Kid Vengeance (1977)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty Good

Nice effects though.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Released in 1977 and directed by Joseph Manduke, "Kid Vengeance" (retitled simply "Vengeance") is a Matzo Ball oater starring Leif Garrett as an adolescent who witnesses his mother's raping followed by his parent's murder at the hands of a bandit gang in the Southwest desert. He teams up with a miner (Jim Brown) to enact vengeance and get his sister back (Glynnis O'Connor). Lee Van Cleef plays the outlaw leader.This was shot before another Hebraic Western with Van Cleef and Garrett, 1976's "God's Gun," but released afterward. These turned out to be the last two Westerns for Van Cleef. "Kid Vengeance" is better than "God's Gun" simply because it's gritty realistic whereas the latter has an uneven semi-camp/parody tone. In any case, Garrett was about 14 during filming and O'Connor was 20-21 whereas Van Cleef looks like he wandered off the set of "Woodstock" with his headband, although they were no doubt used in the Old West. The plot may be hackneyed, but the cast is great. Unfortunately, the movie's strictly one-dimensional in tone and utterly desolate in location; and therefore a mite tedious. Still, it's worth checking out if you like the cast and 60s-70's Westerns.The film runs 90 minutes and was shot in Israel.GRADE: C+

The story of vengeance here is pretty standard stuff, as a stubborn protagonist determines to get back at the scummy outlaws who raped / murdered his mom, murdered his dad, and made off with his sister. The twist here is that the protagonist is a young teen, Tom Thurston (Leif Garrett). Tom actually does a pretty good, and needless to say, very amusing job on his own, but ultimately he will team up with a gunslinger named Isaac (Jim Brown), a man with a highly coveted stash of gold, in order to save his sibling. Not only do they have to contend with the main outlaws, led by a truly devilish Lee Van Cleef, playing McClain (and sporting a bandanna instead of a hat), but a bumbling secondary group, including characters like Grover (Matt Clark) and Ned (Timothy Scott). Reasonably enjoyable but also forgettable, "Kid Vengeance" is just offbeat and surreal - and humorous - enough to give it entertainment value, in addition to the solid cast. Confusing at times, as if there might be a scene or two missing, and it also plods a little too much. An early production for Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, before they formed the Cannon Group that cranked out many great genre movies of the 1980's, it's not as exploitative as one might think, and in fact it has some good moments where the feisty sister, Lisa (Glynnis O'Connor) tries to stand up to McClain. Van Cleef clearly has fun with his part, and John Marley is likewise a total hoot as his accomplice Jesus. Brown plays a role of quiet strength and does it well, and Garrett isn't bad as the kid. Clark and Scott are funny in the comedy roles. However, the tone of this movie is mostly serious (the opening scene actually looks believable), with a rather dark ending, and Garrett's Tom, who's been taught the difference between hunting and killing by his dad, figures out which of the two he's doing by following and eliminating the villains. The movie is mainly worth watching to see the commanding performances by Van Cleef and Brown, who'd also done "Take a Hard Ride" and "The Condor" together. They give it an extra point, along with the typically fine music by Francesco De Masi. While not without interest, it's not likely to stick in the mind for long after it's over. Six out of 10.

Another matzoh ball-topped spag western featuring Lee Van Cleef and a very young Leif Garrett (before he became a teenage heart throb), who also "teamed" up in God's Gun which I have given a low rating, but this one rates even lower for worse acting, action and production. Tom Thurston (Leif Garrett) witnesses the brutal murder of his parents and the abduction of his elder sister by a mostly Mexican band of outlaws led by white man McClain (Van Cleef) who is the most un-western looking villain in a Western movie; with his greasy long hair, ornate headband and single earring, he looks like he wandered out of Woodstock Festival into a movie set by mistake and decided to stay there. On the spur of the moment, Tom is hellbent on revenge, pursuing the gang surreptitiously and surprisingly manages to whittle down their numbers in various ways, without being caught. And that's just the beginning of a long list of errors I can spot, in continuity and logic and others. And that's not even mentioning the passel of no-account lowlifes that try to rob the gold prospector Isaac (Jim Brown) of his hard-gained treasure, who are in my opinion the most moronic and incompetent bad guys I've ever come across in film. The climax and ending are simply unbelievable they're almost surreal. Watch the film and you'll know what I'm talking about.

There was a brief flourishing during the Seventies of using the Negev desert in Israel as location for the filming of westerns. I imagine that now with those rockets flowing from the Gaza, no film company wants to go there. In any event I suppose you could call these things bagel westerns.Quality wise they're not all that different from some of the mediocre European spaghetti westerns being churned out on that continent, even with American players like Lee Van Cleef, John Marley, and Jim Brown starring in them.Kid Vengeance stars a kid, Leif Garrett in the days right before he became a pop bubblegum teen idol. Van Cleef and Marley and their gang kill his father and kill and rape his mother and sister Glynis O'Connor stows away on their outlaw wagon. Talk about not too much smarts.Anyway young Leif is out for blood, but the most androgynous teen idol until Michael Jackson never really makes you feel he's all that bloodthirsty. Garrett also meets Jim Brown, a miner who the outlaws have robbed and left tied up and stretched out to die. Garrett comes him free and the two of them join forces to get the gang that did them dirt.The climax which I can't reveal is hokey beyond belief, the most unbelievable western showdown ever filmed. This film just might have killed the Israeli western business more than the Arabs.