Leslie Caron is Sister Mary, the sole survivor of an Apache attack on a wagon train.
She’s left to roam the countryside on a mule, trying to find her way to Sante Fe, when she comes across a gunman named Madron (Richard Boone).
At first, he wonders what he’s gotten into, what with Sister Mary’s grand hours of silence, her insistence on burying the badest of bad men and her Friday fasts, even when she’s starving.
But he soon grows more than a little fond of her, thanks in part to her surprising frontier moxy.
Complicating matters are some Mexican bandits and a Apache named Sam Red. He and Madron have a violent history that has both men seeking vengeance.
Review:
Richard Bone and Leslie Caron turn in solid performances in the first of many Westerns that would be filmed in Israel.
Unfortunately, no matter how sterling their performances, this still comes off as a poor man’s version of “Two Mules for Sister Sara.” Heck, Boone even wears a poncho.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t some touching and funny scenes when the two leads are on screen together. And the way Sister Mary’s “ghost” repeatedly stuns Sam Red is a neat touch.
But we also get lackluster cinematography, crudely filmed action scenes (the attack on the wagon train is an early indication this isn’t a top-notch production) and an illogical ending.
The score is provided by famed Italian composer Riz Ortolani. It isn’t one of his best. Western film buffs will be familiar with Boone, but perhaps not with Caron, who got her start in films in the early 1950s, danced in musicals alongside Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and was twice nominated for Academy Awards. She was in her late 30s when this film was released.
Directed by:
Jerry Hopper
Cast:
Richard Boone … Madron
Leslie Caron … Sister Mary
Paul L. Smtih … Gabe Price
Mosko Alkalai … Claude
Gabi Amrani … Angel
Chaim Banai … Sam Red
Ya’ackov Banai … Sanchee
Willy Gafni … Prospector
Aharon Ipale … Singer
Avraham Pelta … Drygulcher
Sami Shmueli … Saba
Runtime: 90 min.
Title tune:
“Til Love Touches Your Life”
Memorable lines:
Sister Mary, after watching Madron shoot a man: “That was a deceitful trick you used to get rid of him.”
Madron: “What did you say, lady?”
Sister Mary: “Well, instead of whistling, I believe a firm command of ‘move and I shall fire, sir’ would have avoided the killing.”
Madron: “Move and I shall fire?”
Sister Mary, when her alarm sounds, ending her grand hour of silence: “Now, I’ve been storing up some words for the last hour, Mr. Madron, and you’re going to hear every last one of them.”
Madron: “Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
Madron: “Say, lady, if we’re gonna be travelin’ together, don’t you think you ought to tell me if you got any more of those cute little tricks up your sleeves.”
Sister Mary: “Oh, I can fire a gun passably well.”
Madron: “A gun gun?”
Sister Mary: “I wouldn’t be meaning a cannon, Mr. Madron.”
Madron: “Hours of silence? Days of fast? Lady, you sure make it hard on yourself.”
){kind=link}