The Civil War is over. But not for Col. Thomas Blake (Guy Madison).

He leads a gang or marauders who terrorize the area around the Mexican border, looting and pillaging, all in the name of the Confederacy.

Blake dispatches Chamaco Gonzalez to the town of Manassas to learn the location of a lost Confederate payroll, presumably buried after the surrender at Appomattox by Gen. Beauregard’s soldiers.

But Camacho gets himself captured and has a date with a firing squad.

That’s when a stranger named Stuart (Edd Byrnes) shows up, rescuing Chamaco and thereby earning a meeting with Blake.

He claims to know where the payroll is buried. He wants Blake’s help in retrieving it, with the end goal of helping Southerners suffering because of the war.

Blake, of course, has other ideas for the buried fortune.

But he takes a handpicked group of men back across the Rio Grande to fetch the payroll, which Stuart says is buried in a sacred cave of the Apaches, near the town of Durango.

Along the way, a pretty lady named Manuela shows up, offering her assistance.

Edd Byrnes as Stuart, promising to lead Col. Thomas Blake to a hidden Confederate payroll in Payment in Blood (1967)

Guy Madison as Col. Thomas Blake, leader of a group Southern marauders in Payment in Blood (1967)

Review:

Great score from Francesco De Masi. The movie doesn’t quite measure up, but it’s enjoyable enough. And seeing Madison in the role of a villain is a nice change of pace.

Blake is suspicious of Stuart all along. So he’s not too surprised when he turns out to be a traitor to the cause — at least to Blake’s cause.

What he doesn’t suspect is that Manuela is Stuart’s partner, looking to share in the bounty on the heads of the marauders.

There’s also a touch of Magnificent Seven in reverse, as Blake’s Invincibles number seven and include a bullwhip expert, a knife expert and one man who likes to fight with his spurs.

Luisa Baratto (Louise Barrett) as Manuela, meeting Col. Thomas Blake in Payment in Blood (1967)

Ennio Girolami (Thomas Moore) as Chamaco Gonzalez, the marauder Stuart rescues from a firing squad in Payment in Blood (1967)

Directed by:
Enzo G. Castellari

Cast:
Edd Byrnes … Stuart
Guy Madison … Col. Thomas Blake
Ennio Girolami … Chamaco Gonzalez
as Thomas Moore
Luisa Baratto … Manuela
as Louise Barrett
Federico Boido … Fred Calhoun
as Rik Boyd
Alfredo Runachagua … Rios
as Alfred Aysanoa
Piero Vida … LeSoeur
Adriana Facchetti … Miss Belle
Attilo Severini … Mesa Alvarez
Giulio Maculani … Sheriff

Also with: Rosella Bergamonti, Mirella Pampfili, Marco Mariani, Mario Papotti

aka
Sette winchester per un massacro
Renegade Riders
Seven Winchesters for a Massacre
Blake’s Marauders

Score: Francesco De Masi, Audrey Nohra

Runtime: 98 min.

Federico Boido (Rick Boyd) as Fred Calhohn, one of Blake’s Invincibles in Payment in Blood (1967)

Attilo Severini as Mesa Alvarez, the marauder with a mean pair of spurs in Payment in Blood (1967)

Memorable lines:

Stuart: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave the woman here by herself.”
Col. Blake: “Relax, Stuart. I’ll keep her company. And by tomorrow, she’ll be as docile as a puppy.”

Townsman: “When you teach a man it’s right to kill, how can you unteach him?”

Manuela: “Colonel, there are other ways to make a man talk. A woman’s way.”
Blake: “Alright, but hurry it up. These women. They’re clever little devils.”

Alfredo Runachagua (Alfred Aysanoa) as Rios, scout for Blake’s Marauders in Payment in Blood (1967)

Zeb Russell, the bullwhip expert among Blake’s Invincibles in Payment in Blood (1967). Does anyone know who played this part?

Trivia:

Edd Byrnes, the star of this film, was best known as a teen idol from his role as “Kookie,” a hip-talking parking lot attendant in the TV series “77 Sunset Strip.” The series ran from 1958 to 1963. This is one of three Spaghetti films he made.

Like many Spaghetti Westerns with a Civil War slant, this one plays fast and loose with historical facts. So we have references to a Manassas near the Mexican border and a Gen.Beauregard, who held off the Yankees for two years before surrendering at Appomattox.