One by One (1968) Poster

(1968)

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
Good Paella/Spaghetti Western co-produced between Spain and Italy , including customary scenarios from Almeria
ma-cortes21 April 2013
Rafael Romero Marchent directs the German Peter Lee Lawrence in this tale of revenge about a young man to clear the name of his father . A son (Peter Lee Lawrence) of a Confederate captain has the difficult task of proving that his father was not a traitor murderer . He will have the help of Charro (William Bogart) , a Mexican friend of his late father . Charro knows what really happened , the Captain was betrayed, so now the young sets out in pursuit the men (Sydney Chaplin , Alfonso Rojas , among others) who murdered ​​his father . The young man join forces with Charro and they look for the killers in the region and execute their vendetta , murdering one by one and without mercy.

¨One by One without mercy" is an exciting western that contains a story full of violence and vengeance , good dramatic pace , plot twists and slick direction . Agreeable Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Spain and Italian secondary participation ; it follows the Sergio Leone wake , including close-up , zooms , choreographic duels and no being proceeded in American style . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , high body-count and it's fast moving , being quite entertaining and approaching increasingly Leone Italian style , but keeping some details that make it special in this particular genre . It's a thrilling western with spectacular outdoors and breathtaking confrontation among heartless protagonists Peter Lee Lawrence and William Bogart ; and both of them against Sydney Chaplin , Eduardo Fajardo and their underlings . Acceptable action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts . Charismatic performance for whole casting . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Peter Lee Lawrence is good in his usual tough role .Blond German youth Peter Lee Lawrence, who made his uncredited debut in Sergio Leone "For A Few Dollars More" (1965), was the hero in many Spaghetti Westerns. His short cinematographic history can be enclosed in nine years of Italo-Spain co-productions such as "More Dollars for the MacGregors" , ¨Winchester justice¨,"Pistol for a Hundred Coffins", ¨The man who killed Billy the Kid¨ , ¨Fury of Johnny Kid¨ and several others . Enjoyable though brief performance by the always great Eduardo Fajardo , previously famous for ¨Django¨ , playing a nasty role , as usual . In the film appears ordinary Chorizo/Spaghetti Western actors such as Francisco Sanz as Zebulon , Manuel Tejada as Frogmouth , Cris Huerta as Lonely Man in Saloon , Miguel Del Castillo as Priest , Tito Garcia as farmer , Alfonso Rojas as Capt. Jack Hawkins , among others . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Emilio Foriscot , filmed on location in Hoyo Manzanares del Real , La Pedriza , and , of course , Almeria .

Rafael Romero Marchent (Madrid, Spain, May 3, 1926), was brother of Joaquin Luis Romero, recently deceased , who was the first to shoot Westerns in Spain . At first, Rafael Romero began in films as an actor, but when his career began to wane, he preferred to spend time behind the camera . While his brother Joaquin Marchent is deemed the Paella Western's best director , his first film was ¨El Coyote¨ and the sequel titled ¨Revenge of Coyote¨ shot in Mexico ; after that , he filmed ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ and ¨Revenge of Zorro¨, he went go directing Western as ¨ Riding to death ¨ , ¨Adventures in the West¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Sabor Venganza ¨ and the most popular and violent ¨Condenados a Vivir¨ . Plus , he wrote for his brother Rafael Romero Marchent the followings Westerns : ¨Manos Torpes¨, ¨Ocaso Un Pistolero¨ and ¨Garringo¨ . Following in the footsteps of his brother, Rafael Romero began shooting many movies of the new genre . Rafael is an expert writer and director of Spaghetti Western as proved in ¨Two crosses on Danger Pass¨, Cry for revenge¨ and ¨Two guns for two twins¨ with Pili and Mili, a pair of twin singers in those years were stars. In 1968 directs "Who cries revenge?" and "One by one without mercy" two of the best Westerns . These latter are of higher quality and both of them had achieved successes . The following year he directed a great spaghetti western, "Clumsy Hands" a good story , being well shot . And bit later on , he directs "Garringo" which is a splendid Spaghetti at his best and probably to be the best shot ever by a Spanish director .
11 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Flawed but fun
ArtVandelayImporterExporter24 February 2024
Young man comes to town seeking to clear his father's name. Seems the old man was accused of stealing some money belonging to one of the civil war armies (who really cares which side). After getting run out of town he meets up with Charo. Not the singer, the old man's former scout.

Turns out the old man wanted to return the money but his partners had other ideas. They shot the old man and left Charo for dead.

And now we have a revenge/buddy pic.

There are a lot of fun, if unoriginal set pieces: stage coach robbery, saloon robbery, another saloon fight, a posse or two, and a couple of good-looking dames.

It pases the time without taxing the brain too much.

As with most Dub Westerns, the voice-over work takes getting used to. And the continuity is a mess. But then, even the much-celebrated Sergio Leone couldn't edit his movies scenes in proper sequence to save his own life. It's part of the genre's charms.

Peter Lee Lawrence, who died shockingly young, is the good looking young man. Ultimately, however,, Guglielmo Spoletini - or Spanish George Clooney as I call him - steals the film with his considerable charm.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Rather good Paella western
Red-Barracuda15 May 2017
A young man seeks to prove his army officer father was not a traitor, to do so he sets out on a mission to take out the men who murdered him with the help of a Mexican bandit who knew his father.

One Against One...No Mercy is a Paella Western. Like many others it is a Spanish-Italian co-production but unlike most, it is primarily an Iberian rather than a spaghetti production. Whatever the case, it sports a plot-line that can be found in many Italian westerns from the time seeing as it is essentially a revenge-themed story featuring a mysterious loner with superb weapon skills and with a comic Mexican bandit thrown in for good measure. So you could say that it isn't a film with a massive amount of originality. But I actually found this one to be clearly above average for this kind of thing. Its Spanish leanings came through by way of slightly less typical music and its feel was a little lighter overall. But it also has a very satisfying and pleasingly unpredictable ending which rounded things off rather well. The cast as a whole wasn't very familiar to me mostly, aside from Eduardo Fajardo who was the chief villain, he also played a very similar role in Sergio Corbucci's highly influential earlier spaghetti western, Django (1966). On the whole, this is one is well worth seeking out, especially if you wish to expand your knowledge of the Paella western sub-genre.
4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed