Hot Spur is a grimy western roughie, but National Review apparently liked it

 

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Review by Doug Gibson

I'm not much for the 1960s "roughie" genre (today essentially violent R-rated films with nudity), but one film has always intrigued me. It's called "Hot Spur," a 1968 revenge western directed by Lee Frost and co-written by exploitation genre legend Bob Cresse. The reason? Legend has it that the  conservative opinion magazine National Review named it one of its Top 10 films of the year.

Is this true? Perhaps I'll need to search back archives of the magazine to confirm. But just the thought that the late William F. Buckley might have traversed 42nd Street to see this sleazy film, with its frequent nudity and violence, intrigued me. I had to view it and did, for free, on Plex.

It is indeed grimy. A Mexican teenager stablehand, Carlo, is sick and tired of seeing his sister raped. The films opens with a sexual assault on a barmaid, who might be his sister; it's kind of unclear. The teenager follows the rapists back to the ranch. He eventually kidnaps the rich rancher's wife, and rapes and tortures her. There is a very bloody, nihilistic finale. There is gratitious nudity. A typical long-scene example is a visit by the misogynistic assaultants to a bordello, where prostitutes disrobe and for several minutes are groped, squeezed and have beer poured on them by the clothed men, who behave like pigs.

So is this film a step above its low-tier genre?  Maybe a little. It's a pithy tale, direct and to the point; brevity works here. Perhaps National Review was impressed by the crude frontier justice and chaos that results. Also, Carlo, played by James Arena, is kind of interesting. At first the viewer has sympathy for him, due to the abuse he takes from the cowboys and rancher. But as the film goes on Carlo's actions turn evil and his character loses sympathy. That reminds me of George A. Romero's "Martin," where the title wannabe vampire, played by John Amplas, could evoke sympathy but simply goes too far until the audience wants him dead.

Apparently Joseph Mascolo, who plays the rancher Jason O'Hara, became a soap opera star later. Virginia Gordon plays his kidnapped wife, Susan O'Hara. My assumption is she was a star of the adult genre of that era.

Besides Plex and other streamers, this film is for sale by Severin Films as a Blu-Ray, with accompanying feature, shorts and interviews. I believe this weekend it's half price for Black Friday. The Blu-Ray is also at Amazon. If you like this revenge western genre, Plan9Crunch has also reviewed "Cain's Cutthroats." John Carradine is great in that grimy film.

John Carradine makes Cain's Cutthroats a western worth a look

 

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Review by Doug Gibson

"Caine's Cutthroats" is a 1970 revenge western that was originally titled "Caine's Way" (more on that later). It's a very low-budget western with ambitous pretensions. It wants to be deep, and explore how unwarranted suffering and grief can be contaminated into a never-ending desire to torture and kill; and how the desire for revenge can return a good man to his once-evil self. If the producers had just kept a simple plot simple, you might see "Caine's Cutthroats" on western cable channels today instead of the same tired fuzzy print that has made the rounds through a VHS release, various appearances on out-of-print multi-western DVD collections, and current appearances on Tubi, YouTube and Daily Motion.

The plot: "Caine's Cutthroats" are former Confederate soldiers who committed crimes against Union forces. It's long after the Civil War, and they are out of prison. They have resumed criminal activities, stealing a Union military payroll and slaughtering several soldiers. They visit the home of their past gang leader, Justice Cain (Scott Brady), who has renounced his past and lives with his son and new wife, an African-American woman who once served as a slave maid in his household. Cain rebuffs his returning crew and they turn on him, raping his wife and killing her and Cain's young son. They shoot Cain, torch his property and leave him for dead.

There's one main reason to see this film (and another smaller one). The main reason is the introduction of the character, Preacher Simms, played by the great John Carradine. The self-described preacher discovers Cain, nurses him back to health and buries his wife and child. Preacher Simms loves to quote Bible scripture -- often as wry commentary on events he witnesses -- but he makes most of his money as a bounty hunter. He keeps the heads of the outlaws he kills pickled in a big barrel. He collects bounties by delivering the heads to law enforcement. As Cain heals, Simms learns that the Cain's Cutthroats gang members carry healthy bounty rewards. Preacher and Cain join to hunt the 'Cutthroats; Preacher for the money, Cain for revenge.

At this point in his career, Carradine was usually a one- or two-day payday for low-budget films. But he has a substantial role in this film, and I think this may be his best performance in a low-budget film in the early '70s. He just chews up the scenery, quoting Bible scriptures  shows great comic timing, and really seems to be enjoying himself. As he tells Cain, "... I sort of mix vocations, a shepherd of the flock, a hunter of men. ..."

