Kid Rodelo (1966)

Absolutely Brilliant!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

In the shade of Beat the devil this low budget film would have deserved a better luck. Two convicts head to a small village to take the gold they hid before they were imprisoned. But another ex-con is there to search for the gold. Things get more complicated as a group of bounty hunter Indians go after them. The cast is nice, specially Broderick Crawford and José Nieto as the fugitives and Don Murray is fine as Kid Rodelo, and the film is correctly done (director -actor Richard Carlson does it nice) but the film suffers from a poor characters description (Janet Leigh has not much to do) and a lack of ambition, resulting in a minor work. It is a pity, since with some changes (including the use of color and more developed script) it would have improved a lot.

Spanish-US co-production full of action , violent characters , thrills and lots of shots . A good example of Latino western genre mostly filmed in Spain . This is a co-production Spanish-American with a varied cast formed by actors of diverse countries . This meaty Western contains violence , shoot'em up , interesting plot based on Louis L'Amour novel but being regularly developed , and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . In 1870 Kid Rodelo (Don Murray) finishes his prison period after serving a year inside Yuma Territorial Prison and goes out from jail in which continues the remaining executers of a robbing on a valuable loot . Kid Rodelo is released from prison but his previous colleagues , the embittered Joe Harbin (Broderick Crawford) and Thomas Reese (José Nieto) prepare their escape . Harbin and Reese kidnap the chief warden (Emilio Rodríguez) , take him as a hostage and get to break out . Meanwhile , the ex-convict cowboy sets out to find the hidden gold his partner told him but he is chased by his partners . When they are crossing the frontier into Mexico are pursued by the Yaquis led by Cavalry Hat (Jose Villasante) and his underlings (Alvaro De Luna) . You just don't mess around with a man like Kid Rodelo . It's an average Western mostly produced by Spain and US important participation ; it doesn't follow the Sergio Leone wake and being proceeded in American style . The picture scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflicts a misfit group , including their enormous difficulties to escape from prison and strong taking on between protagonists and the Yaqui Indians that stalk to them . The film blends thrills , intrigue , high body-count ; it's fast moving and exciting but mediocre , being filmed in Spain . Chorizo/US Western with various Hollywood top-of-the range players such as Don Murray , Broderick Crawford and Janet Leigh . The film packs violence , shootouts and an intriguing story about ambition and treason . It's a thrilling western with continuous confrontation between the protagonist Don Murray against the heartless Broderick Crawford , Jose Nieto , Julio Peña and hoodlums . Don Murray is fine, he ravages the screen , hit and run , kills and falls in love for the girl , Janet Leigh . This is an exciting film , plenty action , thrills , fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors from Spain such as Alicante , Comunidad Valenciana , Colmenar Viejo , Hoyo De Manzanares and La Pedriza , Madrid . Well-made action sequences with rousing attacks and spectacularly realistic shootouts . Charismatic performance for whole casting . The Hollywood actor , slimy Don Murray of ¨Bus Stop¨ is good in his usual two-fisted role . Fantastic performance by the always great Broderick Crawford as the burly , menacing convict make up for , here in his ordinary role as a cruelly baddie character , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and tough aspect . Appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Jose Nieto , Julio Peña , Miguel Del Castillo , Emilio Rodríguez and Alvaro de Luna , who nowadays continues playing , here as an Indian . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final gunfights and the spectacular conclusion in desert when protagonists are besieged by Indians . The sense of pacing is such that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . The musician Manuel Parada composes an atmospheric soundtrack , though in the American version is credited Johnny Douglas . It packs an imperfect cinematography by Manuel Merino , being necessary alright remastering because of the film-copy is washed-out .The motion picture was produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero who started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin . After that , he produced with his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Marchent with Frank Latimore . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Perez Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today sadly disappeared , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , various Zorros and this one . He produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨and ¨Winchester 1 between 1000¨ by Primo Zeglio , ¨At the end of the rainbow¨ by Aldo Florio and this ordinary ¨Kid Rodelo¨ , with no Sergio Leone's style , it is an usual example of American western though it is partly Spanish and partly Italian . The motion picture was middlingly directed and in traditional style by Richard Carlson . Richard was a notorious actor who even played two classic movies such as It came from outer space and Creature from the black lagoon . He subsequently accepted charge of directing a silly pseudo-scientific premise entitled Riders to the Stars (1954), a low-budget enterprise bogged down at the expense of drama. In the course of the next twelve years, he directed some better second features, including the westerns Four Guns to the Border (1954) , The saga of Hamp Brown and Kid Rodelo (1966), many of them starred by Rory Calhoun , as well as a number of television episodes. He also wrote the occasional TV script, as well as contributing articles on non-fiction subjects to several magazines .

