Glenn Saxson is Gringo and Ignazio Spalla is Mexico, two men in jail facing a date with a hangman’s noose.
They’ve done nothing wrong, mind you. They’ve been swept up with the four-member Bill Jackson gang. Mexico figures it’s part of a plot by the Criss brothers to keep Gringo from avenging his brother’s death.
Gringo and Mexico plot an escape from that mess, hijack a stagecoach and take off for the border with the Jackson gang in tow.
Problem is, Bill Jackson can’t keep his hands off pretty women. And the rest of the gang — Bud Smith, Jack Stewart and Al Foster — can’t stay out of trouble.
They kill an old drunk at a Mexican fiesta who recognizes them. They steal a chest filled with cash that was supposed to help finance the railroad.
To ensure a safe escape, they kidnap Don Pedro’s pretty adopted daughter Carmen and threaten to make her their plaything until they reach the border.
Bottom line: Gringo is going to have to deal with the Jackson gang. And if he survives that scrape, he plans to return to Wichita to even the score with the Criss brothers.
A film that’s stylish in parts and will leave you scratching your head in others and winds up wasting Saxson’s good looks and Vincenzo Musolino’s sneering villain in the process.
As for the stylish, take the opening in which a well-dressed man — that would be Musolino’s Ramon Criss — shoots down a drunk in middle of street, strides up to body, snatches a bottle from the dead man’s hand, takes a swig of dead man’s whiskey then empties ret of bottle over his body while compadres snarl in the background, all without spoken word.
As for the head scratching, Gringo and the Jackson gang manage to shoot down a deputy, hijack a stage in the middle of the street and storm off, without arousing a single bit of interference from the residents of the town where they were supposed to hang.
Then there’s a high stakes card game that takes place as the stagecoach is tearing down the trail, a horde of Mexican bandits in chase. Gringo and his friends casually keep playing their game, occasionally tossing a stick of dynamite out the stage window to stop the bad guys.
One neat touch: As he’s fleeing jail, Ignazio Spalla’s character snatches a rooster from its pen, annoyed by the way it’s been waking him up every morning. The sheriff who gives chase wants to recapture the escaped prisoners. But he wants his rooster back too.
Directed by:
Edoardo Mulargia
as Edward G. Muller
Cast:
Glenn Saxson … Gringo
Lucretia Love … Carmen
Aldo Berti … Bill Jackson
Ignazio Spalla … Mexico
as Pedro Sanchez
Pasquale Simeoli … Bud Smith
as Mark Stevens
Spartaco Battisti … Jack Stewart
Vincenzo Musolino … Ramon Criss
as Bill Jackson
Armando Guarnieri … Sheriff McDonald
Tom Felleghy … Insprector
Ninco Musco … Driver
Alfredo Rizzo … Secretary
Ivan Scratuglia … Deputy
Livio Lorenzon … Don Pedro Suarez
Dino Strano … Al Foster
Giovanni Sabbatini … June
Runtime: 83 min.
aka:
Vayas con Dios, Gringo
Good Luck, Gringo
Good Luck, Gringo; They’ll Pay in Blood
Music: Felice Di Stefano
Memorable lines:
Jackson gang member: “They can only hang you once, no matter how many you kill.”
Bill Jackson, putting a move on Carmen: “Unfriendly, huh? That’s the way I like it. Nice family girl. Ain’t worth it if it’s too easy.
Bill Jackson, of Carmen: “We’ve got a long, hard trip ahead. And she’s going to make it a lot easier.”
Mexico, opening the stage door, expecting to find four passengers, but only finding two: “Where are Smith and Jack.”
Gringo: “They took a trip.”
Mexico: “Where to?”
Gringo: “Down below.”