The Story:
A supernatural revenge folk tale from the old west directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood as a strange drifter who arrives in the town of Lago to a most unfriendly welcome. Taking out a few of the town’s petty criminals earns him the highest respect and an offer none could refuse. If he agrees to kill the wanted bandits who have sworn vengence on the town, he can have absolutely anything it’s people can offer.
The Characters:
Clint Eastwood is out for revenge on everyone in this movie. Eastwood’s character is as much a plague on the town as he is a savior taking advantage of every resource available to him. The town looks at him in both awe and disgust. The bandits are a particularly sadistic bunch, taking joy in all forms of destruction. The town itself feels like a character in the movie, especially after it’s turned into a literal Hell for the bandit’s welcome home ceremony. This movie also taught me that women in the old west had a funny way of showing that they disliked being raped. Do rape victims always gently run they’re fingers through the assailants hair? Or stay with them till morning?
Effects/Gore:
Some decent gunshot wounds and sadistic whip action fill out the running time of the flick.
Lasting Appeal:
Anyone who is a fan of Clint Eastwood should pick this one up. As a horror fan the underlying ghost story was of high interest to me, and Easwood’s character was a total asshole in every sense of the word. It was a very different movie and a nice escape from the mapped out predictibility of most mainstream studio releases in the action genre today.
Final Headcount:
A solid story is the real driving force of this movie. Eastwood’s character is out for revenge, nothing more, and he offers no apologies when he takes it. The bandits are the most dispicable group you could come across and lead with expertise by a grimy Geoffry Lewis (The Devil’s Rejects). Eastwood is crazed with hatred from the beginning, and he did an excellent job of slowly revealing his madness as the movie progressed to it’s grim conclusion. He commands the attention of the viewer with not only his character, but the tone of the movie as a whole.
