It is a thrilling western that packs a story full of violence , fights , killings and subsequent suspense , so-so dramatic pace , twists and slick direction . A little boy is kidnapped by nasty outlaw band whose leader turns out to be the vicious cutthroat nicknamed ¨El Cachal¨ (Fernando Sancho) , a known Mexican thief . Then , Cachal and his henchmen (Jose Luis Martin , Espartaco Conversi) butcher the child's family with the exception of his dad . Later on , the father called Johnny Ashley (Anthony Steffen) returns home and looks for his son . Many years later , one time grown-up the kid's become into a killer gunslinger , the feared Jerry (Roberto Miali) , and his adopting father results to be the ominous bandit ¨El Cachal .
Decent Maccaroni/Chorizo Western dealing with a deadly confrontation , including interesting elements of Greek tragedy , though it has some flaws and gaps , too . This violent Spaghetti results to be an oater plenty of action , thrills , gun-play , in a word : emotion . Besides , it contains effective action sequences as when there takes place the final attack on the town or the exciting ending gun-down between father and son . It's a medium budget film with passable actors , technicians, production values and ordinary results . Here there are ritual shootouts among gunslingers confronting each other in some quick-draw duels in the accepted Western movie fashion . It follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . Acceptable action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts . Charismatic performance for the whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is good in his usual tough role . Enjoyable and sympathetic performance by the always great Fernando Sancho . In the film appears ordinary Tortilla/Spaghetti Western actors , such as : José Luis Martin , Elisa Montes , Spartaco Conversi , Franco Fantasia and Loredana Nusciack of ¨Django¨ .
The picture displays a resounding and appropriate musical score by Francesco De Massi who composes one of the his best Western soundtracks . And colorful and glimmer cinematography by Jose F. Aguayo who photographed various Buñuel films . Being filmed on location in Hoyo Manzanares del Real , Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza , Madrid , Spain and El Lacio , Rome , Italy . This Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Italy and important Spanish participation , being decently shot by the Italian professional Albert Cardone . Albert was a prestigious assistant director to popular films as ¨Ben Hur¨, ¨Purple noon¨, ¨Cagliostro¨ , ¨Carmen¨ , ¨Don Camilo¨ , ¨Return of Don Camilo¨. And shot some films , most of them entertaining Westerns such as : ¨¨ Blood at Sundown¨ , ¨Kidnapping¨ , ¨Il Lungo Giorno Del Massacro¨ , ¨20.000 Dollari Sul¨ , ¨L'ira Di Dio¨ and starred by usual genre stars as Brett Halsey , Gianni Garco , Peter Martell , Wayde Preston , Fernando Sancho and Anthony Steffen . Rating : Acceptable and passable 5.5/10 . Only for Spaghetti Western aficionados .
