Fort Yuma Gold (1966)

The Civil War has ended, and the Union high command has stumbled upon a dastardly plot. A band of Rebel guerrillas is planning to attack Fort Yuma to get the gold stored there.

What the 800 renegade soldiers don’t know is that their attack is a decoy, designed to let bandits slip into the fort undetected and make off with the gold while the well-equipped troops inside mow down the former Confederates.

The commander at a prisoner-of-war camp decides to send three men to stop the massacre, former Rebel officer Gary Hammond (Giuliano Gemma), Sgt. Pitt and Capt. Lefevre.

But the threesome includes a traitor, and the trip to Fort Yuma gets sidetracked when Gary hides the message to Fort Yuma inside the luggage of a pretty blonde (Sophie Daumier as Connie Breastfull) , then falls into the hands of the two men behind the plot, Riggs and Maj. Sanders, an officer with those same Rebel guerrillas.

Review:

Just an average Gemma Spaghetti, one which never seems to quite come together and one in which the filmmakers sometimes seemed more interested in acrobatics — especially during fight scenes — than story telling.

It marked the only time Sophie Baumier would grace a Spaghetti with her beauty; here she has the unforgettable name of Connie Breastfull.

In one of the more bizarre scenes, our hero Gary is staked out in the desert so the sun can burn out his eyes, with what looks like fishnet over his head with eye holes cut out.

That leads to a prolonged stretch of the film in which he’s partially blind or pretending to be blind in order to escape and continue on his mission.

Directed by:
Giorgio Ferroni

Cast:
Giuliano Gemma … Gary Hammond
as Montgomery Wood
Dan Vadis … Riggs
Sophie Daumier … Connie Breastfull
Jacques Sernas … Maj. Sanders
Nello Pazzafini … Sgt. Pitt
as Red Carter
Jose Calvo … Gordon
Angel del Pozo … Capt. Lefevre
Benito Stefanelli … Yuko
as Benny Reeves
Furio Meniconi … Johnny Newman
as Men Fury
Lorenzo Robledo … Capt. Brian Taylor

Also with: Jacques Herlin, Antonio Molino Rojo, José Martin, Jacques Stany, Roberto Alessandri as Robert Alexander, , Alberto Cevenini, Pierre Cressoy as Peter Cabot, Claudio Scarchilli as Claude Hill, Giuseppe Mattei as John Matheus, Riccardo Pizzuti as Rick Piper, Mimmo Poli, Guglielmo Spoletini as William Spoletin, Alfonso Rojas, Angel Menendez, Gino Marturano, Agustin Bescos, Mirko Bajocchi, Antonio Orengo, Alberigo Donadeo, Fulvio Mingozzi,Serge Marquand, Elio Angelucci

Runtime: 96 min.

aka
Per pochi dollari ancora
Die Now, Pay Later
For a Few Extra Dollars

Score:
Gianni Ferrio

Memorable lines:

Connie Breastfull, as Gordy searches for the dispatch among her underwear: “Grandpa, you’re forgetting. That’s no military dispatch. They’re bloomers.”

Cpl. Wilson, Union cook: “What are you waiting for, beef steaks? You’ll get a lead meatball, pig-headed secesses.”

Connie, surprised Gary doesn’t know her name: “Didn’t somebody mention Connie Breastfull?”
Gary shakes his head, and glances down.
Connie: “So, are your bright eyes lost?”
Gary: “No, it’s obvious where they are.”

Riggs: “I know an old Indian trick to loosen his tongue. It’d even make a dead man talk.”

Gary: “Where is Major Sanders, captain? You all came to be butchered, and he’s the only sheep absent.”

Trivia:

This film marked the only time lovely Sophie Baumier would grace a Spaghetti. The daughter of a composer and a student of classical dance, here she finds herself playing an entertainer with an unforgettable name — Connie Breastfull. After this, she would make only one more film until the late 1970s.

Once the Spaghetti craze ended, Dan Vadis landed roles in several Clint Eastwood projects, including “Every Which Way But Loose” (1978) and “Bronco Billy” (1980). He died of an accidental drug overdose in California in 1987.

Gemma had a bit part in 1959’s “Ben Hur.” According to his obituary in The Guardian, you can spot him with fellow actor Stephen Boyd in the bathhouse scene.

Giuliano Gemma (Montgomery Wood) as Gary Hammond gets his first glimpse of Connie Breastfull (Sophie Daumier) and nearly gets slapped in Fort Yuma Gold (1966)

Jose Calvo as Gordon (Gordy) reads a hidden message from Gary while Connie Breastfull (Sophie Daumier) looks on in Fort Yuma Gold (1966)

Andrea Bosic as the Union colonel who recruits Gary Hammond as a guide to Fort Yuma in Fort Yuma Gold (1966)

Sophie Daumier as Connie Breastfull, the gal with a secret in her luggage, not her clothes, in Fort Yuma Gold (1966)