And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave (1971) Poster

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6/10
Acceptable Paella/Spaghetti Western co-produced by Spain/Italy and starred by three usual stars : Hill , Sancho and Braña
ma-cortes25 October 2016
Action-filled Spaghetti , littered with killings , shootouts , riding pursuits , brawls , revenge , romance , cross and doublé-crosses . Maccaroni Western performed by habitual secondary actors , as it stars Fernando Sancho , Angel Aranda , Ivano Staccioli , among others . Here stands out Craig Hill , his role is well performed , he plays a relentless gunslinger using mercilessly his gun , a violent veteran who seeks justice , an usual plot in Spaghetti western . It is set shortly after the American Civil War , since the banditry is becoming uncontrollable , being increasingly frequent the outlaw incursions , then the transportation company Wells Fargo hires some deputies-bounty hunters , to protect themselves against the attacks and assaults on stagecoaches carried out by cruel bandits . One of these deputies results to be an ex-sheriff named Jeff Sullivan (Craig Hill) , with a particular zeal in the matter because the ruthless bandit Glenn Kovacks (Frank Braña) with his gang murdered barbarously some time ago to his wife . In addition , Pancho Corrales (Fernando Sancho) , a brutal and ironic gunfighter who is also on the trail of Kovacs for Wells Fargo . Sullivan pursues relentlessly enemies and he gets rid of his contenders one by one and tries to execute his vendetta . Along the way Jeff meets Dan Baker (Angel Aranda) and a beautiful young woman (Maria Pia Conte) whose father is murdered . In the process , Baker falls in love for Susan who heals him some injures . As Sullivan finds out that the Dan Barker's malevolent brother is the real killer his spouse . At the end takes place the violent taking on , it ends with a great deal of deaths and a strong annihilation .

This Chorizo/Pasta Western is running out of ideas a bit ; nevertheless , it is still good enough to be fun . This moving tortilla/Ravioli flick packs shootouts , thrills , violent confrontations and riding pursuits . Italian-Spanish co-production filmed in Catalunya , full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots and fights . Starring Craig Hill as an ex-sheriff become a merciless avenger and he vows vendetta when finds his wife has been killed by a greedy murderer , he then will revenge himself and set the townsfolk free from the nasty villain . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Craig Hill , Fernando Sancho and Frank Braña with some looks that say it all , including an exciting ending . Here Graig Hill is pretty nice as Jeff Sullivan , another hero of second class in the S.W. genre . His role is well performed , he plays as a cruel avenger but upright gun-shooter, a violent veteran who seeks a bloody vendetta , an ordinary plot in Spaghetti/Paella Western . The movie contains typical particularities Spaghetti , as it is full of fury , sadism , bloodbaths , and close-ups of grime-encrusted faces . Recently deceased Craig Hill gives a subdued performance but adequate to his character . The notorious Spaghetti/Paella actor , Craig Hill is good in his customary brave role , here playing a tough ex-sheriff/bounty hunter/deputy turned into a terrible revenger when his spouse is wrongly murdered by the killer Kovacks/Braña and his hoodlums . Craig Hill played a lot of Spaghetti , his first Western was ¨Hands of a Gunfighter" or ¨Ocaso De Un Pistolero¨ , he went on playing : "Seven Pistols for a Massacre" , "Rick and John¨ , ¨Conquerors of the West¨ , ¨Bounty hunter¨ , "I Want Him Dead" , "Fifteen Scaffolds for the Killer" , "Three Crosses of Death" , ¨Bury Them Deep¨ "I want him dead¨, and this ¨The Crows Will Dig Your Grave" or "Los Cuervos Cavarán Tú Fosa" . His main enemy is rightly performed by Fernando Sancho and Frank Braña , both of whom interpreting two cruelly baddie roles are terrific , they previously and subsequently would play similar characters . And special mention for the great Fernando Sancho who gives a nice acting as the malicious as well as sympathetic bounty hunter Pancho Corrales . Here appear important secondaries from Spaghetti/Tortilla/Chorizo or Paella Western , these are the followings : Maria Pia Conte as a beautiful countrywoman who loves Angel Aranda , Dominique Boschero , Ivano Staccioli , Raf Baldassarre , Gaspar 'Indio' González , Juan Torres.

