VALDEZ IS COMING

Technically this is not a spaghetti western - it is paced like one and was filmed in Spain at locations often used by Sergio Leone. The deserts resemble parts of the USA and Sonora, Mexico though according to the IMDB the vegetation is all wrong. The film is based on the excellent novel by Elmore Leonard and whilst it's not up there with the truly classic westerns it's still a damn good movie.

Lancaster plays Bob Valdez, a constable for the Mexican section of the town of Lanoria. When Valdez comes across Frank Tanner and his men trying to shoot a man out of his shack. Tanner claims the man killed a friend of his and Valdez intervenes by talking the man out. However just as the man pops his head up one of Tanner's men shoots and Valdez is forced to kill the man.

Valdez decides when it is found out the dead man was innocent then he himself and the towns people should help the man's wife, a Apache squaw. He wants four hundred dollars and puts in two himself, however the town people say they will only pay 100 dollars if Tanner does likewise. Tanner refuses and when the stubborn Valdez insists he has his men set upon him - Valdez is beaten and then tied to a cross, Crucifixion style, and left in the desert. Later some unseen stranger unties Valdez and he manages to crawl to the home of a friend. Now Valdez is mad and he goes after Tanner and eventually kidnaps the man's wife, holding her to ransom until the one hundred dollars is paid.

It's a gritty and grim western that sticks fairly closely to it source material even down to the ambiguous ending. There are some awesome scenes in the movie (the long distance shooting with the Sharps rifle is particularly memorable) and several sections of quite graphic violence. There is also some nudity which accounts for the films 12A certificate on the new DVD. There are no special features on the DVD but the print is a fine one. Shame the soundtrack is only in basic mono mix, though.