Brady, once a major star and still getting some A-film roles in 1970, seemed to enjoy paydays in low-budget films. He's adequate as Cain, a man who has lost everything and can't control his thirst for vengeance. Although initially the sympathetic victim, he reverts to his former heartless, criminal, sadistic tendencies. 

The simple plot has promise but the execution fails. The film, shot in Kanab, Utah, and Yucca Valley's PioneerTown in California, is very low-budget. It's directed by Kent Osborne, who is slightly less talented than Al Adamson. Both Brady and Carradine, and Robert Dix -- who plays Cain's former second in command -- worked for Adamson. With one exception, the actors who portray the 'Cutthroats are very mediocre. They seem incapable of doing anything other than whooping and hollering, and laughing at inflicting pain. The violence is poorly portrayed, with fake blood, and the scenes are shot crudely and unconvincingly. The scant budget, and 85-minute running time, doesn't provide nuance for the adversaries, nor does it provide sympathy for the protagonist Cain, who shows his rage in explosions of anger, rather than as a slowly-simmering-to-boiling cauldron.

The one positive performance from the 'Cutthroats comes from Darwin Joston, as Billy Joe, a psychopathic former soldier with serious mother issues. Joston went on to star in bigger films, including "Wild at Heart," "The Fog," and "Assault From Precinct 13,"

Now, here's the second cult reason to view "Cain's Cutthroats." There is a small but substantial role by Ed Wood actor -- and his friend -- Valda Hansen. She plays"Zelda,' who is either a barfly or prostitute who cavorts romantically with Billy Joe in a "saloon." (The low budget prevents viewers from really seeing a realistic-looking saloon.) Valda's acting is very strong. She portrays a boisterous woman who really enjoys heavy flirting with the outlaw. A second scene, inside a room where the two prepare to have sex, ends with a partially nude Zelda being strangled to death by the psychopath. He can't engage in sex due to his mother issues, and an angry Zelda insults him, triggering the homicidal rage.

Viewers need to note that the second scene, the murder -- with Hansen's character being strangled -- is missing from both YouTube and Daily Motion versions, as well as DVDs that include "Cain's Cutthroats" with other westerns. The version currently on Tubi has the film with both scenes. Other than the obscure VHS release, that may be the only complete "Cain's Cutthroats" out there. 

Another actor, Adair Jameson, is effective in a small role as Rita, a former mistress of one of the killers, who joins Cain and Preacher after her boyfriend is killed. She engages in a romance with Cain that would have helped him. However, Cain is too consumed with anger to accept her offer of love. After a particularly sadistic killing of one of the murderers, both Rita and Preacher Simms abandon Cain, leaving him for good. The final scene provides a sort of morality tale that is intended to show a broken Cain that cannot achieve peace, even at the end of his vengeance quest.

Jameson has a nude bathing scene that is not cut from any prints. She is probably best known for her tiny role in the Don Knotts comedy, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," where she plays an attractive bank employee, Eileen, whose fully-filled sweater is complimented by her boss, played by James Millhollin. Jameson was married to B-film actor Myron Healey ("The Unearthly").

The "spaghetti westerns" were done a lot better than this California/Utah sadistic 'oater. It boasts some original songs, which seem out of place with the grim story. Mentioned earlier is that the film was released as "Caine's Way." It was about 10 minutes longer and apparently included documentary-like footage of modern-day criminal biking gangs committing mayhem. It would be interesting to see that print. In the unlikely event a nice Blu-Ray print is ever provided for this film, I hope the "Caine's Way"footage is an extra, if it still exists.

In an interview with Cult Movies Magazine published after her death, Valda Hansen expressed a lot of enthusiasm for "Cain's Cutthroats," expressing high hopes and later disappointment that it did not get more exposure. It's one of the few films where Hansen received considerable film time, and she shows she possesses acting skills, as she also does in another '70s low-budget film, "Outlaw Riders."

As you can see from the theater ads interspersed in this review, it did get many bookings. With a bigger budget, less sadism, a bigger star, and Carradine, it might be a favorite today seen on TCM, etc. As it is, it's a mediocre, small-budget revenge western with a very small cult that's due to Carradine's truly bizarre performance, and his comic timing. Despite its shortcomings, I have developed a fondness for the film, and watch it every couple of years. I own a VHS copy.

The Clint Eastwood Westerns – by James L. Neibaur

Review by Steve D. Stones

Although I was not alive in the 1960s when Sergio Leone's Italian westerns came to the United States, I'll never forget seeing A Fistful of Dollars (1964) for the first time in the early 1990s. I was completely mesmerized by the stylized qualities of the film, the more violent approach to depicting the old American West and the iconic poncho worn by Eastwood's character. Leone's view of the American West was far removed from anything I had seen in a John Ford or Howard Hawks western. This excited me and made me thirst for more of these films.

