the heartless Eduardo Fajardo and his underlings . Testi is fine, he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills but is finally detained and strongly tortured . This movie is a lot of fun to watch. It's an acceptable story with a touch of peculiarity, some particular characters, and an amazing music score . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge, as a man goes to a border little town and looks for vendetta against his tyrants . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare, but what makes this movie stand out is its style . This is an exciting film, plenty action , thrills, fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors from Spain as Alcala De Henares , Hoyo De Manzanares and La Pedriza , Madrid . Acceptable action sequences with rousing attacks and spectacularly realistic shootouts. Charismatic performance for whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Fabio Testi is good in his usual tough role . Fantastic performance by the always great Eduardo Fajardo as the slimy, menacing exploiter make up for , here in his ordinary role as a corrupt and in a cruelly baddie character , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and tough aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . Appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Jose Calvo , Daniel Martin , Miguel Del Castillo , Rufino Ingles , Massimo Serato , Romano Puppo, Goffredo Unger , and Luciano Pigozzi nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre and many others. 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 , as in the final gunfights and the spectacular conclusion . The movie gets the usual Western issues, such as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies, soundtrack with Morricone influence , among them . The sense of pacing is such that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . The musician Bruno Nicolai usual collaborator to Ennio Morricone , 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 , including 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 and acceptable cinematography by Emilio Foriscot , though is necessary a perfect remastering .

The motion picture was produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero who started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin . After that , he produced with his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Marchent with Frank Latimore . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today sadly disappeared , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , various Zorros and this one . He produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨and ¨Winchester 1 between 1000¨ by Primo Zeglio and this ¨At the end of the rainbow¨ by Aldo Florio . Aldo was an expert on action , crime and Eurospy film as proved in : 1998 Crimine Contro crimine , 1978 Una vita Venduta , 1968 Tutto Sul Rosso , 1967 L'Uomo del Colpo Perfetto, and his first Western directed in 1966 : Five for revenge .
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8/10
Great Lost Spaghetti.
miketraverss10 October 2022
This is a great Spaghetti Western. Seemingly lost, as I can find no mentions of it in any lists/favourites of the genre and was difficult getting a viewable copy with English subtitles.

Released in 1971 when the serious Spaghetti cycle was on the wane and spoof comedies led by Terence Hill and Bud Spencer were at the fore.

This is definitely in the Fistful of Dollars style, some people might feel to much, but it is well written and directed with a good cast of actors. Fabio Testi does good Clint Eastwood and Charo Lopez is good as the rather abused Jessica.

Altogether a great find, one of the better Spaghetti's, as I have now seen 76 of them this is in the top echelon.

Seek it out.
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10/10
When Spaghetti Was Golden...
heybhc3 March 2006
This is a wonderfully competent spaghetti western made at a time when the Italian film industry was cranking them out at the rate of five or six a month, and this is one of the best. You may recognize the main town as the same one Clint Eastwood cleans up in A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, and this film shares some of the qualities of that prototypical spaghetti; the hero appearing out of a cloud of dust at the end, poncho-clad, facing six villains, and also the presence of Jose Calvo who appeared in FOD. Fabio Testi is good as a prison escapee with a mission, and we find out in flashbacks just what that mission is, what it has cost him, and what his ultimate payoff will be. Charo Lopez plays Jessica, somewhat more important to the plot than most women in these films, and the film features quite a lot of her. A ton of action and one of Bruno Nicolai's most beautiful scores add to the enjoyment. Beautifully directed in the best Leone style by Aldo Florio, this makes me want to see the same director's FIVE GIANTS FROM Texas. Recommended.
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5/10
There's only one single unique gun moment out of the entie movie
jordondave-2808512 November 2023
(1971) Dead Men Ride/ Anda muchacho, spara!/ El sol baja la tierra (In Spanish with English subtitles) SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Co-written and directed by Aldo Florio that has a young convict (Fabio Testi) escaping from a prison compound until an impoverished gold miner, Joselito (José Calvo) decides to help and and heal his wounds in his little shack. Jose then names him "muchacho" because he has no identity as he realizes he with a group of slave miners, mining for their boss named Redfield (Eduardo Fajardo) with hired thugs to keep them at bay, so that they do not take their gold dust some place else. Jose manages to hide his gold dust in a secret hideout inside his shack, and decides to hand it to Muchacho so that he can buy the provisions he needs that also includes a gun and a horse. By the time Muchacho comes into town, he searches for a barber named Manolo (Luciano Pigozzi). And at first, Manolo does not recognize him, but as soon as he mentions the name "Emiliano". Manolo begins to freak out and tries to gun Muchacho while he was sitting on the barber's chair with a shot gun hidden behind the bar, except that because of the mirror, Muchacho manages to shoot him down first. One of the goons that was also in the 'bed and bath' leaves to tell his boss Redfield about this. And the next thing we know, Muchacho is gunning more gunmen who work for Redfield whenever he mutters the name "Emilliano". And it is not until the very end viewers will understand why.

Out of the entire movie, there is only one interesting gun moment and that is the very first person Muchacho had killed which he manages to shoot and kill someone from behind while sitting on the barber's chair. The other scenarios, is nothing original or unique we have not seen from other westerns or Spaghetti Westerns for that matter. If i were to see this movie dubbed, my rating might have been lower.
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