User Reviews

I titled this "Richard Harrison channels Clint Eastwood". I should have added "with little success". El Rojo (or just Rojo) seems to be a feeble attempt to recreate the success and feel of A Fistful of Dollars. The comparisons and influences are unmistakable. Harrison does his best at playing his version of The Man with No Name, but he doesn't have the charisma of Eastwood. Director Leopoldo Savona uses some of the same shot and lighting techniques, but he's certainly no Sergio Leone. And Benedetto Ghiglia main title theme is so similar to something Ennio Morricone would have written, it can't be a coincidence. These are talented men in their own right, but they can't compare with the people behind one of the greatest, most influential Spaghetti Westerns ever made.

I'll cut the writers some slack - all SW story lines seems to center on revenge. Here, the movie opens with group of settlers being massacred just as they reach their family's gold claim. The killings are made to look like the work of Indians, but we immediately know better. A town is built on the site called Gold Hill, One day, a stranger arrives in town (Harrison). It seems the four most respected (or feared) men in town were behind the massacre. And the stranger is the last living relative. He is (you guessed it) out for revenge.

Beyond what I've written earlier, there are other problems with Rojo. The biggest issue I had is the dull script. There are too few surprises to keep things interesting. Everything is sort of telegraphed from the very beginning. Also, I usually don't complain about dubbing (and I would never hold it against a film), but be warned - the dubbing on the version I watched was about as bad as I can remember. It's like someone ran the script though an online translator (I know, there was no internet in 1966) and didn't bother proofing the result. Parts are quite funny.

As for positives, there are a few. I mentioned the opening theme. It may sound like Morricone, but that's actually a good thing. It's a bit reminiscent of The Ecstasy of Gold. Some of the acting is good. Piero Lulli, as the head baddie and Nieves Navarro, as the love interest, were standouts. Finally, much of the movie does look good. The film has that sweaty, tight, dirty look to it that I always enjoy in a good SW.

Overall, Rojo is a lackluster attempt at recreating Leone's film. In short, it's unoriginal, predictable, and dull. I have probably overrated it with a 4/10.

EL ROJO is a 1966 spaghetti western featuring a role for none other than former peplum star Richard Harrison. The arresting opening sequence of the movie features a whole family of travellers attacked by a merciless Indian who murders each of them in turn, woman and child included. Later, Richard Harrison rides into town, the last surviving member of the massacred family, and inevitably he's looking for revenge.

The film that played out is pretty ordinary and features all of the usual staples of the genre, from the shoot-outs and character twists to the bad dubbing and stylish music. Nieves Navarro is an arresting presence as the love interest of the piece, while Harrison plays it subdued throughout and looks very swarthy. It's not one of the finest spaghetti westerns in existence but it does the job well enough, and at least it's never boring.

Blank-faced Richard Harrison stars as yet another Man With No Name (though it's actually Joe, apparently) in this extremely pedestrian Spanish western. He's out to avenge the deaths of the Sorenson family, who are killed off in the first few minutes of the film by an Indian who is apparently armed with a rapid fire bow and arrow. Also implicated in the crime are four fellows you instantly know are villains: two swarthy chaps with Latino surnames (Ortega and Navarro), one with a Jewish name (Lasky), and one (Wallace) who, well, you just look at his sneer and you can see he's a baddie. Also on hand is Black Bart, a masked man with some gruesome facial scars, and a comic Confederate sidekick. El Rojo suffers from some of the most lackadaisical dubbing ever, with several of the voice actors displaying a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Though apparently shot in 2.35:1, the full-frame Greek video that forms the basis of this review actually looks pretty good--apparently director Leopoldo Savona centered his shots for most of the film.