Director: Michael Carreras

Cast: Richard Basehart, Don Taylor, Alex Nicol

Synopsis: A gunslinger sides with an ex-Rebel officer against an outlaw’s gang in a ranch valley.

This US-financed Western shot in Spain was apparently a big influence on the likes of Sergio Leone, who would go on to spearhead the craze for Spaghetti Westerns in the mid-1960s. There are echoes of Shane in the plot, with ageing, disillusioned drifter Richard Basehart reluctantly coming to the defence of a rancher (Don Taylor) and his family whom land-crazed nobleman Ortega (Jose Nieto) is trying to force off their property. There’s no young kid idolising the gunslinger in this one, but a feisty young Mexican girl (Maria Granada) with whom he begins an improbable relationship. Basehart was 47 when the film was released, although he looked ten years older, while she looks about fifteen.   It’s difficult to see why The Savage Guns would influence anybody, to be honest; it’s a tepid movie, which wastes the talents of Fernando Rey and features an awful performance from Spanish actress Paquita Rico as the rancher’s wife. There are some interesting locations, though, and Alex Nicol’s overacting as Ortega’s trigger-happy henchman is entertaining.

(Reviewed 2nd November 2014)