Ruthless Four, The (1968)
*** (out of 4)
Spaghetti Western take on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre has Van Heffin playing an elderly gold digger who finally hits it big but is betrayed by his partner who he has to kill. After being robbed by some bandits, Heffin must leave his gold behind and head back to the city where he asks his stepson (George Hilton) to go back and get the gold with him. The stepson agrees to go but is forced into taking an ex partner (Klaus Kinski) and even Heffen is forced to bring along a man (Gilbert Roland) and soon all four are looking over their shoulders. This is far from a great film but it has a terrific cast and a very good story, which makes this a worthy addition to the good titles that this genre has given us. The music score really hurts the film as it sounds out of place but outside of this everything else works just fine. What works the best are the terrific performances with Heffen leading the way. Just take a look at the early scene when his character is dragging himself out of the desert and nearing death from lack of water. I'm not sure what Heffen did to "look" the part but it's rather amazing to watch him. Kinski, playing that mysterious silent man, is terrific as well and makes for a great villain. Roland also delivers a fine performance as the calmer bandit and Hilton is good, although can't really touch the other three men. There are a couple classic shoot outs in the film with an excellent one coming half way through the film. The direction is also nice throughout and there's some wonderful scenery as well.
*** (out of 4)
Spaghetti Western take on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre has Van Heffin playing an elderly gold digger who finally hits it big but is betrayed by his partner who he has to kill. After being robbed by some bandits, Heffin must leave his gold behind and head back to the city where he asks his stepson (George Hilton) to go back and get the gold with him. The stepson agrees to go but is forced into taking an ex partner (Klaus Kinski) and even Heffen is forced to bring along a man (Gilbert Roland) and soon all four are looking over their shoulders. This is far from a great film but it has a terrific cast and a very good story, which makes this a worthy addition to the good titles that this genre has given us. The music score really hurts the film as it sounds out of place but outside of this everything else works just fine. What works the best are the terrific performances with Heffen leading the way. Just take a look at the early scene when his character is dragging himself out of the desert and nearing death from lack of water. I'm not sure what Heffen did to "look" the part but it's rather amazing to watch him. Kinski, playing that mysterious silent man, is terrific as well and makes for a great villain. Roland also delivers a fine performance as the calmer bandit and Hilton is good, although can't really touch the other three men. There are a couple classic shoot outs in the film with an excellent one coming half way through the film. The direction is also nice throughout and there's some wonderful scenery as well.