Sam Cooper (Van Heflin) is a gold prospector who discovers a mine filled with gold, but his partner tries to kill him, but before he does Sam gets him. Riding back to town his robbed of his horses, but not his gold. Too heavy to carry all of it, he dumps some in the river and hides the rest. When he arrives in town he sends a message for his adopted (possibly homosexual) son Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton) to see if he wants to be his partner and go back up to the mind. After Manolo arrives in town so does the mysterious Brent (Klaus Kinski) who gets in with the deal because of Manolo. Not trusting what has happen Sam asks Mason (Gilbert Rolanda) long time army buddy, who now has a grudge against him to tag along so his not back-stabbed and he agrees only if he gets 50% of his share. So now the conniving begins when the four head out for this mine.
"The Ruthless Four" is one of many spaghetti westerns that flooded the mid to late 60's, but something about this Italian/German production that stood out from the rest for me. It's not I think it's brilliant, but actually the simple story which at times felt like it came across more out of something of Hollywood is a curious piece. Its hard to put my finger on it, sure it didn't entirely blow me away, but this a sturdy spaghetti western is done with buckets of chic and grit. Though, I warn you if your looking for a abundance of wild and over-the-top violence, you'll surely be disappointed as they only come in small doses. But when they do occur that's when the flair kicked in, with well mounted shootouts and showdowns, even if they do lack some sort of sting (well, except for a certain bloody showdown between Brent and Sam). But like I typed earlier these are far and in between plenty of sequences involving a lot chat, confrontations, accusations and scheming. That's basically what happens in the first half of the film, but when the four head out to the mine that's when things "kinda" get going with a change of pace in the plot. It's more about the effects of paranoia and greed with these shifty man trying to knock each other off, or teaming up to get this gold no matter what. There's always something going on to keep you glued.
What makes up for the slow going nature is the encroaching camera shots that seem to have a mind of its own! It rather was dynamic, especially amongst the upbeat moments. And also Klaus Kinski performance, his venomous persona soared above the rest and added a lot to proceedings. His sly character didn't say too much, but the his appearance and blistering stare were just unsettling. In my eyes he also makes a grand first appearance on screen. Just like in most spaghetti westerns the camera work is prominent, but so is the score and landscape. Here is no exception, but the score that flooded the film was rather bloated and bombarded some scenes without grace. But not enough to really tick me off. Now the location, well the harsh rocky terrain where most of the film took place truly helped portray the rough and cruelty of the ever changing face of the west.
The well rounded characters and story builds on a remarkably persuasive script, it wasn't particularly hammy like I thought it might be. Sure there were some things left up in the air, but it didn't damage the story at all. It was more up to you to decide on certain things that were hinted. While the other three performances from Gilbert Roland, Van Heflin and George Hilton were nothing but terrific.
Solid spaghetti western caper. It's something a bit different, but I would definitely recommended it, if only for Kinski's performance. Give it a chance, you might be surprised?
"The Ruthless Four" is one of many spaghetti westerns that flooded the mid to late 60's, but something about this Italian/German production that stood out from the rest for me. It's not I think it's brilliant, but actually the simple story which at times felt like it came across more out of something of Hollywood is a curious piece. Its hard to put my finger on it, sure it didn't entirely blow me away, but this a sturdy spaghetti western is done with buckets of chic and grit. Though, I warn you if your looking for a abundance of wild and over-the-top violence, you'll surely be disappointed as they only come in small doses. But when they do occur that's when the flair kicked in, with well mounted shootouts and showdowns, even if they do lack some sort of sting (well, except for a certain bloody showdown between Brent and Sam). But like I typed earlier these are far and in between plenty of sequences involving a lot chat, confrontations, accusations and scheming. That's basically what happens in the first half of the film, but when the four head out to the mine that's when things "kinda" get going with a change of pace in the plot. It's more about the effects of paranoia and greed with these shifty man trying to knock each other off, or teaming up to get this gold no matter what. There's always something going on to keep you glued.
What makes up for the slow going nature is the encroaching camera shots that seem to have a mind of its own! It rather was dynamic, especially amongst the upbeat moments. And also Klaus Kinski performance, his venomous persona soared above the rest and added a lot to proceedings. His sly character didn't say too much, but the his appearance and blistering stare were just unsettling. In my eyes he also makes a grand first appearance on screen. Just like in most spaghetti westerns the camera work is prominent, but so is the score and landscape. Here is no exception, but the score that flooded the film was rather bloated and bombarded some scenes without grace. But not enough to really tick me off. Now the location, well the harsh rocky terrain where most of the film took place truly helped portray the rough and cruelty of the ever changing face of the west.
The well rounded characters and story builds on a remarkably persuasive script, it wasn't particularly hammy like I thought it might be. Sure there were some things left up in the air, but it didn't damage the story at all. It was more up to you to decide on certain things that were hinted. While the other three performances from Gilbert Roland, Van Heflin and George Hilton were nothing but terrific.
Solid spaghetti western caper. It's something a bit different, but I would definitely recommended it, if only for Kinski's performance. Give it a chance, you might be surprised?