Awkward Hands (1970)

Peter Lee Lawrence is Peter Cushmich, a young hand on the Warren ranch who doesn’t wear guns and has fallen for the family’s lovely daughter Dorothy (Pilar Velazquez). She’s also in love with him.

But that doesn’t fit in with the plans of old man Warren (Antonio Casas) and his wife Mary. Their ranch depends on water from the neighboring property, now controlled by Johnny Lattin, the son of one of Warren’s old friends.

Johnny wants Dorothy, though she finds him “stupid, rude and conceited.” He’s willing to keep the water flowing, but makes it pretty clear his mind could change if he doesn’t get the dark-haired beauty.

When Warren learns about the blossoming love between Peter and Dorothy, he viciously whips Peter and orders him to leave the ranch. When Dorothy follows, he has them both brought back.

Dorothy’s given a choice. Watch her lover be whipped to death or go to Johnny. She choses the latter. Peter’s whipped anyway, then dumped in the desert to die.

Then a black-clad bounty killer named Latimore (Alberto de Mendoza) shows up. Peter thinks he’s seen the face before. Could this be the same bounty killer who gunned down his father?

Regardless, Latimore makes sure Johnny survives the desert. And when Johnny’s shot in another display of human meanness, Latimore takes him to his old mentor, an aging Chinaman named Chang so he can be nursed back to health.

Ah, but it’s Chang’s lesson that makes the biggest impression on Johnny: In the American West, you either kill, die or run away. And Johnny doesn’t want to run away any longer.

But what will he find when he returns to the Warren ranch? And is it too late to salvage a future with Dorothy?

Review:

An unexpected delight, perhaps Peter Lee Lawrence’s best Western and, most of all, a 1970s Spaghetti film you won’t want to miss.

Thanks to their youthful appearance, Lawrence and Pilar Velazquez are completely believable as the young lovers naive about the opposing forces they face. And Pilar absolutely lights up the screen with her beauty.

But the film’s made equally powerful by its villains — Antonio Casas as the father more obsessed with his future than his daughter’s happiness, Ted as the more wordly and gun-wise ranch hand willing to do his bidding, and Johnny as the rich young man eager to wield the power he’s fallen into thanks to his late father’s hard work.

Yep, the film has a couple of odd turns. In the pursuit of four bounties, Latimore and Peter wind up in a plague-ridden town. That leads to a scene that looks like it was lifted from a walking dead film. And a bizarre fate for one of the four being pursued.

And, yep, given some of comments young Peter makes early in the film about having no need for guns and no desire to kill, you just know those opinions are going to change. Even then, they do so in an unexpected way.

Directed by:
Rafael Romero Marchent

Cast:
Peter Lee Lawrence … Peter Cushmich
Alberto de Mendoza … Latimore
Pilar Velazquez … Dorothy
Manuel de Blas … Johnny Lattin
Antonio Casas … Warren
Yelena Samarina … Mary Warren
Antonio Pica … Ted
Luis Induni … Charly
Antonio Molino Rojo … Frank
Aldo Sambrell … Docker
Frank Brana … Outlaw
Mariano Vidal Molina … Abbot
Dina Loy … Johnny’s girlfriend
Gene Reyes … Chang

Runtime: 93 min.

aka …
Manos torpes
Clumsy Hands
When Satan Grips the Colt

Score: Anton Garcia Abril

Memorable lines:

Ranch hand, after an impressive ride by Peter on a bucking bronc: “How about that? All the kid needs now is a pair of guns.”
Peter: “I don’t want any. I wasn’t born to carry guns.”
Ranch hand number two: “What are you? A cowboy or a saint? What are you going to do if you have to kill somebody?”
Peter: “Why should I have to? There’s never any reason for killing.”

Mr. Warren: “Yep, things sure have changed. No more Apaches. Young fella like you running around unarmed. And dressed like a dude.”
Johnny: “I find guns too heavy. I get people to carry them for me.”

Mr. Warren: “Our ranch. Our cattle. Our miserable lives depend on Johnny. Don’t you realize that without his water …”
Dorothy: “Yes. Yes, I know that. And the price? Johnny has put a price on the water. Do you realize this? And what do you think his price is father? Your daughter. A low enough price, isn’t it? You’re both only too willing to accept it.”

Peter: “Do you think I’m afraid of dying.”
Chang: “Almost everyone is.”

Chang: “In this country, there are only three alternatives: kill, die or …
Peter: “Or what?”
Chang: “Run away.”

Peter: “And my hands? How are they?”
Chang: “Very clumsy.”

Latimore: “I never give anyone a chance when money is at stake.”

Trivia:

In Italy and France, this became a Santana film with posters featuring a character that resembled Gianni Garko’s Sartana much more than than Peter Lee Lawrence.