"Four Guns to the Border" director Richard Carlson helmed this thoroughly lackluster Louis L'Amour western "Kid Rodelo," with Don Murray, Janet Leigh, and Oscar-winner Broderick Crawford. This straightforward, humorless horse opera concerns survival of the fittest on the frontier. Appropriately enough, lean, handsome Murray is cast as the virtuous hero, while burly, gravel-voiced Crawford plays a treacherous outlaw with an itchy trigger finger. Eventually, these two wind up on a rugged desert trail transporting $50-thousand in gold with remorseless Yaqui Indians shadowing them like vultures. The prison hires Yaquis to bring back the escaped prisoners, and the Yaquis usually bring them back face down across their horses. Unlike the Rangers, the Yaquis need not bother with the same pesky jurisdictional issues that the Rangers must contend with when crossing the border into Mexico. These Yaquis are particularly proficient at what they do, and their leader, Cavalry Hat (José Villasante of "Django the Condemned"), covets the hero's boots. The only thing that distinguishes this western is the eponymous hero's knowledge of desert plants, specifically cholla cactus with their poisonous spines which can lame a horse.Kid Rodelo (Don Murray of "From Hell to Texas") has been released after serving a year inside Yuma Territorial Prison, while villainous Joe Harbin (Broderick Crawford of "All the King's Men") sweats out a life sentence because he shot his partner. Meantime, Harbin's accomplice, Thomas Reese (José Nieto of "Dr. Zhivago"), hatches a plan to break out of Yuma. He has stolen two wooden matches from the kitchen. Harbin and he toil in the stone quarry where they hammer holes into the rocks with a drill to insert dynamite to blast the formation. They plant some extra sticks of dynamite and all hell cuts loose. In the novel, Joe's accomplice is named Tom Badger and he survives until the finale, whereas Reese dies not long after they break out of prison. Anyway, Harbin and Reese take the Warden (Emilio Rodríguez) as a hostage to make good their escape. They shoot their way out of Yuma using the Warden as a shield and dump him once they have gotten away.Now, they light out in hot pursuit of the Kid who has caught a ride with another some other suspicious characters who are conveniently watching for him to show up. Link (Richard Carlson of "Creature from the Black Lagoon") and his girlfriend Nora (Janet Leigh of "Psycho") are waiting for the Kid as he trudges on foot along the trail from the prison. Link wants the money, too, and he has hired another gunslinger, sleazy Balas (Julio Peña), to help him. After they reach a largely abandoned town, Link and Balas enter a house and find a box concealed beneath the wooden floorboards. They get into an argument over Balas' percentage of the loot. The greedy Balas insists on a greater share and guns down Link without a qualm. Later, Balas joins Joe after he guns down Reese, but they don't trust each other. Gopher (Alfonso Sanfélix) dies later after they have crossed the border. Balas takes the gold piece that Joe gave Gopher after he made him a partner. Balas suggests that they flip for the coin, and Joe grabs the coin before it hits the ground and appropriates it as his coin. Eventually, Cavalry Hat picks off Joe as he is about to gun down Rodelo.This threadbare oater was lensed on location in rugged Spain. Strangely enough, the pinch-penny producers filmed this outdoors yarn in black & white. This Paramount Pictures release seems unusual because most westerns by that time were photographed in color, even those old timer oaters that producer A.C. Lyles made. "Badman's Territory" scenarist Jack Natteford departs drastically from the source material in at least one crucial respect, and this change might upset hardcore, morally rigidly, L'Amour fans. For example, Link is named Jake, and Balas is named Clint. Nevertheless, this is nothing compared with the outcome of the action and the disposal of the gold. The characters amount largely to stereotypes as they did in the novel. Like most L'Amour heroes, Kid Rodelo knows his way around the desert like an expert, particularly the whereabouts of water holes. Carlson and Natteford exploit Rodelo's environmental familiarity, such as knowing about the flora and fauna to keep them alive. The performances are okay, while Leigh appears as little more than window dressing. She does do one important thing at the end. This gritty western tries to imitate the Spaghetti westerns, but Carlson imparts little color or charisma. The villains are cutthroat dastards, willing to kill anybody to keep from sharing the loot. The simple Johnny Douglas orchestral score represents an exercise in minimalism. The finale on the shore of the Gulf of Baja differs from most westerns because you don't often see the action end on a beach.Altogether, as a film, "Kid Rodelo" doesn't surpass the L'Amour novel despite the scenic splendor of the Spanish landscape and the obvious amoral Spaghetti western influence on the ending. The chief difference between the novel and the film is Rodelo planned to return the gold to the authorities to clear his name for his supposed part in the robbery. In the novel, he was arrested because he was caught riding with Joe, but Rodelo didn't know anything about the robbery. The film concludes with Rodelo and Nora bathing in the surf then walking off as permanent partners.