Mark Damon plays Johnny Yuma, a rough and tumble young man who’s just inherited a ranch from his rich uncle.
Of course, he doesn’t know it, because the uncle’s wife (Rosalba Neri as Samantha) has her husband killed in order to gain control of the ranch for herself.
Then she summons on old boyfriend, bounty man Linus Jerome Carradine to do away with Johnny Yuma for good.
But even if she can wrap most men around her fingers, Johnny proves difficult to manage, more difficult to kill.
Matters get worse for Samantha when Johnny and Carradine form a bond over their simple will to survive.
Because now they have Pedro, Samantha’s sadistic brother, and all of his henchmen to deal with.
Wonderful Spaghetti, served up with a dose of humor (thanks to Johnny’s partner Zorito, the carrier in their cash-and-carry bounty business), great flair (thanks to director Romolo Guerrieri) and one of the more conniving villainess roles you’ll find in any film of this ilk.
In one wonderful scene, Samantha is slowly undressing in her bedroom. As she takes off each piece of clothing, her parrot becomes more and more excited. Turns out Johnny has entered the room as well.
Another memorable scene comes when Johnny is captured by Pedro’s men. After they beat him, Pedro mounts a horse and attacks him, bullfighter style, with a long cattle prod.
Remarkably, there weren’t any Johnny Yuma sequels.
Directed by:
Romolo Guerrieri
Cast:
Mark Damon … Johnny Yuma
Lawrence Dobkin … Linus Jerome Carradine
Rosalba Neri … Samantha Felton
Luigi Vannucchi … Pedro
Fidel Gonzales … Zorito
Leslie Daniels … Thomas Felton
Franco Lantieri … Sancho
as Louis Vanner
Gustavo D’Arpe … Harvey Pitt
aka:
$10,000 Dollars for Johnny Yuma
Composer: Nora Orlandi
Song: “Johnny Yuma” by the Wilder Brothers
Runtime: 97 min.
Memorable lines:
Johnny: “Partner? What kind of partner?”
Dorito: “A kill and carry partner.”
Johnny: “A what?”
Dorito: “You kill them. I carry them.”
Johnny: “Bury them.”
Dorito, wondering about the bounty on the heads of the dead: “Padrone, how can you bury $360 dollars?”
Johnny: “With a shovel.”
Reward man: “You just can’t imagine how many false cadavers we have in our cemetery. We’ve buried at least six Jesse James within a year.”
Samantha: “Don’t you remember?”
Carradine: “You weren’t happy with me then, you said.”
Samantha: “You can’t be poor and happy. I still love you.”
Johnny: “Hey, Carradine, you didn’t come here to kill me, did you?”
Carradine: “If I had, you’d be dead by now.”
Johnny: “Not necessarily.”
Trivia:
Rosalba Neri was a rather busy lady around this time, appearing in 18 films between 1965-1967. She had roles in several other Spaghettis and several
films of a different sort, like “Asylum Erotica,” “Full Moon of the Virgins,” and “Naked Warriors.”
Lawrence Dobkin appeared in a number of TV shows, including “L.A. Law” and “Melrose Place” in the 1990s. He also directed TV shows, including 16 episodes of “The Waltons” and 17 episodes of “The Donna Reed Show.”