*********POSSIBLE SPOILERS**********
Satisfying Italian western action pic has a crew of five assembled by "The Dutchman" (Graves) to fulfill a "mission impossible" western style -- they must rob a train car full of money without disturbing the soldiers in the other cars. Most of the film's action concerns the team's preparations for the attack (and their conflicts with each other) and a lot of drama is built up around the fact that everyone pretty much expects Graves' brilliant plan to fail. What really raises this film a bit above the norm is its witty gimmick -- the plan actually DOES go off smoothly, but their success only leads to startling revelations after the fact.
Not a great movie, but good action and drama make for an above-average beer and popcorn movie. Should please fans of action westerns, but may not particularly please the fans of (scriptwriter, later director) Dario Argento, who may expect more visceral violence and who will probably miss the flair that Argento brings to his films as a director (he never was an exceptional writer, but here he has written a very clever story, and he should be given credit where it's due).
Satisfying Italian western action pic has a crew of five assembled by "The Dutchman" (Graves) to fulfill a "mission impossible" western style -- they must rob a train car full of money without disturbing the soldiers in the other cars. Most of the film's action concerns the team's preparations for the attack (and their conflicts with each other) and a lot of drama is built up around the fact that everyone pretty much expects Graves' brilliant plan to fail. What really raises this film a bit above the norm is its witty gimmick -- the plan actually DOES go off smoothly, but their success only leads to startling revelations after the fact.
Not a great movie, but good action and drama make for an above-average beer and popcorn movie. Should please fans of action westerns, but may not particularly please the fans of (scriptwriter, later director) Dario Argento, who may expect more visceral violence and who will probably miss the flair that Argento brings to his films as a director (he never was an exceptional writer, but here he has written a very clever story, and he should be given credit where it's due).