La caza del oro (1972) Poster

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5/10
Very average Spaghetti/Paella/Butifarra Western shot in Spain with three usual genre stars : Anthony Steffen , Daniel Martin and Fernando Sancho
ma-cortes20 May 2017
So-so but amusing Macarroni/Tortilla or Gazpacho Western with plenty of action , crossfire , brawls , double-crosses , twists and loads of shots . The movie is running out of ideas a bit ; nevertheless , it is still good enough to be fun . Mediocre Chorizo/Spaghetti Western co-produced by Spain/Italy with the ordinary confrontation between Anthony Steffen and Fernando Sancho . It deals with group of cutthroats awaits the release from county jail an old goldminer called Carver (Manuel Guitian) . Carver has been long time in prison for a gold robbing and believed to have hidden 28 sacks of the rich mineral . They all want the aging prospector -who has been 20 years locked- to speak , but only one of them will fulfill his dream . Several outlaws surrounding the prison , but only the shrewdest of the bandits , Trash (Anthony Steffen) , gains the reliance of the old inmate and with a Mexican desperado , Josè (Daniel Martin) , they begin the quest for gold that has been hidden 20 years before . When Carver is freed , he is kidnapped by a band that pretends to steal his precious gold . But too many people are involved in this quest , including a powerful owner (Luis Induni) , his deputies and a dangerous killer (Gaspar Indio Gonzalez) with his band . Later on , they attempt to take a valuable sculpture of Saint Fermin . After that , they meet the nasty outlaw Fermin Rojas (Fernando Sancho) and things go awry .

This stirring tortilla/Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action and riding pursuits . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Catalunya and Fraga , Huesca , full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots , fights and with some looks that say it all , including an exciting ending . Starring Anthony Steffen who stands out his strong , piercing eyes and striking look , featuring as a man out for gold robbing . Steffen is passable as a gunfighter who vows take a cache of gold at whatever price . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between the tough Pistolero Anthony Steffen and Fernando Sancho as the notorious killer called Fermin Rojas . Charismatic performance for all casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is nice as Trash Benson . Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Steffen was one of the most popular actors of the genre — at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics . The handsome, Italian-born — actually at the Brazilian embassy in Rome — Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz began working in films as a studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica . From there, Steffen began acting in sword-and-sandal epics, later moving onto the Western genre , where he found his niche . Then , Steffen jumped at the chance when offered the main character in ¨Last Mohican¨. He wound up settling in western genre for the next two decades . As he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns , and as he starred such notorious Spaghetti as ¨Django Il Bastard¨, ¨Arizona returns¨, ¨Garringo¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨, ¨Tequila¨, ¨A train to Durango¨ , and many others . Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood, however, Steffen never became a top international box-office attraction . To avoid being penned in too much as a simple gunfighter , he played all kinds of genres as Giallo , Erotic , Thriller and Prison movie . Support cast is frankly good , thanks to the boastful Fernando Sancho , playing a likable but murderous bandit , as usual . He played a Mexican outlaw lots of times , as he starred multitude ¨Chorizo¨ or ¨Pipperone¨ Westerns , as the quarrelsome , swanky Mexican bandit , such as : ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨Return of Ringo¨, "Requiem for a Gringo" , "Dakota Joe" , ¨Winchester Bill¨ , "The Man Who Came to Kill" and several others . Here appear important secondaries from Spaghetti/Tortilla or Paella Western , these are the followings : Daniel Martin , Luis Induni , Tania Alvarado , Juan Torres ,Raf Baldassarre , Gustavo Re , Gaspar 'Indio' González , among others .

This violent tale with some hilarious moments being decent but poorly photographed by Julio Pérez de Rozas in Eastmancolor . Mostly filmed in atmospheric though poor scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Splugles De Llobregat¨ built by Balcazar Productions and in Matadapera , Barcelona , Catalonia and in Elios studios , Rome . Enjoyable and jolly musical score by Marcelo Giombini . The motion picture was regularly directed by Juan Bosch . He managed to make a fluid and filled with thrills , duels , attacks , and shots , though average and in low budget . Juan was a Spanish craftsman , writing and directing ; working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies such as Spaghetti Western : ¨Dallas¨, "God in Heaven.. Arizona on Earth¨, "And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave" , "My Horse, My Gun, Your Widow" ,¨Ciudad Maldita¨, ¨They Believed He Was No Saint" , "Stagecoach of the Condemned" ; Giallo : "The Killer Wore Gloves" , "On the Edge" or "The Killer with a Thousand Eyes" ; Comedy : Mauricio Mon Amour¨, ¨40 Años Sin Sexo¨, ¨Caray Con Divorcio¨ , ¨Rolls Para Hipolito¨ and Terror : ¨Exorcismo¨, ¨Secta Siniestra¨ . Rating : 4.5/10 , mediocre but entertaining , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Tortilla , Butifarra or Spaghetti westerns , this one remains lightly watchable .
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6/10
Worth watching
pmtelefon15 June 2022
"Too Much Gold For One Gringo" (that was the title of this movie when I watched it) ends up being pretty good. It has a good story, some good characters and quite a bit of humor. The cast is also pretty good. It took a little while for me to get on board with this movie but once I did, I enjoyed myself. Honorable mention: a dreamy Tania Alvarado.
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6/10
Let me help you carry that
unbrokenmetal29 August 2023
"Grandpa" Jonathan Carver is released from prison after 20 years, which arouses the keen interest of all kinds of scoundrels, because back in the old days, grandpa had stashed 28 (!) sacks (!!) of gold (!!!) as a kind of 19th century funded pension plan. And he shouldn't have to squander all his wealth alone, right?

After an enjoyable first half, in which one often wonders how the slow old man will manage to escape from his numerous faster pursuers, the second half is Western business as usual with a lot of lead flying around. Properly cast with Anthony Steffen, Daniel Martin and Fernando Sancho, among others, I would therefore only describe the film as average.
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