Robert Woods is Jack Murphy, aka Black Jack, the mastermind behind a bank robbery in Tuscos City that goes off with nary a hitch.
The problems begin when Jack returns to the hideout with the bag of stolen loot.
When the gang balks at the way he wants to split the cash, Jack pulls a derringer from the money bag and makes off with all the money.
The gang tracks him down to his favorite hiding place. They get the loot back. What’s more, one gang member rapes Jack’s sister, another scalps her.
As for Jack, they leave him hanging from a beam, with a knife through his gun hand.
As a parting favor, one gang member shoots him in the leg, crippling it so that he’ll hang faster.
But he doesn’t hang. His lady love Susan (Luciene Bridou) shows up in the nick of time to save him.
But by that point, Jack’s long forgotten the happy life they planned together. He’s got one goal: To get even with the six men responsible for killing his sister and leaving him a scarred cripple.
Review:
Woods’ over-the-top performance in the lead role mars an otherwise decent Spaghetti. One can imagine … oh, say Lee Van Cleef … meting out justice with an icy meanness as opposed to Woods’ manicical rants.
And while the plot is straight forward as they come, this is a pretty brutal film. In fact, that seems to be it’s major selling point.
The most memorable scene is probably the one in which Black Jack kills one of the men he’s seeking by straggling him with the scalp of his dead sister.
As Jack’s lover, publisher’s daugther Lucienne Bridou gets second billing in her final film, but only appears in about three scenes.
Much larger parts go to the men Jack is seeking, including Indian Joe, Sanchez, Red, Gordon, Billy and Miguel.
Robert Woods as Jack Murphy in Black Jack (1968)
Rik Battaglia as Sanchez in Black Jack (1968)
Directed by:
Gianfranco Baldanello
Cast:
Robert Woods … Jack “Black Jack” Murphy
Lucienne Bridou … Susan Sorella
Mimmo Palmara … Indian Joe
Rik Battaglia … Sanchez
Larry Dolgin … Reb
Federico Chentrends … Gordon
Dali Breciani … Lola Sanchez
Nino Fuscagni … Peter
Gofreddo Unger … Billy
as Fredy Unger
Sascia Krusciarska … Estellle
Ivan Scratuglia … Rodrigo
Tom Felleghy … Mark, news publisher
Silvio Bagolini … Printer
Lucian Bonanni … Mexican village leadeer
Also with: Romano Magnino, Giovanni Bonadonna, Omero Capanna
Runtime: 99 min.
aka:
Un Uomo per cinque vendette
Black Joe
Music: Lallo Gori
Millo Palmara as Indian Joe in Black Jack (1968)
Lucienne Bridou as Susan in Black Jack (1968)
Memorable lines:
Bandit, complaining about Black Jack’s proposed split of the bank loot: “We did most of the work.”
Black Jack: “Yeah, and I did all of the planning.”
Bandit: “That’s true. You planned it. But they don’t hang you for planning.”
Black Jack, laughing maniacally as Miguel flees: “Ten thousand dollars to the man who kills that cockroach!”
Moreno: “Sanchez sent you?”
Black Jack: “Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that. He thought he sent me to hell.”
Geofreddo Unger as Billy in Black Jack (1968)
Federico Chentrends as Gordon in Black Jack (1968)
Trivia:
In an interview on the Far East Productions’ release of the film, Woods says the other-the-top acting was at the prodding of director Baldanello, who wanted him to Italian-ize the madness his character was feeling. To him, it ruined what had the makings of a fantastic film, he says in that interview.
According to IMDb, this was the only film role for Sascia Krusciarska, the actress who plays Jack’s sister, and one of only three for Dali Breciani, the actress who plays Sanchez’s daughter.
Larry Dolgin as Red in Black Jack (1968)
Rik Battaglia as Sanchez with his sawed-off shotgun Sanchez in Black Jack (1968), flanked by Federico Chentrens as Gordon and Larry Dolgin as Red.
Sascia Krusciarska as Estellle with her boyfriend Nino Fuscagni as Peter in Black Jack (1968)
Dali Breciani as Lola Sanchez in Black Jack (1968)
Lucienne Bridou as Susan in Black Jack (1968)
Robert Woods as Jack Murphy in Black Jack (1968)
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