Montana Trap (1976) Poster

(1976)

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4/10
Below average Schnitzel/Spaghetti Western shot in Almeria , being packed with thrills , intrigue violence and crossfire
ma-cortes28 June 2019
Fun , and entertaining but rare West German Spaghetti Western with Indian/cavalry setting including gunplay , noisy action , bizarre villains , shootouts and adding stampede with American Buffalo going bersek . Potato Fritz (Hardy Kruger) is a drunk farmer who has a bear as a friendly fellow and he cultivates his fruits along a dangerous pass . Meanwhile , German immigrants and settlers move to Wild West and cross the hazardous pass . Outlaws (Arthur Brauss , David Hess) pretending to be Native Americans on the war path besieged them in an attempt to rob some gold . Thing go wrong , when at the risked pass shows up a stranger drifter named Bill Ardisson (Stephen Boyd ) . Along the way there takes place confrontation , gundown , brawls and many other things .

This moving Western packs thrills , noisy action , go riding , Indian attacks spectacular struggles , lots of gutsy adventure , a little bit of humor and plot twists at the end . It follows Italian models more than American ones , displaying an intrigue about assaults to colonist wagons throughout a perilous pass . In the picture there's western action , shootouts, thrills , and a little bit of moderated violence .The film is regularly played by a fine star-cast though really wasted . Starred by the incombustible Hardy Kruger , he was discovered by foreign film distributor J. Arthur Rank, which promptly cast him in three British pictures practically filmed back-to-back: The one that got away (1957), Bachelor of Hearts (1958) and Blind date (1959), in which he appeared simply as a foreigner and not a German, as was usually the case. Following the release of these films Hardy's career took off. Despite anti-German sentiment that still prevailed in postwar Europe, Hardy, described as "ruggedly handsome" and a "blond heartthrob", became an international favorite, paving the way to his first American role as co-star with John Wayne in the Tanganyika-shot wildlife adventure ¡Hatari! (1962). Co-starred by Stephen Boyd , who interpreted some famous films such as Ben Hur , Fantastic voyage , The Oscar , The fall of Roman Empire , but his star tarnished and he finished performing B-films and Spaghetti Westerns as A man called Noon , Dirty dogs , Ana Caulder and this one . Here stands out a motley group of secondaries of several countries as the German : the footballer Paul Breitner , Friedrich von Ledebur who played Moby Dick as Queequeg, Dan van Husen who played a great number of Spaghetti , Diana Körner who acted Barry Lindon , Arthur Brauss who is a prolific German actor working from the sixties and Spanish players : Mariano Vidal Molina , Luis Barboo , Fernando Villena , all of them usual in Paella/Spaghetti sub-genre , and the American David Hess from Last house on the left . The film well filmed in Tabernas and Texas Hollywood-Fort Bravo , Almeria , with a good production design , but with a lousy cinematography by Jost Vacano who subsequently did Hollywood career , as a perfect remasterizing being extremely necessary . as the motion picture has been filmed on La Pedriza , Manzanares of Real , Madrid and Almeria (Spain), where during the 6os and early the 7os were shot several spaghetti western . Inappropriate and anticlimatic musical score by Udo Jurgens , adding classic music : Symphony No. 9 "New World Symphony" by Anton Dvorak when a Buffalo estampede happens .

This film titled : Zwei gegen Tod und Teufel (West Germany) or Montana Trap(United States) or Masacre en Condor Pass (Spain) or A Passagem do Condor (Brazil) was badly directed by Peter Schamoni (1934-2011) , a German craftsman known for his shorts , documentary and a few films , being specially known for : Die widerrechtliche Ausübung der Astronomie (1967), Max Ernst: Mein Vagabundieren - Meine Unruhe (1991) , La veda del zorro (1966) , Your Caresses ((1969) and particularly Spring Symphony (1983) with Natassja Kinski that chronicles the illustrious 19th-century love affair between composer Robert Schumann and pianist Claire Weick . Rating 3.5/10 . Inferior Spaghetti Western .
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4/10
Shallow pota... ummm spaghetti western
Horst_In_Translation28 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Potato Fritz" or "Zwei gegen Tod und Teufel" or "Montana Trap" is a West German German-language film from 1976, so this one had its 40th anniversary last year. It is not too long of a film, runs for under 85 minutes not counting credits and is one of the longer works by Oscar nominee Peter Schamoni, neither one of his earlier nor later efforts. The cast is partially German, partially foreign. Hardy Krüger, almost 90 now, plays the title character and the other big name is Stephen Boyd, a Golden Globe winner for a true classic, but this film he made here came out around the time of his untimely death already. Then there's Rainer Basedow, Diana Körner, David Hess, so the cast sure had something to offer. And you will even find soccer professional Paul Breitner here for some reason, but his role is not big enough to really do damage. The writer is Austrian Paul Hengge, maybe one of the lesser known names attached to this project.

The title and poster give away that this is a Western film and this one is already from way past the great glory days of Winnetou in Germany. And as this one is at least as much about the comedy as it was about the drama (at least according to IMDb), it is quite a challenge as making a good film out of the two genres western and comedy is a huge challenge. I don't think they succeeded here. However, it was not a real failure either, so great (spaghetti) western fans can check it out and perhaps they will not be too disappointed. The physical appearance of the cast makes up occasionally for the flaws in story-telling, but the acting wasn't too great here either. These days, it is certainly fairly difficult to still get a hand on this film, but that's not too bad. If you skip it, you won't be missing that much really. The atmospheric take and the cinematography are also not as good as I hoped they would be and eventually the characters, no matter if good or bad, are just not memorable enough to stay in the mind and make an impact on the audience. I give this one a thumbs-down overall. Don't watch.
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5/10
nothing entertaining here
sandcrab27729 December 2018
A bunch of dumb hicks that let the outlaws do as they please makes for a very dull film ... the only smart people in this piece of german junk are the real indians ... potatoes and greens are more valuable than gold ... if you believe that then this is your cup of grog
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8/10
Entertaining Western
joandaniels2 January 2003
If you like "spaghetti" westerns, you may enjoy this yarn of the Old Wild West. Hardy Kruger turns in a amusing performance and my favorite, Stephen Boyd, seems to be having a pretty good time in his cowboy role as well. This is a German film and one of Stephen Boyd's last, released just before his premature passing in 1977 just as he was making a return to films as a supporting character actor rather than the leading man roles he played in the 60's films. He was a well-seasoned, solid actor and it's unfortunate for us that he didn't have the chance to make more films like this one.
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