The Relentless Four (1965)

Adam West of Batman fame plays Sam Garrett, a ranger who runs afoul of four bounty hunters because they aren’t interested in bringing men in alive.

In fact, they aren’t even careful about making sure the men they killed haven’t already proven their innocence.

So the bounty hunters frame Garrett for the murder of a rich rancher he’s visiting, then make off with some of the rancher’s money.

Then, when Garrett breaks out of jail to clear his name, they figure to cash in again, this time by collecting the reward the rancher’s widow is offering for the ranger’s capture.

But Garrett has a few friends on his side, including the town sheriff and the rancher’s pretty daughter Rita, who just knows this ranger must be innocent.

Review:

West’s only venture into Spaghetti Westerns isn’t very good, featuring some of the most obviously fake fight scenes you’ll see.

Then there’s one of the most ridiculous scenes in Spaghetti-dom — the rancher and Garrett are playing poker; the rancher’s wife shows up in town, determined to take her husband home before he gambles away all the profits from the cattle drive.

The rancher doesn’t want to quit playing. So the wife has her husband and Garrett hauled into her buckboard, along with the poker table, so they can go right on playing on the ride home.

Huh? How in the world is that going to protect the proceeds from the cattle drive?

Directed by:
Primo Zeglio

Cast:
Adam West … Sam Garrett
Claudio Undari … Alan
as Robert Hundar
Luis Induni … Sheriff Luke
Jose Jaspe … Baxter
Raf Baldassare … Moss
Renato Rossini … Troy
as Howard Ross
John Bartha … John
Cris Huerta … Deputy Vince
Roberto Camardiel .. Jeff Anders
Paola Barbar … Eliza Anders
Dina Loy … Rita
Francisco Sanz ….Doctor

Also with: Jamie Blanch as Robert Johnson Jr.; Lorenzo Robledo, Yelena Samarina, Jose Canalejas, Fernando Bilbao, Giovanni Petti, Rosario Perez, Gonzalo Esquiros, Miguel Pedegrosa

aka
I Quattro Inesorabili
Los Cuatro Implacables

Score: Marcello Giombini
Song: “Ranger” by Raoul

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Garrett complains about not being able to eat with his hands tied.
Bounty hunter Troy: “You fret too much. This is how I figure it. A body that’s going to swing shouldn’t waste no time on eatin’.”
Whereupon Garrett kicks the bounty hunter in the behind, so that his head hits a rock and he’s knocked out.

Anders, after a cattle drive: “Now, I got nearly $20,000 in cash. My wife ain’t here yet. Until she does come here, let’s have a dang good time.”

Ander’s daughter: “Papa knows what he’s doing.”
Mrs. Anders: “Since when. Once, when we were first married, he bet all my clothes. And wouldn’t you know, he lost everything. And then the silly man he lost to tried to collect. We had to run him off with a scatter-gun.”

Doc: “Now, Luke, I want you to keep this bandage on a couple of days. It’s nothing to worry about.”
Sheriff. after Sam Garrett’s escape from jail: “It’s not my hand that worries me. It’s my neck.”

Trivia:

Adam West’s three-year run as Batman came after the filming of this movie. He had landed a key role in one other Western film, 1962’s “Geronimo” and appeared in a number of the top TV series of the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Gunsmoke, Bonanza and Maverick.

Dina Loy also had credited roles in “Gunfight at High Noon” (1964), “Two Sergeants of General Custer” (1965)” and Awkward Hands “(1970), plus uncredited roles in “Tomb of the Pistolero” (1964) and “Dollars for a Fast Gun” (1966).

Primo Zeglio directed just two films after this — the sci-fi film “Mission Stardust” (1967) and “Killer Goodbye” (1968). His 18 films also included “Man of the Cursed Valley” (1964) and “Two Violent Men” (1964).

John Bartha as John, a rancher who lends the ranger a hand in The Relentless Four (1965)

Elisa Mainardi as Nancy, rancher John’s pretty daughter in The Relentless Four (1965)

Cris Huerta as Deputy Vince, facing a reward demand from Alan in The Relentless Four (1965)

Dina Loy as Rita and Paola Barbar as Eliza Anders, happy with a turn of events in The Relentless Four (1965)