Kid Vengeance (1977)

Leif Garrett plays Tom Thurston, a young boy who’s out hunting when a gang led by McClain (Lee Van Cleef) comes across his family as they head West.

Tom returns to camp just in time to see his mother raped and killed, his father shot dead and his teenage sister kidnapped by the gang.

And so he sets out to wreak his vengeance, armed with nothing more than a bow and arrow.

But soon he finds a most capable ally in Isaac (Jim Brown), a miner who’s struck it rich … until the McClain gang comes calling, stakes him out and steals all his gold.

And so Isaac and young Tom head off together, the former to recover his gold; the latter to free is sister.

Review:

Leif Garrett was 16 when this violent movie was released; he was already a teen idol and had just released his first music album, with such classic covers as “Run Around Sue.”

In this film, he somehow manages to kill four McClain gang members by sneaking around and ambushing them with snakes and ropes, arrows and scorpions. The scene in which he slips among the sleeping bandits to stash scorpions in one gang member’s boot, then steals all their guns and one of their horses undetected … well, let’s just say it’s a stretch.

Aside from that, the movie isn’t terrible. Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef turn in decent performances; John Marley is fine as Van Cleef’s second in command and Glynnis O’Connor (playing the part of Tom’s sister) had already enjoyed some film success.

This film was shot in the Middle East, not Europe. And is that a recycled score by Francisco De Masi? Sure enough.

Directed by:
Joseph Manduke

Cast:
Lee Van Cleef … McClain
Jim Brown … Isaac
Leif Garrett … Tom Thurston
Glynnis O’Connor … Lisa Thurston
John Marley … Jesus
David Menachem … Ricardo
Joseph Shiloach … Lupe
David Loden … Matthew Thurston
Dalia Penn … Beth Thurston
Matt Clark … Grover
Timothy Scott … Ned
Richard Vanstone … Dewey

aka:
Take Another Hard Ride
L’ Uomo di Santa Cruz
Vengeance

Score: Francesco De Masi

Runtime: 94 min.

Memorable lines:

Lisa: “You killer! Go to hell!”
McClain, after an evil laugh: “I probably will.”

Ned, as he pulls the boot off his wounded partner: “Where’s your two toes, Grover?”
Grover: “Toes? Oh, no, not my toes. Oh, no.”
Ned: “Well, better your toes than your fingers. I think that’s kinda lucky.”

McClain: “Carmella, Carmella. The whole town came out to greet me and where was my Carmella?”
Carmella, in bed, under the covers, with no clothes showing: “Exactly where you want me to be.”

Trivia:

Glynnis O’Connor plays Tom’s sister, who is kidnapped by McClain’s gang. She was fresh off starring roles in Ode to Billy Joe (1976) and Boy in the Plastic
Bubble (1976, TV), where she played opposite John Travolta.

This marked the last Western for Lee Van Cleef, who had played bit parts in so many 1950s Westerns before heading to Europe and gaining stardom thanks to his Spaghetti Western roles. He was 52 at the time this film was released. He died in 1989 at age 74 of a heart attack.