STORY

Gary Hamilton rides into Paso Bravo after a spell in prison. Before you can ease the cork from your bottle of cheeky - but slightly earthy - chianti, he witnesses two 'horse rustlers' being shot down by a gang of disreputable looking fellows. When he complains that his mule has been killed in the crossfire (does this sound at all familiar to anyone) they all seem highly amused, especially when he professes not to have much of a taste for liquor. When they later bump into him on a local saloon they attempt to humiliate him further by throwing whisky in his face. He seems distinctly unimpressed.

It soon becomes clear that he's returned to find out what happened to his wife and daughter. The accepted version of events is that they died in a house fire four years before, whilst he was in a drunken stupor. He has his (entirely valid) suspicions about this, thinking that murder is a far more likely scenario. There are plenty of distractions from his detective work, however, most notably the voluptuous saloon owner Rosie (Giulia Rubini ) and his rather more pure - and inevitably blonde - sister-in-law Anna (Andrea Ambesi). And, of course, those ridiculous dipsomaniac goons, employees of a local hotshot rancher Akinbar (Eduardo Fajardo), are also still roaming around. Not that they last too long, that is.

Gary manages to discover that the real killers were a particularly loathsome trio named the Santa Maria brothers. When he confronts them they let slip that they were acting under instructions from (who else) Akinbar. However, whilst he is unravelling the truth, the devious villain has kidnapped Anna - planning to use her as bait in a deadly trap.

CRITIQUE

I can't for the life of me work out (1) why Gary 's wife was originally murdered and (2) why he was in prison. Maybe these plot subtleties are victims of the unique Anti-Dolby, Anti-Stereo, Anti-Bloody-Sound video cassette that I was watching. Whatever, the story here suddenly metamorphosises into a slightly strange replay The Magnificent Seven , with the hero and some crusty associates joining together to attack Akinbar's ranch.

This starts off at a relatively languid pace, content to soak up the desert landscapes and worn faces. By the climax, however, things are moving along at a much more stringent pace. In many ways it works much better than No Room to Die because it allows the story to develop, chock full of strange supporting characters and minor idiosyncracies. The tension is slowly built up rather than allowed to dissipate through the use of simply too much action. Therefore, although it lacks some of the directorial bravado of Garrone's film, it ends up as an etirely more satisfying experience.

Steffen is as impassive and effective as ever. Although it's easy to mock his 'acting prowess', he proved remarkably adept in choosing films that suited his lack of expressiveness and the slightly haunted, melancholy feel that he could bring to his roles. Especially so when he was contrasted with a rather more animated performer such as William Berger, Gianni Garko or Fernando Sancho. And they don't come much more animated than Eduardo Fajardo, one of the most watchable character actors of the time. He would go on to make several more films with Steffen (as well as the earlier Gentleman Killer ), such as Eduardo Mulargia's Shango and the Juan Bosch thriller Killer with 1,000 Eyes .

As for director Salvatore Rosso , his name is a new one on me. It's a shame because in this case he's crafted an eminently worthy little production.

Review by Matt Blake