In his 2015 book – The Clint Eastwood Westerns (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers), (link is here) author James L. Neibaur sheds light on many details of Eastwood's acting and directing careers in western films. It is a pleasure to read not only because it goes into details about the Italian westerns Eastwood did with Leone, but the book also covers Eastwood's early TV career as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide, as well as projects Eastwood accomplished between his western films, such as the iconic Dirty Harry films.

Neibaur points out the many similarities of Eastwood's “Man With No Name” in the Italian westerns to many of his later screen roles, such as Dirty Harry (1971), and even his early Don Siegel collaboration – Coogan's Bluff (1968), in which Eastwood plays a simple Arizona lawman in pursuit of a criminal tracked to New York City.

In Coogan's Bluff, Eastwood lays the foundation for many of the character traits found in his Dirty Harry Callahan character. He is a cynical outsider who works within the system, but hates all the rules and protocols of the system itself. In in sense, he is a cowboy of the past placed into the metropolis of our modern world.

As a fan of the Italian westerns, I often wondered why Eastwood's character in the three westerns he made with Leone were all named differently. I assumed all three characters were supposed to be the same man. Neibaur points out why the character had a different name for each film. Eastwood is a loner in the first film (A Fistful of Dollars), and duo in the second film (For A Few Dollars More) and part of a trio in the third film (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly). In A Fistful of Dollars, he is referred to as “Joe” by the town coffin maker. In A Few Dollars More, he is called “Manco.” He is known simply as “Blondie” in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

Neibaur points out that A Fistful of Dollars was produced by Jolly Films. This company had a falling out with director Leone and did not become involved with the sequel – For A Few Dollars More. Jolly Films sued, claiming rights to the “Joe” character in A Fistful of Dollars. It was decided in court that a unknown gunfighter, bounty killer character, such as “Joe,” cannot be copyrighted, so therefore he exists in the public domain. Giving Eastwood the “Manco” name in For A Few Dollars More may have been a way to try and not connect the two characters in any way.

Although the Italian westerns of Leone and Eastwood were a box office smash worldwide, their relationship was quite strained by the time The Good, The Bad & The Ugly wrapped up production in 1966, as Neibaur points out in the book. So strained, in fact, that when Eastwood was offered the Harmonica role (later given to Charles Bronson) in Once Upon A Time In The West (1969), Eastwood turned it down after a meeting with Leone that went poorly.

The book would not be complete without placing some focus on Eastwood's great accomplishments as an American director. As with his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Eastwood became a master of his directing craft, and went on to direct some of the greatest westerns in cinema history, such as High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), which many consider his greatest directed western, Pale Rider (1985) and the crown of his western film achievements – Unforgiven (1992), in which he won a Best Director Oscar. The American Film Institute has listed Unforgiven as the fourth greatest western in cinema history, right after The Searchers (1956), High Noon (1952) and Shane (1953).

If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood westerns, I recommend James L. Neibaur's book – The Clint Eastwood Westerns. Happy reading.

Gold Raiders featured the Three Stooges in a supporting role

By Doug Gibson

"The Gold Raiders," 1951, B and W, 56 minutes, directed by Edward Bernds, starring George O'Brien as "George O'Brien," The Three Stooges, Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard, Lyle Talbot as Taggert, Sheila Ryan as Laura Mason and Clem Bevans as Doc Mason.


This "oater" is a curio, mainly because it features the Three Stooges in supporting roles. The very short B-film stars silent and early talkie cowboy film star George O'Brien as a lawman turned insurance man hired by mining companies to get their gold safely to the bank. Crime boss Lyle Talbot wants to steal the gold. He tries to get information on where the gold is being taken from a drunken old doctor (Bevans) who, with his stooped figure and drawling voice, is made for westerns.

The Three Stooges play bumbling peddlers who ally with O'Brien to keep the gold safe. Gold Raiders is an OK film. It's nothing special from the hundreds of other "oaters" made in Hollywood but an aging O'Brien does an OK job shooting and fighting. Talbot, who starred in Ed Wood films, is a good villain and the Stooges are funny.

Director Bernds, who helmed many Stooge shorts, a few with the trio's beautiful blonde co-star Christine McIntyre, and later some features, told Cult Movies Magazine that Moe Howard was envious of Abbott and Costello and wanted to get into features. The result was Gold Raiders, an almost forgotten film today that was meant more as a comeback vehicle for O'Brien. Bernds recalled that the film was trashed by critics but, in my opinion, it really isn't too bad. Its main handicap is an abysmally low budget. It was shot in five days and looks it. One unintentionally funny scene includes a close-range shootout in a cramped saloon where almost no one seems to get shot. The film is also unique in that it may be the only western ever made where an insurance man is a two-fisted, gunslinging hero! It's a fun film and it's interesting and not unpleasant to see see the Stooges as comedy relief is a western action film.

