Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

After two years tracking down his father’s killers, Wes Evans (James Mitchum) returns to his hometown to find it engulfed in a range war.

On one side are the ranchers who have settled in Red Grass Valley. On the other are the Dancer family, led by a crusty old patriarch (Eric), who believes he has a legal claim to the valley and refuses to accept a court’s decision to the contrary.

So he recruits hired guns, led by the Manson brothers, to help chase the ranchers from the valley.

The ranchers, led by Harley Whitmore, learn of the plan and launch a pre-emptive attack of their own.

It’s the potential blood-letting that could result that prompts Wes to get involved, even though he had been determined to leave town for good.

You see, the townsfolk had gotten word that he’d been killed in Wyoming.

And the woman with whom he planned to spend his future is now married to gun-happy Tulley Dancer, Eric’s oldest son.

Gabriella Pallotta (Jill Powers) as Nancy, the woman who married another while Wes was away in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Review:

Decent early Spaghetti before the films had their own distinctive mark. The title song could come straight from a 1960s American Western. The scenery — filmed in Croatia — isn’t nearly as desolate as we’d come to expect from Spaghetti Westerns.

The big hints that this isn’t an American Western — the obviously international cast and the big gun battles that don’t seem to make much sense, but sure help run up the body count.
Gabriella Pallotta (as Jill Powers) plays the woman who married Tulley Dancer but regrets that decision when Wes reappears.

Andrea Giordanna (as Burt Nelson) plays Clay Dancer, the one decent member of the Clay who nevertheless might wind up being hung for his family’s treacherous ways.

George Adrisson as Tully Dancer, the man who married Nancy while Wes Evans was away in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Andrea Giordana (Burt Nelson) as Clay Dancer, facing death for his family’s sins in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Directed by
Albert Band &
Sergio Corbucci

Cast:
James Mitchum … Wes Evans
Gabriella Pallotta … Nancy
as Jill Powers
George Ardisson .. Tully Dancer
Andrea Giordana … Clay Dancer
as Burt Nelson
Eduardo Ciannelli .. Eric Dancer
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart … Sheriff Cooley
Attilio Severini … Flake Manson
Ferdinando Poggi … Ace Manson
Renato Terra … Curley Manson
Vlastimir Gavrik … Bear Manson
Vladimir Medar … Harley Whitmore
Millan Sannoner … Flake’s girl

aka
Massacro al Grande Canyon
Grand Canyon Massacre
Massacre at Canyon Grande
Red Pastures

Score: Gianni Ferrio
Title Song: “The Cow-boy Song,” performed by Rodd Dana

Runtime: 89 min.

Eduardo Ciannelli as Eric Dancer, willing to sacrifice at least one son to hold onto his valley in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Vladimir Medar as Harley Whitmore, determined to take Red Grass Valley from the Dancer family in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Cooley: “Are you sure you’re not a ghost?”
Wes Evans: “I feel too alive to be a ghost. And I like whiskey.”

Wes Evans: “I got a feelin’ I’ll put you in a hole.”
Tulley Dancer: “Well, that may be. Still, you should be careful. You might fall in.”

Tulley Dancer: “Being killed that way (in a gunfight) is not as bad as being strung up by your neck.”
Eric Dancer, his father: “When you die, you die. That only thing that counts is why.”

Atillio Severini as Flake Manson, leader of a band of killer brothers in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Milla Sannoner as Flake’s girl in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Trivia:

Along with the “Tramplers,” one of two Spaghettis starring James Mitchum, who never achieved the success of his dad, Robert. His debut was as a child actor in the Joel McCrea Western, “Colorado Territory” (1949) at age 8.

An early Spaghetti and the first directed by Sergio Corbucci, though he said in a 1993 interview that he only shot a few scenes. The film was started by Albert Bland, an American with Italian ties who wanted to take the Western genre to Europe.

Giacomo Rossi Stuart (G.R. Stuart) as Sheriff Burt Cooley, an ally of Wes Evans in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Renato Terra as Curley Manson, one of the henchmen hired by Eric Dancer in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

Vlastimir Gavrik as Bear Manson, one of the killers for hire in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

The judge, hoping Wes Evans can restore the peace in his town in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964). Does anyone know who plays this part?

Fred, the one-legged rancher who wants no part of the Dancer clan in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964). Does anyone know who plays this part?

James Mitchum as Wes Evans, avenging his father’s death in Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)