STORY

Gringo (Steffen) and Luca (Salerno), a couple of hard-up scallywag opportunists drifting around Mexico, sell their horses to try and buy tickets to board the train to Durango. After purchasing the tickets, which have gone up considerably "because of the revolution", they finally get their place on the train and Luca proceeds to establish his credentials by stealing food from an elderly woman and child. Gringo, on the other hand, is instantly smitten with Elaine (Boschero), a French journalist who's interested in Pancho Villa and the thrill of revolution in old Mexico . As fate would have it the train is carrying gold and guns start blazing when bandits led by The Chief (Bodalo), Lobo (Camardiel) and Heraclio (Zarzo) attempt to rob the train. The safe is stolen and the American arms dealers whose gold it is are killed. Our dynamic duo ride their luck, survive the attack and retrieve the two keys needed to open the safe from the dead bodies of the American arms dealers whose gold it was. However Elaine is kidnapped by Heraclio and the safe has long gone.

Anthony Steffen takes aim in A TRAIN FOR DURANGO

The train robbers can't open the safe and knowing this, Gringo and Luca use their limited cunning and guile to get to the safe in order to steal its fortune themselves. This won't be easy with The Chief, Lobo and Heraclio to contend with but a guardian angel, in the shape of the dapper, automobile driving, Brown (Damon) seems to always be there at the right time to rescue them from trouble.

With suspicions growing among the bandits, revolution just around the corner and the only access to a fortune in gold in the possession of two complete blunderers, the stage is set for a jaunty caper where the ultimate prize is that which is most treasured by spaghetti western anti-heroes: gold.

CRITIQUE

Well, on paper, it looks promising. With some of the most experienced personnel to have graced the Italian western genre on hand, Train for Durango should have been a much better film than it is. Although we're lucky enough to have had a Dutch release, in days gone by, in which Enzo Barboni's usual crisp compositions can be seen in their full widescreen glory, I just can't help feeling a little crestfallen after viewing this film.

Opening amiably enough with plenty of visual gags and the amusing episode of trying to buy train tickets only to see the price rising while the value of their goods just keeps falling, Gringo and Luca clearly don't have the macho swagger of The Man with no Name or Django. Neither do they have the comic agility nor scheming of Trinity and Bambino and, after time, even though there's plenty of fun to be had, the joke becomes a bit overwrought. These guys just don't cut the mustard. It's that curse of the Italian comedy western. The bad guys have got to be even stupider than the good guys for their equally stupid plans to work.

It's that old buried up to the neck torture. Enrico Maria Salerno in A TRAIN FOR DURANGO

Although in darker westerns like Django the Bastard, Apocalypse Joe and Killer Kid Anthony Steffen elicited a much more brooding, mysterious presence, he shows plenty of charisma here and he'll have you rooting for him despite his character's lack of ingenuity. He shows the required charm to snare the delectable Dominique Boschero but should really snap out of the dizzy love-struck mode when it's time to get mean. Salerno, who sports a 'tache that David Seaman would envy, provides solid support as his right hand man and Roberto Camardiel chews what's left of the scenery after José Badalo, better known as the bandit chief in Django, delivers an amusing highly-strung turn as The Chief.

The plot takes elements of Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars by turning rival bandits against each other but in Caiano and Tessari's script all it takes for violence to be unleashed is for Elaine to tell Heraclio that Lobo called him a fish. Surely, even the most basic spaghetti western villains need a little more reason to mount a full-scale attack on former comrades. From the boss-eyed cannon-operator with a funny walk to our heroes being buried up to their necks in the sand with buckets over their heads one mildly amusing scene follows another and it all ends with a pay-off so obvious you'll kick yourself. However, as comedy westerns stand, it passes the time enjoyably enough without ever eliciting any real belly laughs or stirring the senses like many of its predecessors.

Clark Hodgkiss