I wondered when I would be getting into Italian Spaghetti Westerns. I think this is where my heart truly belongs. After finding out how 'El Deguello' in Rio Bravo lead to the music in A Fistful of Dollars and how that film would go on to be one of the most iconic westerns of all time, I knew I needed horns and strings to emphasize the dramatic moments between a wronged man and the one who caused it.
Film #8 The Hills Run Red (1966)
Here is the imdb.com cast listing. Here is the wikipedia page about the production.
The film starts off with two men riding in a covered wagon, Jerry Brewster (Thomas Hunter) and Ken Seagull (Nando Gazzolo). They have stolen over $600,000 in cash from the US government and see that the US army is now on their trail. The men make a decision, whoever gets the highest card will keep the money and the other will stay in the wagon to draw the army away. Jerry draws the low card but he makes sure to tell Ken to take care of his wife and child if he doesn't make it. Ken said he will and jumps off the wagon. Jerry is caught by the army and does not give up Ken. Jerry is then put in prison for five years (more on that in a minute). As soon as he gets out, he heads to his old home to find his wife and child. They aren't there and a journal kept by his wife reveals that Ken never told her about the money or bothered to take care of her. Jerry is furious and then finds out that Ken knows he is alive and has sent men to kill him. Jerry receives aid from Getz (Dan Duryea), an old man that has his own goals. Getz convinces Jerry that if he wants to get his revenge, he better let Getz tell Ken that Getz killed him, so that way Jerry is now free to take action however he wants. Jerry then becomes Jim Huston with a singular mission: find and Kill Ken Seagull.
This is the first straight up revenge western I have seen in the list. I can say I enjoy the straight ahead path the plot takes. There is very little fat here (the film is around 85 minutes), and it covers a lot of ground in a hurry.
Let me just get to my favorite part of the film (from a story telling stand point) right away. If the link below works correctly (as it is a link to the ENTIRE film... so if you want to watch it, enjoy!), it is about six minutes into the film and we see Jerry enter prison. You get the entire story of his five year stay (even the crazy barbwire box he kept spinning in while trying not to touch the sides) and it takes all of a minute and half to get through it.
Had this been an American made western, I feel like we would have spent a half hour here, really driving home how much prison broke him. This was a very modern story telling way to get a lot of good information across and just seeing him stagger outside not being used to the direct sunlight, you understand he is broken, but he kept his word.
I appreciate the cannonball like velocity that Jerry, who takes the new name of Jim Houston, carries with him to meet his goals. He is a bad man, but he is after a badder man, so he will do whatever it takes to get there. The way that he gets the entire town of Austin killed or running away scared because he convinces them that they can ambush Ken's men is equal parts genius and pure crazy.
It does lead to a very visually interesting scene (forty nine minutes in if you want to watch it on the Youtube link above) with Ken's men leading a bunch of horses into a box canyon. Jim has his men dump bundles of flaming sticks to cause the horses to panic and stampede while the men pick off the riders below. This does lead to Ken's right hand man, Garcia (the over the top in the best way Henry Silva) to pay back the town by running in and shooting most of them. So, in the Great Plans Hall of Fame, I don't think you will see this one there.
Those actions do lead to having a really fun showdown/shootout at the end of the film though. The town is empty. It is just Jim, his son (oh yeah, he lived and is not nearly as annoying as the kid in Shane, and quite handy with a slingshot), and Getz, against Garcia and the remainder of Ken's men. What unfolds is equal parts badass and Looney Toons as there are many times dynamite is thrown to amazing effect. At one hour, fourteen minutes in, there is a great short moment of a dynamite drop that would make Bugs Bunny proud. This is not a complaint. I found the entire town showdown sequence great and it made you believe that these two men and boy had a real chance of turning the tide.
The final meet up between Jim and Ken does not disappoint and the tension ramps up as it is mostly played in the dark (the real dark, not the blue filtered dark of early westerns).
The ending is wrapped up short and sweet and is the happiest ending you can possibly think of after Jim RUINED an entire town (let's just say that some of the characters pasts weren't revealed until the last moments of the film). Don't think about it too much and enjoy the ride you were just on.
So the other thing I wanted to mention before finishing my thoughts on The Hills Run Red is the musical score in this film. IT IS AWESOME (caps! I must mean it). I had to look up the composer, Leo Nichols. I wasn't familiar with their name so I made just more one click and found out that was a pseudonym for Ennio Morricone. I don't know what else to say, I may have to find this and buy it. I will admit to already owning the score to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly but have not seen that film in its entirety (It's on the list, don't worry, I will get to it). So hopefully I can put this one beside it.
This was a nice palate cleanser after Shane. Shane is an important film. The Hills Run Red is a fun film. I think sometimes that is enough.
Western Checklist (nowhere near official or scientific):
- Weird gang member names? Not that I can recall. Jerry changing his name to Jim Houston is a great western name though.
- Beautiful Landscapes? Considering this was filmed in Rome at Dino De Laurentiis Studios, it provided a much different background compared to the US and Mexico locations shown so far. It was very pretty in its own way. Though it is hard to appreciate it in the beginning as the action starts immediately, there are some nice green hilly areas with distinct rocks jutting out. It was a nice change of scenery for sure.
- Does a building catch on fire? Does throwing dynamite into buildings count?
- How many Ernest Borgnines? None, but Henry Silva had quite the interesting career.
- Were there any weird zoom ins on people's faces just as they finished talking? Yes, plenty. That feels like something I am going to see more of as I watch the Spaghetti Westerns.
- Does it have a theme song with the name of the film in the title? No, but it has a very 60's ballady song 'Home To My Love' that plays a few times in the film that I kinda like.
And because I can't not link it, he is some of the score from the film.
Rating:
I am going to give this 4.5 out of 5 tin stars. The Hills Run Red is as good as any film to introduce somebody to the concept of a Spaghetti Western and it will only take half the run time they usually take. I dig Thomas Hunter as Jerry Brewster/Jim Huston and I really believe his drive for revenge. The very very end is a little too neatly wrapped up but it is easily forgiven because the music in this film can make me forget about that part of it very easily. Highly recommended!
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