The Ruthless Four (1968)

So much average

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Fresh and Exciting

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

RELEASED IN 1969 and directed by Giorgio Capitani (aka Holloway), "The Ruthless Four" is an Italian-German Western about an old prospector (Van Heflin) who discovers gold in the Nevada desert and only trusts his quasi-stepson (George Hilton) to apprehend it. Unfortunately for them, the latter is indebted to a shady man (Klaus Kinski) while the former is forced to enlist a bitter ex-comrade (Gilbert Roland). My title blurb pretty much says it all. The acting is good and Sarah Ross is a highlight in a too-small role as a saloon babe, plus there are a couple of good elongated gunfights (in the middle and at the end). But the story is too one-note to be compelling, not to mention it's predictable. The average Jimmy Stewart Western of the 50s, like "Bend of the River" and "The Far Country," has more happening in 25 minutes than this film does in its entire runtime. Still, the music's good and there's some worthy Western cinematography. The movie runs 106 minutes and was shot in Almeria, Andalusia, Spain. WRITERS: Fernando Di Leo & Augusto Caminito. GRADE: C

Four men embark on a mission to unearth a fortune in gold from a mine.The film is directed by Giorgio Capitani, who you have probably never heard of unless you're into obscure Italian films. It was produced by Luciano Ercoli who is a bit better known. And written by Fernando DiLeo (Slaughter Hotel), who is probably the best-known of the three. Really, the only reason to watch this is for Klaus Kinski, and even there it falls short because the dubbing just makes him sound silly.The copy I saw (on a double-disc with "Border Shootout") was pretty rough. If a negative could be found, I could see the film getting a nice polish and being a better western under all the dust. Sadly, if it was recorded the way many Italian films were, there is no original audio, so the way it is now is probably the way it always will be.

Though I love spaghetti westerns enough that I can often tolerate seeing the same plots and characters over and over, I do like it when I come across one that is quite different - which "The Ruthless Four" is. One surprise is that in some aspects it seems to be trying to be more American than European, such as the musical score and the fact that there's a lot less action and more character development than many other spaghetti westerns. It's also a lot more leisurely paced, often taking its time when even an American western would have sooner gone to serious business. But the movie is never dull even during the slower moments. It gets you wondering just how it's going to end up, and that leads to a lot of tension and suspense. You can also feel the agony the characters go through at various points in the movie. While you shouldn't watch this spaghetti western if you are in the mood for action, it is a fine choice when you are in the mood for something quite different.

Sam Cooper, (Van Heflin) was a gold prospector all his life and he finally found a good gold mine and one of his partners decided to kill him in order to keep it all for himself. However, Sam Cooper manages to blow up the mine and bury his partner instead, meaning that Sam Cooper had to hide the gold because it was too heavy to carry back by horseback through a desert area. Sam Cooper gets back in town and gathers up a group of guys, some he did not care to tag along. One guy was Mason, (Gilbert Roland) who knew Sam Cooper in past years and Sam figured he could trust him. There is one gal who appears in the town named Anna, (Sarah Ross) who is a sexy bar girl who gives Sam and eye full of her female charm. Brent the Blonde, (Klaus Kinski) is dressed up like a preacher but is a human rattlesnake who will give you one look and blow you away the next second. This film is very much like the Humphrey Bogart film, "Treasure of Sierra Madre", but this film is full of cruel evil men lusting for gold and gold only.