Eugenio Martin's "El Precio De Un Hombre" aka. "The Bounty Killer"/"The Ugly Ones" seems to enjoy a particular appreciation of many of my fellow Spaghetti Western fans, but, personally I do not regard the film as being above average. I have utmost respect for director Eugenio Martin for his fantastic Horror film "Horror Express" (1972, starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Salavas), and leading man Tomas Milian is one of my favorite actors, but, as far as I am concerned, this one is nothing beyond enjoyably entertaining, as the story is rather unoriginal and predictable. "The Ugly Ones" is only the second Western Milian ever did, the first being Sergio Sollima's masterpiece "La Resa Dei Conti" ("The Big Gundown", 1966) which is doubtlessly one of the greatest (Spaghetti) Westerns ever to be made. Milian is doubtlessly one of the greatest actors in Italian genre/cult-cinema. Starting with Westerns (most notably Sollima's trilogy), he would later become the most charismatic villain/hero in the Poliziotteschi of the 70s (most notably in Umberto Lenzi's fantastic "Milano Odia" and "Roma A Mano Armata"), and his oeuvre also includes a variety of other great films, such as Lucio Fulci's brilliant Giallo "Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino" ("Don't Torture A Duckling", 1972). No matter whether he is the hero or the villain, Milian is always fantastic and completely owns the screen with his unique presence. This film is mainly recommendable for Milian, who appears as the cunning, manipulative and somewhat charming villain he would often play in later crime flicks. Otherwise, it profits from a genre-typical nice score and cinematography, cult-regular Mario Brega in a supporting role, and the greatest possible setting for a European Western: the Spanish Almeria desert.
Milian plays José Gómez, an outlaw who escapes with the help of the innocent Eden (Halina Zalewska). Eden and a bunch of other good people who have known Gómez since his childhood, help him hide from Luke Chilson (Richard Wyler), a bounty hunter who is very successful in his profession. After a while, however, it becomes more and more obvious that Gómez is nothing like the poor orphan they once liked anymore...
The plot has strong resemblances to Anthony Mann's American Western "The Naked Spur" of 1953 (the Spanish Version of which was also called "El Precio De Un Hombre" in some countries), but while the premise fits the morale of the American Western quite well, it does not quite fit the antihero premise of this Italian Western. Even though portrayed as the villain, Milian's Gómez is the only interesting character in the film. The hero played by Richard Wyler (who sadly passed away this month - RIP), is your typical tough guy but good guy. Halina Zalewska's character is the typical innocent and naive but kind-hearted female - no surprises here. Miss Zalewska didn't appear in too many well-known films, but might be familiar to Italian Horror/Cult-Cinema fans for appearing twice aside the wonderful Barbara Steele, in Antonio Margheriti's "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" (The Long Hair of Death", 1964) and Camillo Mastrocinque's "Un Angelo Per Satana" ("An Angel For Satan", 1966). Spaghetti Western regular Mario Brega is the most notable member of the supporting cast; Brega, who appeared in masterpieces such as Sergio Leone's Dollar-Trilogy and Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence" (1968), is once again good, though his role here doesn't call for particular acting skills.
Overall, "El Precio De Un Hombre", is a decent enough but not particularly praiseworthy film, which is mainly recommendable for Tomas Milian.
Milian plays José Gómez, an outlaw who escapes with the help of the innocent Eden (Halina Zalewska). Eden and a bunch of other good people who have known Gómez since his childhood, help him hide from Luke Chilson (Richard Wyler), a bounty hunter who is very successful in his profession. After a while, however, it becomes more and more obvious that Gómez is nothing like the poor orphan they once liked anymore...
The plot has strong resemblances to Anthony Mann's American Western "The Naked Spur" of 1953 (the Spanish Version of which was also called "El Precio De Un Hombre" in some countries), but while the premise fits the morale of the American Western quite well, it does not quite fit the antihero premise of this Italian Western. Even though portrayed as the villain, Milian's Gómez is the only interesting character in the film. The hero played by Richard Wyler (who sadly passed away this month - RIP), is your typical tough guy but good guy. Halina Zalewska's character is the typical innocent and naive but kind-hearted female - no surprises here. Miss Zalewska didn't appear in too many well-known films, but might be familiar to Italian Horror/Cult-Cinema fans for appearing twice aside the wonderful Barbara Steele, in Antonio Margheriti's "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" (The Long Hair of Death", 1964) and Camillo Mastrocinque's "Un Angelo Per Satana" ("An Angel For Satan", 1966). Spaghetti Western regular Mario Brega is the most notable member of the supporting cast; Brega, who appeared in masterpieces such as Sergio Leone's Dollar-Trilogy and Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence" (1968), is once again good, though his role here doesn't call for particular acting skills.
Overall, "El Precio De Un Hombre", is a decent enough but not particularly praiseworthy film, which is mainly recommendable for Tomas Milian.