Tuesday, February 2, 2021

A Town Called Hell (1971)

A gritty spaghetti western but taken to such extremes as to approach self-parody. A band of Mexican bandits takes over a small town and massacres much of the population, either by gun or noose. Some time later Alvira (Stella Stevens) turns up with a hearse looking for her husband's body and the identity of his killer and will pay a handsome price in gold.

Obviously the leader in the town, Don Carlos (Telly Savalas) is keen on the reward. The name of the killer is apparently someone called Aguila though no one knows where he is. Not the rebel leaders one of whom is now the priest (Robert Shaw) and The Colonel (Martin Landau)...

In truth the film is rather confusing though also very brutal and sadistic. It is a messy film where the flow is continually interrupted by little vignettes, some of which work some don't. Interesting if not wonderful.