More Dollars for the MacGregors (1970)

Carlos Quiney is George Forsythe, a bounty hunter with a unique way of killing his prey.

Forsythe locates the wanted man, then lets it be known that he’s carrying lots of cash. Then he sends his lovely girlfriend Gladys off alone, carrying their life savings in a buckboard.

Naturally, the lure of taking easy money from a young woman appeals to the wanted man. When the wanted man strikes, Forsythe’s there to collect the man and another bounty.

But while the trap might be working, Gladys is tired of the inherent danger. She begs him to quit.

George assures her that once he’s saved $500,000, he’ll do just that and they’ll settle down on a fine ranch together.

Then he sets out after Joe Saxon. And arrives to help Gladys too late. He eventually gets his man, but he’s lost the woman he loves.

Devastated by the turn of events, he sets out after his biggest bounty yet, Ross Steward (Stelvio Rosi), an outlaw with a $25,000 price tag on his head.

But tracking Steward leads him to The Valley of the Scorpions, where the outlaw has forced local Indians to work a salt mine on his behalf while he indulges in booze and drugs.

Now, there’s a second bounty hunter (Peter Lee Lawrence) on Steward’s trail. And a pretty girl named Yuma (Malisa Longo), a witch with a knack for cures and curses, depending on whether she’s your friend or enemy.

Review:

Peter Lee Lawrence is top billed here, but the George Forsythe character is central to the plot, and Quiney delivers a solid performance as the man tormented by his lover’s death.

Not that he’s learned his lesson. He’s still greedy to the point where he wants as much gold and cash as he can lay his hands on, a character flaw that leads to a clever ending.

The Ross Steward character is also rather unique. He might have a hefty price on his head, but he’s become something of a coward who has others do his dirty deeds.

Meanwhile, he gets high off whatever drug Yuma is supplying from the valley. And when he isn’t high, he’s drunk. And when he isn’t either, he’s downright mean, especially to Maticha, the pretty Indian girl he’s taken for a lover.

If the film has a flaw, it’s a loss of focus and direction once the characters reach a trading post on the outskirts of The Valley of the Scorpions. Things don’t pick up again until the bounty hunters join forces in an attempt to bring in Steward.

Directed by:
Jose Luis Merino

Cast:
Peter Lee Lawrence … Robert MacGregor
Carlos Quiney … George Forsythe
as Charles Quiney
Malisa Longo … Yuma
as Marisa Longo
Stelvio Rosi … Ross Steward
as Stan Cooper
Mariano Vidal Molina … Joe Saxon
Maria Salerno … Maticha
as Marta Monterrey
Maria Mahor … Gladys MacGregor
Louis Marin … Pancho, Steward henchman
Antonio Jimenez Escribano … Joe, trading post ownerr
Jose Jaspe … Jonesville sheriff

Also with: Stephano Capriati, Antonio Mayans, Enique Avila, Giancarlo Fantini, Enzo Fisichella, Jose Marco, Renato Paracchi, Santiago Rivero, Claudio Trionfi, Dan van Husen

Runtime: 99 min.

aka:
Ancora dollari per i Mc Gregor
A Few More Dollars for the MacGregors

Music: Augusto Martelli
Song: “Still Water”

Memorable lines:

Joe Saxon, after Forsythe has saved his life: “Why did you do it?”
Forsythe: “Because human life is precious. Don’t you agree with me?”

Joe, trading post owner: “You’re damned loco.”
Robert MacGregor: “I heard about Ross Stewart living in an old monastery around here.”
Joe: “Now I’m sure you’re damned loco.”

Maticha: “You’re not a man anymore, but a thing full of booze, Ross.”

George Forsythe, reading a note left behind by Ross Stewart: “He takes the money and he doesn’t even know how to write. He’ll pay for this!”

Trivia:

Don’t be fooled by the film’s English title. It has nothing to do with “Seven Guns for the MacGregors” (1966) or “Seven Women for the MacGregors” (1967).

By the time this film was released, Maria Mahor was coming to the tail end of a 40-odd film acting career that began in 1962. She was also one of Sidney Pink’s damsels in distress in “Tall Women” (1966) and appeared in “Zorro, Rider of Vengeance” the next year. Merino co-directed that film, which also starred Quiney and Longo.

Malisa Longo began her film career in 1968, missing the height of the Spaghetti craze. She appeared in Zorro, the Navarra Marquis (1969) and this marked the first of several non-Zorro Spaghettis in which she’d appear. She played a bride in “Blindman” and was the female lead in “Macho Killers” (1977).

Carlos Quiney (Charles Quiney) as George Forsythe, a man with nothing left to live for but money in More Dollars for the MacGregors (1970)

Peter Lee Lawrence as Robert MacGregor, a man with a bounty to collect and a score to settle in More Dollars for the MacGregors (1970)