Being regularly photographed by Giancarlo Ferrando in Eastmancolor . Mostly filmed in atmospheric though poor scenarios on location in Matadepera , vicinity of Barcelona , Cataluña , Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by Balcazar Productions and in Rome, Lazio, Italy , as well as interiors filmed in Elios studios . Enjoyable musical score by Bruno Nicolai , usual collaborator to Morricone . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Juan Bosch . He managed to make a fluid and filled with thrills , duels , attacks , and shots , though average and in low budget . Juan was a Spanish craftsman , writing and directing ; working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies such as Spaghetti Western : ¨Dallas¨, "God in Heaven, Arizona on Earth¨, "And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave" , "My Horse, My Gun, Your Widow" ,¨Ciudad Maldita¨, ¨They Believed He Was No Saint" , "Stagecoach of the Condemned" ; Giallo : "The Killer Wore Gloves" , "On the Edge" or "The Killer with a Thousand Eyes" ; Comedy : Mauricio Mon Amour¨, ¨40 Años Sin Sexo¨, ¨Caray Con Divorcio¨ , ¨Rolls Para Hipolito¨ and Terror : ¨Exorcismo¨, ¨Secta Siniestra¨ . Rating : 5.5/10 , mediocre but entertaining , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Tortilla , Butifarra or Spaghetti westerns , this one remains lightly watchable .
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6/10
Running from the law, and again
unbrokenmetal24 September 2011
Wells Fargo complain about lack of security for their transports. They hire special agents (read: bounty hunters) to find the most dangerous man around, Glenn Kovacs, dead or alive. One of these agents is Jeff Sullivan, who starts his investigation by buying the freedom of Dan Barker, a prisoner who might lead him to Kovacs. Barker isn't exactly grateful for his liberation - he escapes from Sullivan at the first opportunity. Out of the frying pan, into the fire: soon he is chased by the other bounty hunters, too - including the brutal Corrales who tortures him with barbed wire. Nevertheless Barker, meanwhile accompanied by the lovely Susan, gets to Kovacs, and they prepare for battle...

Well, you get everything you expect: the guns, the dust, the beards and a lively soundtrack by Bruno Nicolai. Craig Hill plays Jeff Sullivan, the usual Clint Eastwood type of hero. Angel Aranda as Barker is a bandit with character development - hateful at the beginning, he is tamed somewhat by Susan. Fernando Sancho as Corrales is - rarely enough in his movies - on the right side of the law, even he has a very generous interpretation of the "carte blanche" given to him by Wells Fargo. It's hard to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys, everything is pretty much a competition for a lot of dollars, quite common in the genre, but well executed here, except that the main villain appears only after more than an hour of the movie, so that the story occasionally feels a little stretched up to then. All in all, an enjoyable flick. My vote: 6/10.
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5/10
High Plains Potboiler
zardoz-1322 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Expatriate American actor Craig Hill plays a urbane bounty hunter with a beard in writer & director Juan Bosch's "And The Crows Will Dig Your Grave," a drawn out, routine Spaghetti western, co-starring genre stalwarts Fernando Sancho, Frank Braña and Antonio Molino Rojo. Like typical European sagebrushers, this trigger-happy tale shows lots of guys getting gunned down. There is a scene where the chief villain wraps up a bare-chested hombre with barbed wire to torture him. This looks like a medium budget oater. We never see a train or railway tracks. Long-time Ennio Morricone collaborator Bruno Nicolai provided the orchestral score, but this doesn't rank as one of his better efforts. Furthermore, the action doesn't occur on sun-drenched deserts but instead on sagebrush covered hills. The main theme is revenge because the hero is out to kill the dastard who murdered his wife. This issue comes up about three-fourths of the way through when our hero's adversity appears.

