A Long Ride from Hell (1968) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Muscleman Steve Reeves plays Mike Sturges who sets out with brother Roy and foreman Bobcat Bates to find those responsible when someone rustles a herd of horses from the Sturges’ ranch.

On the first night out, they camp near the right-of-way of the Southern Pacific Railroad, near a place called Dragon Pass. Marlin Mayner (Wayde Preston), an old friend of Mike’s spots their fire and stops by to say hello. But he also warns the three men to find another camping site. Seems a couple of robberies have the Southern Pacfic folks wary of strangers lurking near the tracks.

Sure enough, a train is robbed the next day. Bobcat is found dead near the tracks. Roy is found wounded. When Mike stumbles upon the carnage, someone puts a bullet in his knee. Next thing you know, Sheriff Freeman is standing over him with a rifle, assuming the Sturges’ brothers were in on the holdup.

They’re taken to Yuma prison, where Roy dies, partly because of injuries suffered at the hands of a brutal guard named Bill Savage. So when the opportunity for escape presents itself, Mike goes on a killing rampage. After all, he has lots of scores to settle.

Review:

The plot is hardly complex and covers no new ground. And Reeves delivers a one-note performance — looking and sounding determined in his quest for vengeance. There isn’t even a show of emotion when his brother dies.

But this — the only Spaghetti Western outing for a muscleman who was raised on a cattle ranch — benefits from a script that keeps the action coming fast and furious, from a rousing score and from some superb camera work.

Steve Reeves as Mike Sturges in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Wayde Preston as Marlin Mayner in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Directed by:
Camillo Bazzni
(as Alex Burks)

Cast:
Steve Reeves … Mike Sturges
Wayde Preston … Marlin Mayner
Mimmo Palmara … Sheriff Max Freeman
as Dick Palmer
Spartaco Conversi … Bobcat Bates
Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia … Roy Sturges
Silvana Venturelli … Ruth Harper
Rosalba Neri … Encarnation
Silvana Bacci … Delicious
Guido Lollobrigida … Deputy Sheriff Harry
Franco Fantasia … Castleman
Franco Balducci … Mason
Nello Pazzafini … Bill Savage
as Ted Carter
Aldo Sambrell … Mexican bounty hunter
Bruno Corazzara … Shorty
Enzo Fiermonte … Baldy Morri

aka:
Vivo per la tua morte
I Live for Your Death

Runtime: 90 min.

Music: Carlo Savina
Song: “Go West, Young Man,” by Don Powell

Mimmo Palmara (Dick Palmer) as Sheriff Max Freeman in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Franco Fantasia as Castleman, train detective, in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Memorable lines:

Encarnation, when Sturges appears at her door: “If you’re not a ghost,then you’re Mike Sturges.”

Encarnation, when Bill Savage asks who else she’s serviced before his arrival: “I ask men for their money, not for their names.”

Ruth: “Oh, Mike, they are said you’d been killed. It was in all the territorial papers.”
Mike Sturges: “The papers print lies.”
Ruth: “I never appeciated a lie so much before.”

Mayner to Mike Sturges: “Freeman sent you to Yuma; I’ll send you to hell.”

Nello Pazzafini as Bill Savage, Yuma prison guard, in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Franco Balducci as Mason in Long Ride from Hell (1968)

Trivia:

The marked the only Spaghetti Western and the final film for Steve Reeves, the former body building champion who coudln’t find more than bit roles in Hollywood, but found fame and fortune affer he traveled abroad and starred in “Hercules Unchained” (1959). He also co-wrote the script.

Steve Reeves was born on a cattle ranch in Montana in 1926. He gained fame as Mr. America in 1947, Mr. World in 1948 and Mr. Universe in 1950, then began to explore a career in acting. His voice was always dubbed in his Italian films. To hear his real speaking voice, dig up a copy of “Jail Bait” (1954) by infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr. of “Plan 9 from Outer Space” acclaim.