The Ugly Ones (1966)

Richard Wyler is bounty hunter Luke Chilson, who rides into the small town of New Chacos near the border with Mexico, his sights set on recapturing an outlaw named Jose Gomez (Tomas Milan).

But this turns out to be Jose’s hometown, and even if he’s an outlaw now, the residents aren’t about to turn against him for the sake of a bounty hunter.

Those residents include a pretty young girl named Eden (Halina Zalewska), who has already helped Jose slip away from the law once.

So no one’s too worried when Jose turns the table on Chilson, leaving him badly beaten and tied up in the stable.

Then the rest of Jose’s gang turns up. And it soon becomes clear he’s become every bit the cold-blooded killer Chilson described.

And that their affection for him won’t keep the townspeople — including retired sheriff Novak and shopkeepers Joe and Ruth Harmon — from becoming the latest victims of his gang.

Review:

Wyler might be top billed, but it’s Milan who carries this film, whether he’s pretending to be an endearing victim of circumstance or showing his true colors as a half-mad killer.

The result is a film that’s a notch above standard Spaghetti with a fine score, all surprising coming from the same director who served up turkeys like “Pancho Villa” and “Bad Man’s River.”

Our heroine here is Polish born actress Halina Zalewska, whose very much in love with the Jose she used to know and slow to realize how much he’s changed.

She starred in one other Spaghetti, “Dynamite Joe” (1967) and had bit roles in at least two others. She died in an accidental fire at age 36 in 1976.

Directed by:
Eugenio Martin

Cast:
Richard Wyler … Luke Chilson
Tomas Milan … Jose Gomez
Halina Zalewska … Eden
Enzo Fiermonte … Gage Novak
Ricardo Canales … Joe Harmon
Lola Gaos … Ruth Harmon
Manuel Zarzo … Marty Hefner
Tito Garcia … Zacharias
Mario Brega … Miguel Cortinez
Hugo Blanco … The Deserter

Runtime: 95 min.

aka:
Bounty Killer
El precio de un hombre
The Price of a Man

Composer: Stelvio Cipriani

Memorable lines:

Sheriff, escorting Jose Gomez to prison: “Anybody inside there?”
Stage station manager: “Nothing to worry about. Just a woman eatin’. She’ll be done soon.”

Jose to Zacharias: “You get dumber every day.”
Jose, just escaped, leaves the stage station. Shots ring out. Zacharias emerges.
Jose:”What’d you do now?”
Zacharias, having killed two witnesses: “I’m not stupid. Understand. I’m not stupid.”

Novak: “You haven’t got any friends here, Chilson.”
Chilson: “Well, you never know.”

Cowboy Marty Heffner after bounty man Luke Chilson has insisted on seeing some identification:”What are you here? The sheriff or something?”
Chilson: “Or something.”

Novak: “The third burial since you’ve arrived, Jose.”
Jose: “Since I’ve arrived? Or since Chilson has arrived?”

Jose: “So Doc (a gang member) wants us to take off for Mexico without a penny in our pockets. What he doesn’t know is that beyond the border an American without money is worse off than some pig lost in the desert.”

Trivia:

One of Milan’s first roles in a Spaghetti Western. He is said to have decided to pursue acting after watching James Dean in “East of Eden.”

Richard Wyler starred in “Little Women” (1949) and “The Three Musketeers” (1948) as Richard Stapley but changed his stage name in 1968.

Brought to us by the same director responsible for the far less impressive “Pancho Villa” and “Bad Man’s River.”

Halina Zalewski as Eden in The Ugly Ones (1966)

Richard Wyler as Luke Chilson in The Ugly Ones (1966)