Mario Adorf is Pedro Ortiz, an outlaw with two things on his mind once he gets out of prison.
The first is to retrieve the loot he’s hidden from a past robbery.
The second is to get even with Rex Kelly (Edmund Purdom), the man he blames for sending him to jail.
Ortiz, with his gang and girlfriend Juanita (Marissa Mell) in tow, figures he can accomplish the second on the way to the first.
Upon finding Kelly, Ortiz convinces him to rob the local bank for the gang in order to save his wife Elizabeth (Marianna Koch) and his son Steve.
So Kelly sneaks into the bank and does that, knocking out a good friend in the process, only to find out that Ortiz has kidnapped his wife and child anyway.
Kelly sets out in pursuit across the desert. He escapes one ambush set by Ortiz, but is left afoot in the process.
Meanwhile, the Ortiz gang is unraveling as its leader becomes more and more violent — too violent for the liking of Juanita, her piano player Woody Johnson and Carlos, the youngest of the gang members.
Mario Adorft as Pedro Ortiz, explaining his visit to Rex Kelly in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Edmund Purdom as Rex Kelly reacts to Pedro Ortiz’s unexpected visit in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Review:
This is darker in tone and more violent than most German-made Westerns from the period. It also differs from, for instance, the Winnetou films, in that the villain is front and center for most of the film.
Ortiz’s gang includes Klaus Kinski in his first Western. Surprise, his character acts lecherously toward the female captive, then later gets involved in a drunken duel with Ortiz.
In fact, one of the film’s most memorable scenes features Kinski. He’s sent to catch Kelly, who’s trailing the outlaw gang. Instead, he runs into a large group of friends of a hacienda owner the gang has just killed.
That leads to a frantic chase. Kinski winds up taking refuge in a church and is given sanctuary. Until he shoots the priest. At which point his pursuers are willing to set the church ablaze to dispense justice.
Marianna Koch as Elizabeth Kelly, concerned over bandit Pedro Ortiz’s intention in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Florian Kuehne as young Steve Kelly, reacting to the death of someone who had helped him in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Directed by:
Rolf Olsen
Cast:
Edmund Purdom … Rex Kelly
Mario Adorf … Pedro Ortiz
Marianne Koch … Elizabeth “Liz” Kelly
Klaus Kinski … Jose
Marisa Mell … Juanita
Walter Giller … Woody Johnson
Thomas Fritsch … Carlos
Sieghardt Rupp … Fernando
Florian Kuehne … Steve Kelly
Kurt Nachman … Henry Miller, peddler
Peter Martin Urtel … Padre
Edmund Hashim … Sheriff Henry
Rolf Olsen … Bank teller
aka:
Der letzte Ritt nach Santa Cruz
Music: Erwin Halletz, Charly Niessen
Marisa Mell as Juanita, tired of outlaw boyfriend Pedro Ortiz’s violent ways in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Thomas Fritsch as Carlos, the youngest member of the Ortiz gang, standing up to his boss in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Memorable lines:
Sorry, watched a foreign language version of this film.
Klaus Kinski as Jose and Sieghardt Rupp as Fernando, members of the Ortiz gang having fun at Woody’s expense in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Walter Giller as Woody Johnson, the piano player who tags along with the outlaw gang in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Trivia:
* This also marked the Western debut for Marianna Koch. Later the same year, she would play the female lead in Sergio Leone’s first Western, “Fistful of Dollars.” Koch appeared in four more Westerns before retiring from films in 1969.
* Mario Adorf was still active into the 2010s with more than 200 screen and TV roles to his credit. He played Sgt. Gomez in the 1965 Hollywood Western “Major Dundee.”
* Marisa Mell was an Austrian born sex symbol who appeared in more than 60 films between 1959 and 1991. She was also the female lead in the 1972 comedy Western “Where the Bullets Fly” (aka “Miss Dynamite”). Of her beauty, she reportedly said: “It was a tragedy. Every man wanted me, but no man wanted to keep me.”
Mario Adorf as Pedro Ortiz and Marisa Mell as Juanita confront a meddlesome lawman in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Marianna Koch as Elizabeth Kelly, trying to comfort son Steve (Florian Kuehne) as Pedro Ortiz becomes more violent in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Edmund Purdom as Rex Kelly rides into an ambush while seeking his wife and child in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
Marisa Mell as Juanita with Marianne Koch as Elizabeth Kelly as Pedro Ortiz goes on a rampage in Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964)
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