The Mexican Import Company has received $200,000 in counterfeit bills as payment for supplies shipped into Texas, and the U.S. government wants to know who’s behind the scheme.
Seems 15 years earlier, a federal employee named Victor Mellin disappeared and took two $10 bill plates with him.
The Texas Rangers figure he might be the key to the counterfeiting ring and dispatch Johnny Ringo (Brett Halsey) to Eagle Pass to investigate.
No sooner has Johnny landed in Eagle Pass than a player tries to pass phony bills in a poker game. Johnny figures he’s on the right trail.
But Eagle Pass is a town run by a man named Jackson (Angelo Dessy) and Johnny isn’t sure there’s anyone around he can trust over than Sheriff Parker.
Ah, but there’s a problem brewing in Jackson’s Eagle Pass empire. His mistress, saloon singer Annie (Greta Polyn) has fallen for Ray Scott, a young man wrapped up in Jackson’s misdeeds.
Jackson badly wants to teach Ray a lesson, but those around the town boss warns that Ray knows too much and could cause trouble.
Killing Ray would solve that problem, but then Annie threatens to spill what she knows to the law.
And no there’s a stranger in town named Johnny Ringo, a man who proves quite difficult to get rid of.
Brett Halsey as Johnny Ringo, prepared to defend his prisoner in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Angelo Dessy (James Harrison) as Gary Jackson, confronts Annie with the hat her lover left behind in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Review:
A relatively early Spaghetti that mixes Hollywood-style story telling with … well, there isn’t much of the Spaghetti style in this one.
There is a decent performance by Brett Halsey as the no-nonsense lead, a pair of pretty ladies and a couple of twists as the characters wonder who they can and can’t trust.
The love triangle between Annie, the older and powerful Jackson and the younger Ray Scott, the man she really loves, is one of the best things about the movie.
Barbara Loy plays Ray’s dark-haired sister, who fears for her brother’s safety, puts her hope in Ringo to save him, but begins to wonder if duty means more to Ringo than saving anyone.
Certainly worth a watch for fans of early Spaghetti films, but beware of a shortened 82-minute version that doesn’t even set the stage for what’s to follow.
Barbara Loy as Christine Scott, concerned about her brother’s safety in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Greta Polyn as Annie after another confrontation with Jackson in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Directed by:
Gianfranco Baldanello
as Frank G. Carroll
Cast:
Brett Halsey … Johnny Ringo
Greta Polyn … Annie
Guido Lollobrigida … Sheriff Parker
as Lee Burton
Nino Fuscagni … Ray Scott
Angelo Dessy … Gary Jackson
as James Harrison
Barbara Loy … Christine Scott
Guglielmo Spoletini … Jose
as William Bogart
Franco Gula … Whiskey Pete
Attilio Dottesio … Doc
as William Burke
Gaetano Scala … Bill, Jackson’s top gun
as Guy Gallay
Fred Chentrens … Carl, Jackson’s knife man
as Fred Schentrens
Also with: Amadeo Trilli as Mike Moore, Giuseppe Caruso as Pippo Caruso, Lucio De Santis, Emilio Zago, Antonio Menna, Agostino De Simone, Ugo Carboni, Consalvo Dell’Arti, Rod Smith, Fausto Signoretti, Gualtiero Isnenghi, Irving Reuben as Dick Randall, Franco Castellani
aka:
Uccidente Johnny Ringo
Music: Giuseppe Caruso
Song: “How Long the Night” by Greta Polyn
Runtime: 99 min.
Nino Fuscagni as Ray Scott fears a jail cell will be his death trap in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Guido Lollobrigida (Lee Burton) as Sheriff Parker talks strategy with Johnny in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Memorable lines:
Jackson: “Anne, you know I wouldn’t permit another man to approach you. You belong to me.”
Annie: “I belong to you? Like this place and everything in this town?”
Jackson, asking about an attempted ambush of Ringo: “Well?”
Bill, shaking his head no: “This fellow’s last name is trouble.”
Sheriff to Ray Scott: “You threaten Jackson like that, you’re writing your own death sentence.”
Whiskey Pete: “You’ve gotta be dead if you want to get some sleep in this darn neighborhood.”
Annie, warning Jackson about harming Ray Scott: “You must kill me as well.”
Jackson: “Don’t put the idea into my head.”
Bill, Jackson’s top gun, after another ambush of Ringo fails: “Not even a scratch. That bastard was just born lucky.”
Gaetano Scala (Guy Gallay) as Bill, Jackson’s top gun in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Fred Chentrens (Fred Schentrens) as Carl, Jackson’s knife man in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Trivia:
* One of six Spaghettis featuring Halsey, who also went by the pseudonyms Montgomery Ford and Jerry Wilson. The only Spaghetti appearance by Greta Polyn, the female lead in this flick.
* Before heading to Europe, Halsey appeared in a number of teen flicks in 1950s Hollywood. He also had starring role opposite Vincent Price in the sci-fi classic “Return of the Fly.” Halsey married and divorced three actresses, including former Bond girl Lucianna Paluzzi.
* In an interview with the Once Upon a Time in Spaghetti Westerns podcast, Halsey recalled a mishap during filming. In the movie, Ringo (played by Halsey) is hit in the head with a pistol and dragged into a jail cell. The task of pulling off a fake conk on the head fell to an acting novice, who didn’t exactly pull it off with precision. “So we shoot the scene, he hits me in the head and I went down, out cold, in a puddle of blood,” Halsey said. That resulted in a trip to the hospital for stitches. “The rest of the picture, I had to keep my hat on to hide the fact that I had no hair back there and a big bandage.” Check out the full interview here.
* This was one of seven Spaghetti Westerns by director Gianfranco Baldanello, who also went by the alias Frank Carroll. His others include: This Man Can’t Die, and 30 Winchesters for El Diablo.
Attilio Dottesio (William Burke) as a doc under Jackson’s thumb in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Barbara Loy as Christine Scott, threatened by Carl’s knife in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Angelo Dessy (James Harrison) as Jackson and top gun Bill (Gaetano Scala) plan their next move in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
Brett Halsey as Johnny Ringo assures Christine he’s on her side in Kill Johnny Ringo (1966)
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