Death Sentence (1968)

Robin Clarke is Cash (or Django, depending on the version you’re watching), a young man determined to track down the four men responsible for his brother’s death.

He was drunk and unable to help his brother at that time, but that won’t happen again. These days, he only drinks milk.

His targets include Diaz, a man who has settled down into married life on his hacienda; Montero, a man addicted to gambling; and Friar Baldwin, who keeps his subjects in line with a Bible, a pistol and a band of black-clad henchmen.

And finally there’s the albino O’Hara (Tomas Millan), a man obsessed with blondes and gold.

Cash will use both in an attempt to lure him into a trap.

Robin Clarke as Cash in Death Sentence (1968)

Tomas Milian as O’Hara in Death Sentence (1968)

Review:

A stylistically impressive film in which our hero uses his victims’ weaknesses to exact his revenge. For instance, at one point, though unarmed, Cash stalks Diaz through the desert.

Diaz has a six-gun, but no water. So Cash spends a night building a fake well in order to tempt the prey closer to the hunter.

This is also a film that trims the well-worn Spaghette revenge theme to its bare necessities.

Only about six characters are given names. No time is wasted on background. One character hints that Cash’s brother might not have been an innocent victim. If so, we never find out.

Instead, we have a film presented in four parts. And some wonderfully fresh resolutions to those parts.

Monica Pardo plays Diaz’s pretty young wife; Eleanora Brown is the saloon girl who tries to warn Cash about Montero. Lilli Lembo plays the blonde temptress.

Richard Conte as Diaz in Death Sentence (1968)

Adolfo Celia as Friar Baldwin in Death Sentence (1968)

Directed by:
Mario Lanfranchi

Cast:
Robin Clarke … Cash / Django
Tomas Milian … O’Hara
Richard Conte … Diaz
Enrico Maria Salero … Montero
Adolfo Celia … Friar Baldwin
Lilli Lembo … Sally
Eleanora Brown … Saloon girl
Monica Pardo … Diaz’s wife
Luciano Rossi … Paco

Other credited cast: Gilberto Galimberti, Glauco Scarlini, Giorgio Gruden (as George Gruden), Donato Baster (as Dony Baster), Raffaele DiMario, Silvana Bacci, Umberto DiGrazia, Claudio Trionfi, Fortunato Arena, Elio Angelucci

Runtime: 89 min.

aka
Sentenza di morte

Music: Gianni Ferrio
Song: “The Last Game” sung by Nevil Cameron, “Yes, Sir” sung by Lilian Terry + I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni

Enrico Maria Salero as Montero in Death Sentence (1968)

Lilli Lembo as Sally in Death Sentence (1968)

Memorable lines

Cash to Diaz: “You’re going to hell. Nice and slow.”

Diaz to Cash: “Do you have to hide behind a woman? Or do you think I’ll come out of hiding because of her? I don’t care what you’re doing to her. There’s hundreds like her, even more beautiful.”

Montero to Cash, when challenged to a game of poker: “What’s your stake? The milk in your glass or the birds under your hat?”

Friar Baldwin to Cash: “So, you put your gun down?” He reaches inside Cash’s shirt and finds a six-gun. “The devil must have provided you with a replacement.”

Eleanor Brown as the saloon girl in Death Sentence (1968)

Monica Pardo as Diaz’s wife in Death Sentence (1968)

Trivia:

This marked the only Western and one of just eight films directed by Mario Lanfranchi, considered an early pioneer of Italian television and a man better known for producing and directing plays and musicals.

This was apparently the film debut and only Western for Robin Clarke — sometimes billed as Robin Brent Clarke. He would later play roles in a number of U.S. TV series, including “Six Million Dolalr Man,” “Dallas” and “Hart to Hart.”

A former Hollywood star, Richard Conte moved to Europe and appeared in a number of films made there during the 1960s. His last hurrah in Hollywood was as Don Barzini, Don Corleone’s rival, in The Godfather (1972). He died of a heart attack at age 65 in April 1975.

Lilli Lembo as Sally being shown off as bait by Robin Clarke as Cash in Death Sentence (1968)

Robin Clarke as Cash in Death Sentence (1968)