Fistful of Death (1971)

The Cassidy gang is on foot. So when they spot a party they take for another outlaw gang, they kill everyone — six men with five bullets — and steal the horses.

But one of the party survives — Macho Callaghan (Jeff Cameron). He sets out to capture the bandits.

Meanwhile, there’s been a split in the Cassidy gang. One of its members, Ironhead (Gordon Mitchell) loses his share of the loot in a crooked card game and vows vengeance on the rest of the gang.

Macho gets some help from a preacher (Klaus Kinski), then joins with a bandit named Buck so he can infiltrate the Ironhead gang. He even helps orchestrate a showdown between the gangs.

After all, he’s secretly a Pinkerton agent! And he’s been afer Butch Cassidy (Hunt Powers) and the Sundance Kid (Giancarlo Prete) for some time.

Review:

Demofilo Fidani sure has served up a stinker this time, full of laughable lines and laughable scenes. If it was all intentional, it would make for a great Spaghetti spoof. Sadly, it isn’t.

Pick your favorite awful scene. There are plenty to choose from. Like when Butch hands out five bullets to his men and tells them they have to kill six bandits with them. Like when Butch turns veterinarian. Like when Butch’s gang members are loading their guns, preparing for a final showdown, while one member fondly fondles a blonde doll. Like when Butch and Sundance go rolling down the street in barrels, firing as they roll.

Then there’s my all-time personal favorite. The Ironhead gang tries to sneak up on Butch’s men by carrying bushes across an open field. And after they’re all killed, Macho announces that that was his plan all along! So there would be fewer gang members to share the loot.

Wow, I just made the film sound like a whole lot more fun than it is.

Directed by:
Demofilo Fidani
as Miles Deem

Cast:
Jeff Cameron … Macho Callaghan
Gordon Mitchell … Ironhead
Jack Betts … Butch Cassidy
as Hunt Powers
Giancarlo Prete … Sundance Kid
as Philip Garner
Benito Pacifico …. Buck O’Sullivan
as Dennis Colt
Klaus Kinski … Rev. Cotton
Grazzia Guiva … Saloon Girl
Luciano Conti … Lucky McMurray

Also with: Pietro Fumelli, Renzo Arbore, Pino Polidori as Giuseppe Polidori, Giglio Gigli, Amerigo Castrighella as Custer Gail, Manlio Salvatori, Alessandro Perrella, Michele Branca, Calogero Caruana, Elio Angelucci, Enzo Radicchio, Franco Ricci

aka:
Strange Tale of Minnesota Stinky
Ballad of Django
Giu la Testa … Hombre

Score: Lallo Gori

Runtime: 86 min.

Memorable lines:

Sundance, as the gang descends on a camp full of dead men: “If you were a jackal, Ironhead, you could begin eating, eh? Too bad you’re just a plain coyote.”

Butch; “Now, then, tell me your name.”
Macho Callaghan: “My name is my own business. If you want to be friends with me, don’t get curious. No offense. It’s just that I hate questions.”

Butch, posing as a veterinarian: “Look, with four of five medicines and that case, you can make all the money you want. You don’t have to know anything.”
Butch’s man: “Can’t you understand? Ironhead is getting stronger all the times and all you can think of is constipated cows.”

Buck, after a successful robbery: “It was easier than buying a lollypop. In fact a lot easier, because when you buy a lollypop, you have to pay for it.”

Sundance: “It’s a ghost town, isn’t it Butch?”
Butch: “Yep. And here’s where Donovan is going to join the ghosts. It’ll be fun.”

As the Ironhead gang tries to sneak up on the Cassidy gang, carrying bushes in front of themselves across an open field …
Gunman: “Butch, there’s some men sneaking in, back of the corral. They’re comin’ in carrying bushes. What do you want us to do?”
Butch: “Tell them to leave Ironhead to me. I’ll change his name to Lead-Head.”

Macho Callaghan: “I think there’s something fishy going on, if you ask me.”
Buck O’Sullivan: “That Ironhead’s worse than a slimy worm. Yeah, one of them fishing worms. You can’t tell which is head and which is tail.”

Ironhead to Macho: “If this is another one of your tricks, you’ll find yourself hanging from a tree, with more holes in your head than a wasp’s nest.”

Trivia:

The film was made after the release of the successful U.S. Western “Macho Callahan.” The director kept the name for Cameron’s character, but allegedly added the “g” to keep from paying royalties.

Klaus Kinski is featured in posters for the film, but his participation is strictly of the guest star variety. He’s a preacher who gambles, winning a saddle and a keg of whiskey. But he loses out in a “horse shoe game” — that’s how the sign reads — to Macho with a holster and six-gun on the line. He also makes eating an apple look downright evil. Ten minutes after we meet him, he disappears from the film, never to be seen again.