Finders Killers (1971) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Donald O’Brien is Jack Forrest, a farmer who hears shots ring out one day while he’s chopping wood.

He rushes back to his home to find it burned to the ground, his mother dead and his father dying. His father whispers that he thinks Crandall was behind the evil doing.

Forrest’s quest for vengeance begins with an outlaw named Dexter (Dino Strano), who he believes can lead him to Crandall.

He then winds up in the town of Wintrop, where the Blake-Edward company is located.

The fact that someone shoots his horse out from under him on his way into town leaves Jack with the impression he’s on the right trail.

The fact that a businessman named Parker and a banker named Olsen are so eager to see him leave for his own safety arouses his suspicions, too.

Then there’s the mysterious black-clad stranger who shows up in town. He accepts money from both Parker and Olsen to keep Jack from doing them harm. But he can’t keep Jack away from Parker’s pretty niece, Lisa.

Donald O’Brien as Jack Forrest, a man looking for answers in Wintrop in Finders Killers (1971)

Gordon Mitchell as Chris, a stranger who finds his fast gun in high demand in Finders Killers (1971)

Review:

A mess. Director Gianni Crea uses any excuse to throw action at the viewer. There’s an early gun battle between Dexter’s gang and townspeople that makes little sense. About the only bit of action that you’ll remember is a graveyard fight in which one of the combatants tries to strangle Jack using the cross he’s plucked off a grave.

An even bigger problem arises when the action stops and the characters start talking. At one point, Gordon Mitchell’s character tells saloon girl Connie (Femi Benussi) that women are bad luck and he needs to stay away from them. The next minute, he’s ordering her to his room for a “workout.”

And there’s endless discussion of Jack’s need for a horse to leave Wintrop with all haste. During one ludicrous dinner conversation, Parker suggest Jack escape town on Sweet Sue, his niece’s mare because every horse in the town stable is worthless.

Mario Brega as Parker, part of the crooked duo in the town of Wintrop in Finders Killers (1971)

Gennarino Pappagalli as Olsen, part of a crooked duo in the town of Wintrop in Finders Killers (1971)

Directed by:
Gianni Crea

Cast:
Donald O’Brien … Jack Forrest
as Donal O’Brien
Gordon Mitchell … Chris Forrest
Femi Benussi … Connie
Mario Brega … Parker / Crandall
Dino Strano … Dexter
as Dean Stratford
Pia Giancaro … Lisa
Gennarino Pappagalli … Olsen

Also with: Emilio Messina, Alessandro Perrella, Lorenzo Fineschi, Omero Capanna, Roberto Messina

aka:
Se t’incontro, t’ammazzo

Score: Stelvio Cipriani

Runtime: 91 min.

Femi Benussi as Connie, a saloon girl who welcomes strangers with a smile in Finders Killers (1971)

Pia Giancaro as Lisa, Parker’s lovely niece in Finders Killers (1971)

Memorable lines:

Parker, looking at Chris Forrest through a hole he shot in a coin: “My compliments. Original idea for a visiting card. The man I sent to bring you here was quite impressed. But, personally, I’m very unhappy about my men who were killed last night. I hope that sort of thing won’t happen again.”
Chris: “Yeah, I was pretty upset about that.”

Parker: “I don’t understand your great pessimism, Olsen. After all, you know, withstanding the loss of the gold, your bank balance is a lot bigger than my stomach.”
Olsen: “If you please. I don’t think this is the moment for levity.”

Parker: “Jack, your position in this town is really quite serious. You’d better start thinking how you’re going to get out of it. I have an idea that Lisa’s horse would be a distinct possibility for someone like yourself who would be better off 100 miles from Winthrop.”
Lisa: “But Jack would look ridiculous riding Sweet Sue.”
Jack: “Don’t worry about me. I don’t need a horse right now. When I do, I expect to find one at the corral.”
Parker: “Jack, if you’ve made a decision to purchase a horse at the corral, I tell you it’s a mistake. Because his horses are slower than a pig wading through manure.”
Lisa: “Really, uncle. How you talk. We’re at the (dinner) table.”

Saloon girl Connie: “Is that anyway to speak to a poor little orphan in a dance hall? All these months, among all the lousy cowpunchers, I meet two decent guys in this hole. One of them thinks of nothing but fooling around all day with that flirt at the ranch. The other is as morbid as the grave.”
Chris: “Women bring me bad luck. Better to stay away from them.”
Saloon girl: “You don’t say. Then why don’t we forget it?”
Chris: “Come on.”
Saloon girl: “Where to?”
Chris: “Upstairs. We’re going to have a little workout.”

Dino Strano as Dexter in Finders Keepers (1971)

Dino Strano as Dexter, an outlaw leader with a secret, in Finders Keepers (1971)

Donald O’Brien as Jack Forrest gets a dying secret from Dino Strano as Dexter in Finders Killers (1971)

Trivia:

This marked the film debut for pretty Pia Giancaro, who later in the same year would find herself playing a cavewoman named Bea in the Bruno Corbucci directed classic “When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong.” (I jest about the classic part, of course.) She also had a bit role in “The Return of Sabata” (1971).

This was one of five Spaghettis directed by Gianni Crea along with “Law of Violence,” “Seven Devils on Horseback,” “On the Third Day Arrived the Crow” and “The Magnificent West.” None would be considered Spaghetti classics.