Drifter Lee Galloway springs three outlaw brothers from jail in the hope that they will split their stolen loot with him. This doesn't quite work in Galloway's favour after they betray and leave him for dead. Galloway sets out in hot pursuit of the brothers and now he wants all the loot for himself.
This spaghetti western from Roberto Mauri is anything but rousing and has all the marks of a Fidani, in fact a Fidani would be much better than this movie. In some countries it was packaged as a Sartana spin off and certainly is a lesser effort as far as the franchise' unofficial sequels go. The so called "Death Valley" of the title is represented by some chilly looking sandpits and the narrative skips incoherently from day to night and vice versa. The version I watched was only 79 minutes long and seemed to have been cut to ribbons. The sparse action scenes consist of a few guys getting shot and the body count is disappointingly low for a spaghetti western. The extras even lacked soul as they pretended to be gunned down(no pun intended). The movie's lightweight villain meets his demise when he gets bitten by a laughably fake looking Scorpion and everything is alright in the end as the cavalry turns up out of nowhere and allows Galloway to keep the loot. The unintentional humour was quite funny and William Berger seems to be enjoying his role. I also really liked the title song "A King For A Day".
Ballad Of Death Valley is among my least favourite spaghetti westerns, ironically coming from someone who always enjoys the trashier efforts. Still, why not wile away a dull hour and a bit. 4/10.
This spaghetti western from Roberto Mauri is anything but rousing and has all the marks of a Fidani, in fact a Fidani would be much better than this movie. In some countries it was packaged as a Sartana spin off and certainly is a lesser effort as far as the franchise' unofficial sequels go. The so called "Death Valley" of the title is represented by some chilly looking sandpits and the narrative skips incoherently from day to night and vice versa. The version I watched was only 79 minutes long and seemed to have been cut to ribbons. The sparse action scenes consist of a few guys getting shot and the body count is disappointingly low for a spaghetti western. The extras even lacked soul as they pretended to be gunned down(no pun intended). The movie's lightweight villain meets his demise when he gets bitten by a laughably fake looking Scorpion and everything is alright in the end as the cavalry turns up out of nowhere and allows Galloway to keep the loot. The unintentional humour was quite funny and William Berger seems to be enjoying his role. I also really liked the title song "A King For A Day".
Ballad Of Death Valley is among my least favourite spaghetti westerns, ironically coming from someone who always enjoys the trashier efforts. Still, why not wile away a dull hour and a bit. 4/10.