User Reviews

"Il Venditore Di Morte" aka. "Price Of Death" is an unusual mixture of Spaghetti Western and Murder Mystery. The interesting idea and two great actors, Klaus Kinski and Gianni Garko, make it an entertaining and interesting movie.

After a prostitute and a bartender are killed in a robbery in a little town's saloon somewhere in the Old West, a thug named Chester Conoway (Kinski) is arrested and immediately sentenced to death. Paid by the young lady who owns the saloon, and who despises Conoway, but believes in his innocence, Conoway's lawyer hires the famous gunman and tracker Mr. Silver (Garko) to prove his innocence. Silver soon doubts the town's people's believe that the two dead people were victims of a violent holdup, and starts to think that the robbery was just committed to draw the attention off the true reason of the murders. Price Of Death also has a subplot about the murder of a Mexican girl.

The idea of making a Spaghetti Western with the plot of a murder mystery is quite unusual and interesting, furthermore "Price Of Death" also has its humorous moments. The movie is also worth watching for its two stars, Gianni Garko (who is credited as John Garko in this movie), and Klaus Kinski, who is a great enrichment for this film, although his performance in "Price of death" is far from his best performances, and he actually doesn't say a lot. The answers to the movie's mysteries are unfortunately quite predictable, but the film is still fun and worth watching. As a Spaghetti Western fan, I recommend this to others, I can't guarantee that everybody is gonna like it, but I did. 6/10

"Il venditore di morte" is an interesting mixture of western, crime and comedy. The gunman Silver (John Garko, even more elegant than in his Sartana films) is hired to prove the innocence of Chester Conway (Klaus Kinski) who is sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit. Now Chester is a really bad guy who committed about every evil deed you can imagine - but not this one. So the unusual idea of the story is: help a criminal out of prison so he will (most likely) be hanged for something else next time. Although the movie has its ups and downs, the good cast and unusual story make it worthwhile to spend 90 minutes of your time on it.

Spaghetti Western crammed with intrigue , murders , lots of fights , crossfire , twists and turns . An Italian production full of action , extreme characters, shootouts and loads of violence . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up , brawls , or stunts every few minutes . There's also an interesting intrigue and whodunit with some Giallo when happens a killing spree , and the question is : Who is the killer ? For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how ¡ . A slaughter and atrocity is committed when four people carry out a hold-up and they are killed at a saloon robbing . The townspeople pin the murderers on local no-count black sheep Chester Conway (Klaus Kinski) , subsequently condemned to gallows . As an unknown killer executes a single-handedly revenge , ravages and murders each person involved in dark events . Gunfighter Silver (Gianni Garco) is hired by lawyer Jeff Plummer (Franco) who doesn't believe that Chester is guilty of these crimes, to prove that his client Conway, is innocent of the saloon heist he's condemned to hang for. Silver is relentless in his mission , deadly in his hard investigation and he vows to take down the uncanny killer . Along the way there occurs more and more murders , the body count piles up and the clock ticks down to the day when the scapegoat about to go scaffold . He'd kill anyone for a price, but he'd kill one man for free !

