The Dirty Outlaws (1967)

Andrea Giordana is Steve, aka The Desperado, an outlaw of repute who barely escapes a hangman’s noose.

As he flees the posse, he comes across a dying Confederate soldier. The soldier asks Steve to return his six-gun to the nearby town of Overton, where his blind father works as a gunmaker.

The soldier also mentions a small fortune he’s sent home so that he and his father can start a ranch when the Civil War ends.

Sensing that a blind man will make easy prey, Steve borrows the soldier’s uniform and heads to Overton in search of Sam Flanagan and the soldier’s hidden money.

He finds a town deserted by everyone but Sam (Piero Lulli) and his pretty young caretaker Katy (Rosemary Dexter). A cholera epidemic and the advancing Union army have encouraged everyone else to flee to safer ground.

But a Rebel pay wagon is also heading to Overton. That attracts the Asher gang. They intend to hijack the gold and don’t care who they kill to get the job done.

And since Asher and his lover, Lucy (Dana Ghia), are old acquaintences of The Desperado, they’re immediately suspicious of his presence in town.

Review:

Beautifully filmed, with a strong performance by Corman (Giordana) in the lead role, a wonderful score and one of the most brutal murders — of the blind man — you’ll find in a Spaghetti film.

The members of the Asher gang think they’ve killed The Desperado, too. But in true Spaghetti fashion, he survives to seek revenge, striking fear into Asher as his three henchmen begin to turn up dead.

Director Rossetti throws in a couple of other neat little twists along the way. Aldo Berti plays the pretend preacher / pretend judge who helps Steve and wouldn’t mind making off with the gold himself.

Directed by:
Franco Rossetti

Cast:
Andrea Giordana … Steve
as Chip Gorman
Rosemary Dexter … Katy
Franco Giornelli … Asher
Dana Ghia … Lucy
Aldo Berti .. Jonathan
Giovanni Petrucci … Rico
John Bartha … Wallace
Piero Lulli … Sam

aka:
The Big Ripoff
King of the West
El Desperado

Score: Gianni Ferrio

Runtime: 103 min.

Memorable lines:

Southern soldier #1: “I can’t see what I’m eatin’. What is this? Polecat?”
Southern soldier #2: “You’re better off not lookin’ at it.”

Lucy, upon seeing The Desperado: “It’s okay, he’s a friend.”
Gang member: “You’ve had so many amigos, Lucy, how can you remember them all?”

Steve: “You’re looking death in the face, Asher. Are you ready?”

Steve to man in saloon: “War’s an ugly affair. Soldiers die young, while cowards keep right on going.”

Other tidbits:

Andrea Giordana is still active in films and TV, more than 40 year after getting his start as Chip Corman in Spaghetti Westerns. One of his first films was “Grand Canyon Massacre” (1964). Four years later, he starred in “Johnny Hamlet.”

Director Franco Rossetti was better known as a scriptwriter. His Spaghetti credits include “Django,” “Chuck Moll,” Rita of the West” and “Texas, Adios.”

Rosemary Dexter might be best remembered for a film in which she appears only in flashback sequences. She’s the late sister of Col. Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), fueling his quest for vengeance in “For a Few Dollars More” (1965). Other than this film, her only other Spaghetti appearance was in the 1969 comedy “In the Name of the Father.”

Andrea Giordana (Chip Corman) as Steve in Dirty Outlaws (1967)

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