A small wagon train is bound for Gold Hill in New Mexico Territory where a relative has discovered a gold mine.

The settlers are just a day away from their destination when Indians attack, killing the entire family. Or so it seems.

Years later, the leading citizens of Gold Hill — Navarro, Wallace, Ortega and Laskey — are being honored as a weary Civil War vet looks on.

Soon after, those leading citizens get a warning letter, attached to an Indian arrow. One by one, it says, they are about to die.

And so Donald Sorenson (Richard Harrison) sets about settling the score with the men he holds responsible for murdering his family.

But he’s going to need help, because those leading citizens have a band of henchmen and a hired gun to protect them.

Help comes in the form of a grizzled war vet named Hank, who has a penchant for inventing weapons of war.

And from a pretty woman named Consuelo (Nieves Navarro), who married Laskey for his money, but still has a fond spot in her heart for Sorenson.

Richard Harrison as Donald Sorenson, arriving in Gold Hill for the first time in El Rojo (1966)

Nieves Navarro as Consuelo, Laksey’s main squeeze and Sorenson’s former flame in El Rojo (1966)

Review:

Pretty predictable from the word go … or at least as soon as our leading citizens start getting threats via Indian arrow. The surprise here isn’t so much the plot, but some of the methods Sorenson uses to exact his vengeance.

As for El Rojo, he’s referred to that precisely one time in this version of the film. And we never are really clued in about the back-story between Sorenson and Consuelo. The ending also hints at a sequel or a series of sequels that never came to fruition

Two moments you’re likely to remember: The appearance of a fast gun for hire named Black Bart who wears a mask over the lower half of his face to hide a horrific scar, and a rousing rendition of the song “To the West We Shall Go” by Nieves Navarro’s character.

Piero Lulli as Laskey, envisioning the riches to be gained by cheating the residents of Gold Hill in El Rojo (1966)

Mirko Ellis as Navarro, concerned that Laskey doesn’t quite have the situation under control in El Rojo (1966)

Directed by:
Leopoldo Savona
as Leo Coleman

Cast:
Richard Harrison … Donald Sorenson / El Rojo
Nieves Navarro … Consuelo
Piero Lulli … Laskey
as Peter Carter
Jose Jaspe … Hank
Mirko Ellis … Navarro
Franco Ressel … Wallace
as Ray Russell
Andrea Aureli … Ortega
as Andrew Ray
Raf Baldassare … Ramon
as Raf Baldwin
Tom Felleghy … Sheriff
Angelo Boscariol … Black Bart

Also with: Annie Gorassini, Rita Klein,, John Bartha, Andrea Fantasia, Fortunato Arena, Elio Angelucci, Franco Gula, Furio Pellerani, Ivan Scratuglia, Pietro Tordi, Gaetano Scala, Antonio Jimenez Escribano

Runtime: 82 min. (Wild East DVD)

aka:
Rojo

Score: Bendetto Ghiglia
Song: “To the West We Shall Go”

Andrea Aureli as Ortega, one of Gold Hill’s corrupt and very powerful four in El Rojo (1966)

Franco Ressel as Wallace, concerned when the ominous warnings keep coming in El Rojo (1966)

Memorable lines:

Navarro: “Are you quite sure this is not the work of the Indians?”
Ortega: “If it’s the Indians, they’ve hired a professional gun.”
Laskey: “Only an idiot like you would make such a stupid remark, Ortega.”

Hank: “Empty? You know you can’t trust a bottle. No sooner than you get fond of it, it deserts you, like a woman.”

Judge to Laskey: “I arrest you for murdering the Sorensons.”
Laskey shoots him, then laughs manically: “I reckon you were being hopeful, judge.”

Angelo Boscariol as Black Bart, revealing why he walks around masked in El Rojo (1966)

Jose Jaspe as Hank, an inventor of weapons and ally of Sorenson in El Rojo (1966)

Trivia:

Character actor Jose Jaspe, who plays Rojo’s inventive sidekick here, appeared in more than 100 films, including more than a dozen Spaghetti Westerns. He was married to actress and former Miss Barcelona Mercedes Vercino. He died in 1974 at age 67, one year after his last Spaghetti (“The Man Called Noon”) was released.

Richard Harrison is left-handed and, at the 2011 Los Angeles Spaghetti Western Film Festival, said that posed a problem because Italian directors insisted on equipping him with a right-handed holster.