Between God, the Devil and a Winchester (1968)

A mysterious man named Bob Ford turns up in Big Lake City, settles into a room at the local hotel and tells a young boy named Tommy to let him know if any strangers show up. He also hides a map in the ceiling of his room.

Well, a stranger soon shows up, a man with a patch over one eye. Ford recognizes him as one of the men on his trail and kills him with a shot from his hotel room.

That’s bad news for Uncle Pink, owner of the establishment. A bandit named Batch and his men show up, demanding to know what happened to their comrade, demanding to know where Ford is and, most of all, looking for a map to a stash of gold.

Ford dies in a fall from the hotel roof. Before they leave, the bandits have beaten up Uncle Pink, shot a pretty young girl named Marta and burned down the hotel. But they never do find the map for which they’re searching.

Tommy salvages it from the fire; that map the charts the way to a stash of gold Ford buried in the Valley of the Caves. And two men are determined to find that buried treasure, the bandit leader Batch and Father Pat Jordan (Richard Harrison). The good father wants the treasure because it was stolen from the Mission of Guadelupe.

Juan Chasquisdo (Gilbert Roland) is the expert guide who can lead someone to that gold. He accepts a job as a guide for Father Jordan. Will he stay true to his mission? Or will he betray Father Jordan and Tommy and side with the bandit and his gang of cutthroats?

Review:

A tedious Western that should have been much better given the cast at director Marino Girolami’s disposal and a plot that has the small band traveling through treacherous territory to reach their destination.

On a couple of occasions, the camera is pointed to the sky as it rumbles, as though God is intervening on the travelers’ behalf. Of course, we don’t find out Richard Harrison’s character is a priest until the final 30 minutes of the film. To that point, he’s simply a man very reluctant to use a gun or violence, an attitude Roland’s character regards as silly considering the obstacles they face.

The film is a bit different in that a kid — Humberto Sempere as Tommy — plays a key role. Gilbert Roland is the ultimate cowboy; he even has an iron hand. The suspense — what there is — comes from wondering which side he will ultimately side with.

And, if the story reminds you a bit of “Treasure Island” … well, that story was apparently the basis of the plot.

Directed by:
Marino Girolami

Cast:
Gilbert Roland … Juan Chasquisdo
Richard Harrison … Father Pat Jordan
Ennio Girolami … Marco Serraldo
Folco Lulli … Col. Bob Ford
Raf Baldassarre … Pedro Batch
Dominique Boschero … Marta
Roberto Camardiel … Uncle Pink
Humberto Sempere … Teddy
Luis Barboo … Zed

Also with: Rocco Lerro, Gonzalo Esquirez, José Luis Lluch, Mirella Panfili, Xan das Bolas, Enzo G. Castellari, José Maria Ecenarro, Rafael de la Rosa, José Sacristan, José Sanchez

aka:
Anche nel west c’era una volta Dio
God was in the West, too, at One Time

Score: Carlo Savina

Runtime: 95 min.

Memorable lines:

Uncle Pink, the saloon owner: “I’ll tell you what Gen. Beauregard told me: Always trust old folk, until they up and die on you.”

Chasquisdo: “This desert’s full of damned bandits.”
Father Pat: “There’s nothing they could want from us except horses, provisions.”
Chasquisdo, laughing: “Around here, a man will kill you for a sack of tobacco.”

Chasquisdo, offering Jordan a gun: “You’d better take this.”
Jordan: “My life, like yours, is in the hands of God. A pistol won’t change my destiny.”

Chasquisdo to Jordan: “Say, padre, you have a lot of influence up there. Do me a favor. Tell him Juan Chasquisdo is not a bad man. He only kills because he doesn’t want to be killed.”

Trivia:

Gilbert Roland chose his screen name in homage to his two favorite movie stars, John Gilbert and Ruth Roland.

One of a number of Spaghetti Westerns directed by Marino Girolami. His son Ennio plays Chasquisdo’s second in charge. His other son Enzo G. Castellari was also a director and made several Spaghetti Westerns, including “Keoma.”

Hospital orderly turned seamstress turned model Dominique Boschero appeared in a pair of comedy Euro Westerns in the early 1960s (A Dollar of Fear in 1960 and The Magnificent Three in 1961) and three Spaghetti Westerns, including 1967’s “A Train for Durango.”