Price of Power (1969)

Giuliano Gemma plays Bill Willer, a former Northern soldier accused of treason during the war. He returns home to post-war Texas to find the war sentiments have hardly faded.

In fact, the president is about to visit, and the conspirators are determined to assassinate him, and set up Jack Donovan, a black friend of Willer’s, as the assassin.

Willer’s dad learns of the plot to blow up the president’s train and is murdered. In his search for those guilty, Willer winds up saving the president (Van Johnson). But the conspirators aren’t about to give up.

Soon, Willer has a second death to avenge — Donovan’s. And he finds himself involved in political intrique that includes the governor of Texas, the vice president and many of the fine residents of Dallas.

Review:

Well done film by Tonino Valeri, who also brought us “Day of Anger,” “Massacre at Fort Holman” and “My Name is Nobody.” This one features a complex plot, a showdown in the dark and some memorable performances, including Jose Calvo as Doctor Strips and Van Johnson in one of his later roles.

You have to pitty the Jack Donovan character, who gets beaten or shot in nearly every scene in which he appears. If the film has a downfall, it’s a bit long on talk and short on action.

Directed by:
Tonino Valeri

Cast:
Giuliano Gemma … Bill Willer
Fernando Rey … Pinkerton
Van Johnson … President Garfield
Warren Vanders … Arthur McDonald
Antonio Casas … Mr. Willer
Benito Stefanelli … Sheriff Jefferson
Frank Brana … Mortimer
Jose Calvo … Doctor Strips
Maria Jesus Cuadra … Lucretia Garfield
Ray Saunders … Jack Donovan
Jose Suarez … Vice president
Norma Jordan … Annie Goddard

Also with: Maria Luisa Sala, Ángel Álvarez, Massimo Carocci, Ángel del Pozo, Julio Peña, Franco Meroni, Luis Rico Pelaez, Francisco Sanz, Manuel Zarzo, Carlos Bravo, José Canalejas, Joaquin Parra, Lorenzo Robledo, Ralph Neville, Lisardo Iglesias, Michael Harvey, Riccardo Pizzuti, Paolo Figlia, Luigi Ciavarro, Giancarlo Bastianoni

aka:
Bullet for the President
Il prezzo del potere

Score: Luis Bacalov

Runtime: 108 min.

Memorable lines:

Wallace: “The war’s not over. Not as long as there’s arrogant Northerners and Southern traitors around.”

McDonald: “Mr. President, I grew up in the southwest. Some of the people here still feel like heroes from the Alamo. A loaded gun is their symbol of manhood, and I’ve seen them used to resolve their problems.”

President: “No bullet can stop an idea.”

Willer: “Why don’t you answer me? You afraid to?”
Doc Scrips: “Yeah, I’ve always been afraid. I ain’t no hero, boy. Start asking the wrong questions and you’ll end up in the church-yard before you get the answers.”

Willer: “There’s more hope for him (Jack Donovan) dead than alive. And he’ll make more trouble.”

Trivia:

The marked the only Spaghetti appearance for Van Johnson, a major star for MGM in the 1940s. By the 1950s, his movie career was in decline. And by the time this film was made, most of his appearances were in TV shows like The Red Skelton Hour. Two years earlier, he appeared in two episodes of Batman.

President Garfield was really assasinated in Washington, D.C. This is more of a retelling of the assasination of John F. Kennedy, down to the slaying of the man accused of the murder as he’s being taken into custody.