A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Walter Chiari is Mike and Ugo Tognazzi is Alamo, traveling showmen forced to flee an Indian village when they make the chief’s squaw disappear with a magic act, but aren’t able to make her reappear.

They hop aboard the back of a slow-moving stage on which everyone appears to be napping. And they ride the stage all the way to Danger City, where they’re welcomed as heroes.

Danger City was once named Paradise City, until it turned so deadly that a man merrily playing guitar on a street corner is likely to be blown to bits by dynamite dropped from an adjacent building.

Sisters Sara and Alice Perkins, tired of watching sheriff after sheriff wind up in the cemetery, had sent for renown gunmen Sheridan and Mason to clean up the town.

They were traveling on that stage until it was ambushed by henchmen working for Danger City’s mayor. In the gun battle that ensued, nearly everyone was killed. And the surviving hero was mortally wounded as he began driving the stage away from the scene.

So when the stagecoach arrives in Danger City full of dead bodies, everyone assumes Mike and Alamo are Sheridan and Mason, the gunmen the sisters sent for.

As for Mike and Alamo, they’re delighted by the turn of events, especially when they learn it means living under the same roof as the lovely sisters.

Of course, the case of mistaken identity immediately makes them new targets for the mayor’s ire. And he still has plenty of henchmen left to do his bidding.

But Mike and Alamo don’t become truly alarmed until the sheriff recognizes them for who they are — the traveling showmen who sold him a tonic years earlier that robbed him of his flowing blonde hair.

Walter Chiari as Mike and Ugo Tognazzi as Alamo, realizing Danger City might be hazardous to their health in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Leonora Ruffo as Sara Perkins and Helen Chanel as sister Alice welcome their ‘hired guns’ to town in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Review:

An especially strong opening that immediately identifies our “heroes” as heroes of the bumbling sort will help pull you into this comedy Western.

It features a wild chase scene as Mike and Alamo flee the Indians. Watch as one Indian on horseback takes a turn so quickly, he veers right off the screen, race car style.

And the introduction of Danger City, with residents being gunned down at every turn for no apparent reason, is a hoot.

The film wanes a bit after that. But the script still includes plenty of clever ideas as Mike and Alamo somehow avoid being poisoned by dance hall girl Sherry, then somehow outwit the two gunmen sent to gun them down.

All the while, three lovely ladies are around to keep things interesting. That includes Dominique Boschero as the dance hall girl and Leonora Ruffo and Helen Chanel as the pious sisters who turn out to be pretty good with rifles as well.

Arturo Dominici as the mayor of Danger City, wondering how to rid the town of two newcomers in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Dominique Boschero as Sherry, the saloon girl who tries to poison the newcomers in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Directed by:
Giorgio Simonelli

Cast:
Ugo Tognazzi … Alamo
Walter Chiari … Mike
Dominique Boschero … Sherry
Mario Carotenuto … Sheriff Cirion
Leonora Ruffo … Sara Perkins
Helen Chanel … Alice Perkins
Aroldo Tieri … Sindaco
Nando Angelini … Spiritual
Arturo Dominici … Chancellor
Renoto Mambor … Hurricane
Renzo Palmer … Smile

Also with: Mimmo Poli, Ignazio Balsamo, Bruno Pagliari, Giorgio Cerioni, Nino Musco, Giorgio Zuccaro, Gina Mascetti, Manlio Salvatori, Giovanni Vari

Runtime: 93 min.

aka:
Un dollaro di fifa

Music: Gianni Ferrio
Song: “Oh Cherie” by Claudio Villa

Walter Chiari as Mike shows off one of his magic tricks in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Ugo Tognazzi as Alamo, taking aim with a crooked gun in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Memorable lines:

Sorry, I watched a non-English version of this film.

Mario Carotenuto as Sheriff Cirion, sensing new trouble in Danger City in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Ugo Tognazzi as Alamo and Walter Chiari as Mike, surprised by their warm welcome in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Trivia:

* You’ll also be able to spot lovely Dominique Boschero in “Between God, the Devil and a Winchester” (1968), “And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave” (1971) and, most prominently, in the comedy Western “Train for Durango,” also starring Anthony Steffen and Mark Damon.

* Walter Chiari returned to the Western genre multiple times with a new partner, Raimondo Vianello. They starred together in “Terrible Sheriff” (1962), “Heroes of the West” (1964) and “Twins from Texas” (also 1964).

* Leonora Ruffo was nearing the end of her career when she made her only other appearance in a Euro Western, a key part in “Tequila Joe” (1968). One of her earliest roles was as the title character in 1052’s “Queen of Sheba.”

Leonora Ruffo as Sara and Helen Chanel as Alice discuss sleeping arrangements with Mike and Alamo in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Two of the mayors henchmen, shackled for the time being in A Dollar of Fear (1960) Does anyone know who plays these parts?

Two of the mayor’s henchmen prepare to split up some loot in A Dollar of Fear (1960). Does anyone know who plays these parts?

Dominique Boschero as Sherry pretends to admire hair that isn’t there for a delusional sheriff in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

Ugo Tognazzi as Alamo and Walter Chiari as Mike as someone interrupts their drinking in A Dollar of Fear (1960)

The girls — Helen Chanel as Alice, Leonora Ruffo as Sara and Dominique Boschero as Sherry — take aim during the climatic gunfight in A Dollar of Fear (1960)