According to Bernds, the film idea was hatched because Moe was envious of the success of the comedy team of Abbott & Costello. Despite the obscurity of Gold Raiders, the Stooges later made several features where they were the stars, including The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, Snow White and the Three Stooges and The Outlaws is Coming. Truth is, though, I enjoy the lean and mean Gold Raiders more than any of the later bigger-budget efforts. The Stooges are more effective as comedy relief, rather than the main components of a film

Notes: The makeup for Gold Raiders was done by Ed Wood regular Harry Thomas. Gold Raiders was released by United Artists but plans for a sequel with the Stooges and O'Brien were abandoned. The film was released to TV several years later and then sat for decades forgotten until 2006 when Warner Brothers released it on DVD. It can be bought via amazon.com

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia – A Peckinpah Classic

By Steve D. Stones

“There ain’t nothing sacred about a hole in the ground or the man that’s in it.” – Bennie (Warren Oates)

It’s unfortunate that director Sam Peckinpah’s 1974 film – Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia never found an audience at the time it was released, and did not impress most film critics. The film has aged well and developed more respect from viewers and film critics over the decades.

The film opens with a serene sequence of a young girl caressing her pregnant belly at the shore of a pond. She is brought before her father – El Jefe, who is a rich Mexican land baron. El Jefe demands to know who the father of the baby is. The girl is tortured and raped in front of her family as she reveals the name of Alfredo Garcia as the father. El Jefe literally puts a price on Garcia’s head by offering a million dollars to anyone who can bring his head.

Two hit men working for the head of an American business cartel are set on the trail of Garcia. They cross paths with Bennie - a washed up piano player working at a bar for drinks and tip money, played brilliantly by Warren Oates. Bennie tells the two hit men that he will keep an eye out for Garcia. He is offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for Garcia’s head. Bennie’s prostitute lover Elita, played by beautiful Isela Vega, informs him that Garcia was killed in a car accident.

Bennie sees Garcia’s death as an ace in the hole. He figures all he has to do is locate where Garcia is buried, decapitate his corpse at the grave, and bring the head to the two hit men that approached him at the bar. This task proves not to be so easy, as the viewer soon discovers.

As Bennie and Elita drive across the desolate Mexican landscape, they are followed by two more hit men. The two also want the head of Alfredo Garcia. Bennie locates the grave and attempts to decapitate Garcia’s head. He is hit in the head with a shovel and knocked out.

Several hours later, Bennie wakes up partially buried in Garcia’s grave with Elita at his side. The two hit men following Bennie have killed Elita and taken the head of Garcia. Bennie leaves Elita’s corpse in the grave, but cries for her passing.  Just before he leaves the grave, a close-up shot reveals Bennie putting his head back into the grave as the rest of his body is above ground. This shot is symbolic of Bennie losing his head emotionally, and alludes to his inevitable death.

Bennie soon encounters the two hit men changing a flat tire on a deserted road with the head of Garcia. Like many Peckinpah films, a gun battle occurs with slow motion sequences of the two hit men being shot as their bodies fly through the air in reaction to the impact of the bullet wounds. This is a stylistic trait that Peckinpah also employed in his 1968 western masterpiece – The Wild Bunch

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Bennie is able to retrieve Garcia’s head in a burlap sack from the two hit men he kills, but has to drive across miles of rough Mexican terrain to get it back to his place. He swats away dozens of flies from Garcia’s head while driving and drinking tequila. He talks to Garcia’s head as if he is still alive. “Here, have a drink Al!” he says as he pours tequila over the head, driving recklessly down the road.

Many sources state that Oates’ character of Bennie is based on director Peckinpah. Oates even dresses like Peckinpah in shades, a sport jacket and loafer shoes. His clothes and the bag carrying the head become more and more soiled as the film progresses. This makes the viewer less and less sympathetic to Bennie’s character.

At one point in the film, a bounty killer labels Bennie a loser. He responds to the man by saying “Nobody loses all the time.” That sentiment proves not to be true as the film draws to an end.

Bennie confronts El Jefe and wants to know why Garcia’s head is so important to him. He will not give an answer, but insists that Bennie take a briefcase of one million dollars and leave. Bennie is still mourning the loss of Elita, blaming El Jefe for his loss. He shoots El Jefe at the request of his grand-daughter and slaughters all the body guards in the room.

As Bennie plows through the gates of El Jefe’s compound, he is gunned down by more hit men. Bennie has indeed lost for the very last time. A close-up of a smoking machine gun barrel fills the screen.

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia is a brilliant mix of black humor, violence, revenge and romance. Happy viewing!