Leofwine_draca
DEAD MEN DON'T COUNT is a Spanish western featuring not one but two leads for your buck. These are Anthony Steffen, that veteran of seemingly dozens of similarly sweaty spaghetti westerns, and Mark Damon, formerly the clean-cut kid of Roger Corman's FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER before he emigrated to Italy to make a name for himself in the western genre.The story is nothing special but the film itself has style to spare and is packed with an increasing amount of action, with large-scale gun-fights dominating the screen particularly in the second half of the movie. The director's speciality is to have his two stars sweep their guns across the screen in sudden ambushes, wiping out huge gangs of bad guys in one fell swoop. It's an effect that never gets old and indeed provides much of the fun of the production. Elsewhere, plot elements include railroad-building, a corrupt sheriff, and a love story. The film is heavily derivative of the Leone trilogy and the score sounds suspiciously like Morricone throughout, but DEAD MEN DON'T COUNT is still solid fun.
zardoz-13
"Gunfight at High Noon" director Rafael Romero Marchent's "Dead Men Don't Count" reached the screen with its plot about the advent of a railroad in Arizona that Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West" would handle with greater artistry. This trigger-happy Chorizo-Spaghetti Western has all the earmarks of the genre. The ruthless but cultured villain is forcing landowners to sell out or suffer the consequences. Actually, whether they sell out or not is immaterial. The villain's henchmen gun them down in cold blood and let the vultures clean up the mess. Our two heroic bounty hunting heroes, Frad Dalton (Anthony Steffan of "A Stranger in Paso Bravo") and his best friend Johnny (Mark Damon of "House of Usher"), ride into the town of Blackstone, but the last thing that they imagined would that they will become embroiled in this mayhem. Earlier, before they rode into Blackstone, the hunters displayed their virtuosity with their six-guns and wipe out an entire gang of desperadoes in a crumbling Gothic church. Marchent stages with gun down with style. It seems that the big man in charge of the town, Steve Rogers (Luis Induni) is behind all these murders. At one point, he dispatches his pistoleros and they kill the father, son, and daughter after they have signed the document. Meantime, those happy-go-luck bounty hunters are sworn in as the town's temporary lawmen when full-time lawman, Sheriff Bob Watson (Piero Lulli of "My Name is Nobody"), vanishes. Eventually, Rogers orders the deaths of our heroes, but they blast the earth out from under their adversaries.
ma-cortes
This is an Anthony Steffen and Mark Damon vehicle playing their usual characters as gunslingers and bounty hunters . After gunning down at a Gothic church some desperado who tried to kill them, they set out to return to get their aims . The mysterious gunfighters without a name ride and arrive in the little town to stay for execute their mission , chasing wanted men . It deals about two gunfighters , Fred (Anthony Steffen) and Johnny (Mark Damon) arriving in a little town that has the ordinary shops and buildings , as General merchandise , Livery stable, Hardware , Barber shop , Saloon , Blacksmith , Hotel .. Once in town they find themselves taking on a corrupt Sheriff named Bob Watson (Piero Lulli) who is working for the local "Rich Man" named Steve Rogers (Luis Induni) married to a widow (Mary Martin who results to be Mark Harmon's mother). Rogers is buying lands to countrymen and attempting to control all the territory because the railroad is coming through . The powerful man hires the killers Farrell Brothers (Raf Baldassarre) to face off the protagonist duo . Can the mysterious gunfighters stop the outlaw brothers ? The drifters will take on a couple of brothers and their hoodlums (Jose Marco) . Meanwhile , Fred is appointed as a new Sheriff and Johnny falls in love with Elizabeth (Dianik Zurawoska) .Well crafted Western with interesting screenplay , acceptable cinematography and slick production design by the habitual Raúl Pérez Cúbero Cubero and José Luis Galicia . Although atmospheric , it is also downbeat and sometimes just downright nasty as when a family is executed and hung. The story is almost rapid and violent as the drifters come to strange frontier town just in time for reckoning bandits . This exciting western contains a story full of violence , good dramatic pace and passable filmmaking . Enjoyable Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Spain and Italian secondary participation ; it follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , high body-count and it is fast moving and quite entertaining . It is a thrilling western with spectacular outdoors filmed in Almeria , as usual , dealing with a breathtaking confrontation among protagonists , Anthony Steffen and Mark Damon versus heartless Piero Lulli ; and both of them against Luis Induni and his underlings . Acceptable action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts . Charismatic performance for the whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is good in his usual tough role and agreeable performance by Mark Damon in a likable role ; furthermore the slimy , menacing outlaw played by Ralf Baldassarre, here in his customary role as a bandit and in a cruelly baddie character . There appears as habitual secondaries in Spanish/Italian Western such as Luis Induni , Luis Barboo , Barta Barry, Miguel Del Castillo , Jesus Guzman who still continues playing , and of course , Carlos Romero Marchent , Joaquin and Rafael Marchent's brother who used to work in their films . The musician Riz Ortalani composes a nice soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie , as it's plenty of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background and with agreeable leitmotif. The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others. He was still enjoyable in other genres, specially Giallos as the successful The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave¨, ¨Death in Haiti¨ or The ¨Crimes of the Black Cat¨, a good example of Giallo where he played a blind pianist - one of his roles he most liked- , and ¨Killer Fish¨ .The motion picture was professionally directed and in personal style by Rafael Romero Marchent at his best . Rafael is an expert writer and director of Spaghetti Western as he proved in ¨Two crosses on Danger Pass¨, ¨Cry for revenge¨ and ¨Two guns for two twins¨ . While his brother Joaquin Marchent is deemed to be the Paella Western's best director , his first film was ¨El Coyote¨ and the sequel titled ¨Revenge of Coyote¨ shot in Mexico ; after that , he filmed ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ and ¨Revenge of Zorro¨, he went go directing Westerns as ¨ Riding to death ¨ , ¨Adventures in the West¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Sabor Venganza ¨ and the most popular and violent ¨Condenados a Vivir¨ . Plus , he wrote for his brother Rafael Romero Marchent the followings Westerns : ¨Manos Torpes¨, ¨Ocaso Un Pistolero¨ and ¨Garringo¨ . Rating : Passable and acceptable , though contains some flaws and gaps and excessive zooms . Worthwhile watching for the Spaghetti Western aficionados .
rockerace
Warning: One or two slight spoilers ahead! I recently began collecting any and all spaghetti westerns that I have been able to get my hands on. I had no information on this title, other than knowing Anthony Steffen stars. Now I have seen numerous Steffen Westerns and have not been particularly impressed with his movies nor his acting. But this movie changed my opinion of him DRAMATICALLY! The story centers on 2 Bounty Hunters (Steffen and Mark Damon)that ride into the town of "Blackstone" after killing an entire gang of wanted men. Once in town they find themselves in the middle of rash of murders and a corrupt Sheriff who is working for the local "Rich Man" who, in turn, is trying to control all the land because the railroad is coming through.A few plot twists to keep you guessing, and some great acting all the way around provide for an entertaining Spaghetti! This is not your typical "revenge" theme Spaghetti Western.The chemistry between Steffen and Damon is perfect. I can say with almost certainty that the U.S. television series "Alias Smith and Jones" drew heavily from this film! I HIGHLY recommend this film to not only fans of Spaghetti Westerns, but Western fans in general. The plot is cohesive and interesting, the scenes well edited, the cinematography excellent and the gun-play is perfect. No over-acting here except maybe the maniacal laughing at the end by Steffen...although it's not over the top.A MUST-SEE FOR SPAGHETTI FANS!!!