It is a moving western with breathtaking showdown between the protagonist Gianni Garco and his nasty enemies . It packs thrills , shoot-outs , violence , hooded murderers , nutty townfolk and resulting to be slightly entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . There is enough action in the movie , guaranteeing some pursuits , fights in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style , gunfire or stunts every few minutes . It is an acceptable , passable Western with several titles as La mano nascosta di Dio (Italy) , The Price of Death (Canada, English title) , La vengeance de Dieu (France) , Le prix de la mort (France) , Persecución mortal (Spain) that contains an interesting and twisted plot about an investigator gunman who starts piecing together the facts and finds out a terrible truth about some grisly killings , and , subsequently takes place the unavoidable final duel . It is a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist against the heartless enemies . The film blends violence , blood , tension , high body-count and quite entertaining thanks to the intriguing events . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final gunfights and the customary showdown conclusion . There are many fine technicians and nice production design , though mostly set at a little town shot in Elios studios , as usual . Stars Gianni Garco who gives a decent acting as the smooth and suave gunslinger Silver hired to prove Chester's innocence and find the real killer while he pieces together tracks . His role a bears remarkable resemblance to Sartana , as his character in equal parts mysterious , cool and deadly ; he shows up elegantly dressed and with a brilliant look , he is not out there to chase the bandits like a simple bounty hunter , he is just out for money and blood . His quirky gadgets often bring to mind the other similar role , Sabata , who starred Lee Van Cleef . Garco played a lot of Spaghetti , such as : Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay , Per 100.000 dollari t'ammazzo , 10,000 dollari per un massacro , Bad man river , Et.... Sabata les tua tous ,Sartana arrives ,His Name Was Holy Ghost , Taste of Vengeance , 7 Chacales , Those Dirty Dogs , and several others . Co-stars the popular Klaus Kinski as a suspicious man locked in prison and about to be hanged , at the time he gained a reputation for his ferocious talent and equally ferocious temper . Here he plays with lots of gesticulation and excessive gestures in a cruelly baddie role . As he is fine , as he ravages the screen with his peculiar face and using suddenly his weapons at the inevitable ending gundown . As Kinski starred numerous Spaghetti such as : Pray to Kill and Return Alive , Black Killer , If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death , Bullet King , Shangai Joe , Clint the solitary , The Ruthless Four , Nevada Kid , The return of Clint , and specially famous resulted to be his acting in ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨.This Spaghetti is made during his Italian period when Klaus starred a lot of Westerns , later he collaborated with Werner Herzog with whom played several prestigious films . They later collaborated on five movies : Aguirre (1972), Woyzeck (1979), Nosferatu, (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987). Furthermore, there appears briefly usual Italian Western secondaries , such as : Giancarlo Prete or Timothy Brent , Andrea Scotti , Fortunato Arena , Alfredo Rizzo ,Pietro Torrisi , Castellano and Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Lorenzo Gicca Palli . He was an artisan who directed a few films , such as : Giorni di sangue Primo tango a Roma... storia d'amore e d'alchimia , Lieber Lager , Black Corsair and wrote a lot of screenplays about all kinds of genres : Thriller , Wartime , Peplum , adventure , action , such as : La sfida dei giganti , Una voglia da moriré , Objective Rommel , Tiger of Kyber , Silenzio: Si uccide , and especially Spaghetti Western : La strada per Forte Alamo , La morte sull'alta collina , Zorro Monterrey , Last adventure Zorro , Giorni di sangue , Killer calibro 32 , Thompson 1880 , among others . Rating : 5/10 . Average Spaghetti Western but passable .

"The Price of Death" by Lorenzo Gicca Palli is quite an unusual spaghetti western as it mixes spaghetti western sub-genre with giallo/murder mystery.Silver who is elegantly dressed and lives in a hacienda with beautiful senoritas is hired to find out if the accused Chester Conway,the black sheep of the town really is guilty of the murder charge that he is to hang for.By investigating clues and arranging a trap Silver discloses some respected citizens as the guilty parties."The Price of Death" is watchable Italian spaghetti western with some humorous moments and a bit of violence.The film is quite tame and there is no nudity.However if you are a fan of Gianni Garko and Klaus Kinski you can't miss it.6 preachers out of 10.

Gianni Garko stars in a slight variation of his Sartana persona (so slight it's almost non-existent), here named Silver. Or MISTER Silver if you are the unlucky type.

When a the local saloon is robbed, two citizens killed in the process and two of the three gunmen killed by the third partner, the town unanimously decides to pin the rap on the local black sheep (Klaus Kinski in another great performance). The town lawyer will have none of this injustice no matter how much of an SOB the guy is and even the saloon owner who loathes the sight of the man decides to put up money for Silver to find the real killer.

While Silver pieces together clues, the body count piles up and the clock ticks down to the day when the scapegoat will be hanged.

There's plenty more to the plot with murdered prostitutes, illicit diaries, mad judges, crazy townfolk, hooded killers and such, but I can't go spoiling it, now can I?

Unfortunately fans of giallos tend not to be interested in Spaghetti Westerns and the other way around as well. It's too bad, as this may not be any great milestone in either genre it is still very entertaining for what it is and of course you have the always entertaining Garko, Kinski and the ubiquitous Alan Collins to keep things lively on the acting front.

Well worth checking out for the non-purists.