I started watching this and thought oh, lord, another howler with every hokey cliché inherent to bad spaghetti westerns. Midway when we see the stunt men grabbing their bellies from feigned gut shots and doing the railing flip to land on their backs on balsa wood saloon tables, one has to wonder if there could be any other way to do it. However the story does develop to reveal some depth to both characters and plot. The clichés endure so don't expect any surprises by the time it's over, but enjoy this period piece as the simple story it was meant to be with a few standouts in the supporting cast roles, if not the lead. There are some memorable items in the soundtrack and the location work cinematography could be called exemplary. The credits state it's a Dino De Laurentis production with much of the shooting done in Rome, which does contradict some of the IMDb data, FWIW. All in all it's the kind of tale that Hollywood had so tired of by the mid sixties they'd have sent it up as a comedy romp with an all star cast cracking one liners- but with admirable humility the spaghetti western production crew delivered this with straight faced sincerity, as if they still believed in what they were doing. Considering that I give it 7 not 6 stars.
Review of The Hills Run Red
