El Cisco (1966)

William Berger plays El Cisco, who escapes a hanging with an exploding cigar in the film’s opening scene, then returns to the town of Calabasas five years later looking for the men who framed him.

But Calabasas is facing a lot of problems. There’s a crooked deputy sheriff named Baxter. There’s a Mexican bandit named Tuscarora roaming the countryside. And there’s a corrupt businessman named Burt in town, too. They’re all after one thing — the small fortune deposited in to Calabasas bank now that area ranchers have sold their herds.

El Cisco, also known as Larry, pretends to join Tuscarora’s band with plans of helping rob the bank. But he beats everyone to the punch, once again with the help of an exploding cigar, and hides the stolen money in a graveyard. Then he gets the good Doc Martin to proclaim him dead to get the businessman, the bandit and the deputy sheriff off his trail.

But that ruse ends, and the search for the stolen money becomes more frantic, when Tuscarora discovers a cleanly picked skeleton in the grave where El Cisco’s body is supposed to be buried.

Review:

Not noteable as a movie or for the music. The bit with El Cisco and his explosive cigarettes gets old fast, and George Wang is hardly convincing as the murderous Mexican outlaw Tuscarora.

There are a couple of memorable scenes — the shooting match between El Cisco and Lowell, and Challenge’s torture of Maria to get her to reveal the whereabouts of El Cisco, who goes by Larry to hide his true identity for most of the film.

Directed by:
Sergio Bergonzelli

Cast:
William Berger … El Cisco (Larry)
George Wang … Tuscarora
Antonella Murgia … Maria Pilar
Tom Felleghy … Burt Challenge
Nino Vingelli … Doc Martin
Cristina Gaioni … Maude Lowell
Consalvo Dell’Arti … Lowell
Renato Chiantoni … Scratchy
Lucia Bomez … Chiquita
Lamberto Antinori … Deputy Baxter

Also with: Salvatore Campochiaro, Artemio Antonini, Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia, Ennio Pagliani, Angelo Boscariol, Michel Branca, Giulio Maculani, Pinuccio Ardia, Nino Nini, Mario Dardanelli, Bruno Ukmar, Franco Ukmar, Attilio Severini, Roberto Alessandri, Giglio Gigli, Calogero Azzaretto

aka:
Cisco
The Cisco Kid

Score: Bruno Nicolai

Runtime: 97 min.

Memorable lines:

Townman: “Tell us who you are.”
Cisco: “What for?”
Townsman: “You’re a stranger, that’s what for.”
Cisco: “Well, the next time you see me, I won’t be no stranger, will I?”

Tuscador: “Hey, you going to put a bullet right between his eyes, too?”
Cisco: “That’s my signature, and it’s real hard to forge it.”

Tuscador: “A man with a brain is always a good companion.”
Cisco: “He can also be dangerous.”
Tuscador: “But he shouldn’t overwork it, if he doesn’t want to get buried.”

Other tidbits:

In the U.S., the film was renamed “The Cisco Kid” to capitalize on the popularity of the 1950s TV show.

Antonella Murgia appeared in two other Spaghetti Westerns, with a supporting role in “Four Gunmen for the Holy Trinity” (1971) and as Franco Nero’s mother in “Texas Adios” (1966).

Pretty blonde Cristina Gaioni also appeared in just two other Euro Westerns: 1963’s “The Implacable Three” and the 1971 French film “Judge Roy Bean.”

William Berger as El Cisco (Larry) encounters Maria (Antonella Murgia) during a stage holdup in El Cisco (1966)

Cristina Gaioni as Maude, pulling a gun on one of Tuscarora’s lecherous bandits in El Cisco (1966)

Renato Chiantoni as Scratchy with El Cisco (William Berger) in El Cisco (1966)

A happy reunion for Doc Martin (Nin Vingelli), Maria (Antonella Murgia) and El Cisco (William Berger) in El Cisco (1966)