Dollar for the Dead (1998)
In this tribute to the old time spaghetti westerns with a liberal dose of modern Hong Kong film-making thrown in, Emilio Estevez assumes Clint Eastwood's "man with no name" role. Estevez plays a super-quick gunman on the run from a rancher (Long) and his men out to kill him for killing his son. The gunman gets mixed up with a former Confederate soldier (William Forsythe) who has knowledge of hidden gold. The only trouble is he is also pursued by Union soldiers. When they free a man (Ed Lauter) with part of the map to the gold, they then are also pursued by Spanish soldiers. It all leads to a small Mexican town terrorized by soldiers and led a by a good priest (Joaquim De Almeida) who also has knowledge of the gold.
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Reviews
I love this movie so much
Such a frustrating disappointment
One of my all time favorites.
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
As a huge fan of the "Young Guns" movies, I was excited when I saw Emilio Estevez once again don a cowboy hat and pick up his six-shooters. I was somehow hoping for "Young Guns III", but instead got a Looney Toons version of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Except Looney Toons is more entertaining. And believable.For 94 minutes I watched Emilio flip through the air like an over-caffeinated acrobat, mowing down a slew of bad guys, whether one at a time or 30 on horseback -- single-handedly. There must have been a lot of hidden trampolines on the set.Emilio's over-the-top sharpshooting and semi-witty one-liners wouldn't have been so bad if I felt any sympathy for his character. Or ANY of the characters. Oh well, I still have my "Young Guns" DVDs.
I would have liked a few more plot twists and turns but was entertained by this film for the most part. I thought the guy who played the padre & the mean Federale captain, Jordi Molla, did a very good job acting. Also good was Dulley, the one-legged companion to Estevez. The photography was pretty good, beautifull scenery & I loved the movie score that went with it. It was interesting to note at the closing credits that the whole film was filmed in Spain. I would of sworn the film took place somewhere in the southwestern United States. Also interesting was the old-fashioned "machine gun" that Dulley used toward the end of the flick. I wouldn't mind having this video in my own library.
SPOILERS! SPOILERS!First of all: sorry for my poor English. I really like this idea: John Woo goes Wild West. I wonder where The Cowboy has got his magic handguns which never run of ammo? My favorite scene begins when The Cowboy makes a huge hole in the floor, then falls down, shoots about twenty enemies, goes out to the street and kills thirty guys more... without reloading his colts! Cheesy, but looking nice. Of course, every bullet, fired by The Cowboy, reaches its target... So, if you like funny action flicks with a huge body count, watch this one.
Possibly the worst TV western ever made. The gun fight in the saloon was hilarious. Is this the best Emilio Estevez can get?