The Wells Fargo Company is furious that outlaws have been terrorizing their coaches on a regular basis, with no end in sight, so they obtain government authorization to hire guards. The desperado Glenn Kovac (Frank Braña of "Once Upon a Time in the West") has been the scourge of the company, and Jeff Sullivan (Craig Hill of "Siege at Red River") bribes a contractor who uses prisoners to release an inmate, Dan Barker (Ángel Aranda of "From Hell to Victory"), into his custody. As it turns out, the guards had brutally beaten up Barker when he came to the aid of a fallen prisoner. Meantime, another prisoner took advantage of the distraction that Barker created and tried to flee from the work gang. Unfortunately, a sharp-shooting guard shot him down. Jeff tells Ted Solomon (Joaquín Díaz of "Dynamite Jim"), the man who works the prisoners, to report Barker as dead, shot down like the other prisoner in an attempt to escape. Initially, Jeff has trouble holding onto Barker. Barker escapes and Sullivan must recapture him on more than one occasion. The first time Barker disarms Jeff while the latter is trying to offer him a drink of water after he has gotten him out of prison. These two tangle on a repeated basis. Afterward, Barker sets out to find who informed on him and had him sent to jail. Pancho Corrales (Fernando Sanchez of "A Pistol for Ringo") is also on the trail of Kovac for Wells Fargo. He captures Barker at one point and interrogates him. Corrales uses barbed wire which he has strapped across Barker's chest will loosen his tongue. The reason Sullivan paid Solomon a thousand dollars for Barker's release is Barker is Kovac's half-brother. Clearly, if anybody can find Kovac, Barker is the right man.

The primary problem with "And The Crows Will Dig Your Grave" is the delayed entrance of Kovac. Most of the time is spent on the repetitive back and forth action, with Sullivan losing and then recovering Barker. This reminded me of the Lee Van Cleef & Tomas Milan western "The Big Gundown." The narrative focuses to a greater depth on Ángel Aranda's Barker instead of either Sullivan or Kovac. "And The Crows Will Dig Your Grave" qualifies as a high plains potboiler for Spaghetti western completists. Sancho is at his loquacious best as a secondary villain. only.
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If you're a spaghetti western fan, it's okay
Wizard-819 October 2015
"And The Crows Will Dig Your Grave" has one of the best spaghetti western titles ever in the history of the genre, and was the main reason why I decided to give it a spin in my DVD player. The movie was okay, but it doesn't live up to its title. For the most part, it moves slower than your average spaghetti western, with a minimum of plot that is repeated over and over again until reaching the climatic action sequence. Speaking of action, that climatic action sequence is the only scene that could be considered an "action sequence". The few moments of action before that point at the most only last a few seconds!

But the movie does have some pleasures that help make it an okay viewing experience. It's a slow movie, but not boring. For one thing, under the direction of Juan Bosch, the movie does have some atmosphere, with a somewhat downbeat and cynical edge that has bite. The musical score by Bruno Nicolai is pretty good. And it's always a treat to see Fernando Sancho in a spaghetti western; his greasy bad guys are great fun to watch. This movie is far from a spaghetti western classic, but it's okay for fans of the genre.
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6/10
Some of it's themes is reminiscent to a Western novel without any credit
jordondave-2808515 January 2024
(1971) And The Crows Will Dig Your Grave/I Corvi Ti Scaveranno La Fossa (The Crows Will Dig You Up) / Los buitres cavarán tu fosa DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Co-written and directed by Juan Bosch that has 10 people appointed as bounty hunter/ marshal's by Wells Fargo to the capture of wanted felon, Glen Kovacs (Frank Brana) synonymous for attacking and robbing stagecoaches belonging to Wells Fargo. By looking at the faces, I was able to recognize two actors and was wondering when two of those characters were going to meet. We're then introduced to a bounty hunter, Jeff Sullivan (Craig Hill) who was among the 10 employed by Wells Fargo to capture Glenn Kovacs. And the first thing he does is go directly toward to find out where a specific prisoner, Dan Barker (Ángel Aranda) has been held at who is part of a chain gang breaking rocks and shoveling gravel. In order to break him out, he needed to pay $1,500 to a sleazy Mexican commander.
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