Hour of Death (1964)
7/10
Good Chorizo Western well realized by the best Paella Western director , Joaquin Romero Marchent
13 September 2011
Farmer Clifford (Jesus Puente) aware his wife (Gloria Milland) has a cerebral tumor and is necessary her intervention at a hospital of Laredo . Clifford sells his properties and organizes a caravan to city of Laredo throughout Indian territory . Along the way , Clifford is helped by various men as Bob Carey (Paul Piaget) , wife's ex-boyfriend , the gunfighter Ringo (Robert Hundar) who wishes to kill Carey and others ( Fernando Sancho , Francisco Sanz , Wu ) .

This interesting western contains a story full of humanity , good dramatic pace and slick direction . Enjoyable Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Spain and Italian secondary participation ; it doesn't follow the Sergio Leone wake and being proceeded in American style . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , good feeling , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with spectacular outdoors and breathtaking confrontation among protagonists , Robert Hundar and Paul Piaget ; and both of them against the heartless Ralf Baldasarre and his underlings . Acceptable action sequences with rousing Indian attacks against the Northern fort and spectacularly realistic shootouts . Charismatic performance for whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Robert Hundar is good in his usual tough role . Fantastic performance by the always great Fernando Sancho in a likable role , subsequently he would play similar characters , furthermore the slimy, menacing outlaw played by Ralf Baldassarre, here in his ordinary role as bandit and in a cruelly baddie character . There appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Francisco Sanz , Lorenzo Robledo , Beni Deus , Luis Induni , Gaspar Indio Gonzalez , Alfonso Rojas and of course Alvaro De Luna who still continues playing . The musician Riz Ortalani composes a nice soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie; as it's full of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background and with agreeable leitmotif . Very nice cinematography filmed by Rafael Pacheco on locations in Tabernas and desert of Almeria , as usual ; including good sets by Cubero and Galicia who carried out the most Production Design on Western shot in Spain.

The motion picture is finely directed and in personal style by Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent at his best . He's is an expert writer and director of good Western . His first film was ¨El Coyote¨ and the sequel titled ¨Revenge of Coyote¨ shot in Mexico . After that , he filmed ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ and ¨Revenge of Zorro¨. He went go directing Western as ¨ Riding to death ¨ , ¨Adventures in the West¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Sabor Venganza ¨ and the most popular and violent ¨Condenados a Vivir¨ . Plus , he wrote for his brother Rafael Romero Marchent the followings Western : ¨Manos Torpes¨, ¨Ocaso un Pistolero¨ and ¨Garringo¨ . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .
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