Ramon the Mexican (1966)

A lovely lass named Esmerelda (Wilma Lindamar) is washing clothes by a stream when she’s attacked by a Mexican.

Brothers John Baxter (Ferruccio Viotti) and her boyfriend Slim Baxter (Jean Louis) come to her rescue.

But the Mexican, Juan Morales, winds up dead. And Mr. Baxter figures that’s likely to reignite a feud between the families.

Sure enough, bandit leader Ramon Morales and his men descend on the Baxter ranch, killing the patriarch and kidnapping Esmerelda.

Mrs. Baxter pleads with Slim not to resort to vengeance, even after he’s riddled with bullets and left for dead following an initial showdown with Ramon.

But when you’re dealing with Ramon and his henchmen, violence is the only answer, something Slim comes to realize after they raid the Baxter ranch for a second time.

Review:

Beautiful looking film with suitably terse performances by Robert Hundar and Jean Louis as the primary adversaries.

Then there’s fetching Wilma Lindamar, who’s been soiled by Ramon and promises the Virgin Mary she’ll make it right by marrying him, if only she’ll let Slim recover from his near fatal wounds.

But the plot meanders too much for the film to be wholly successful and you wind up wondering why we were ever introduced to some of the characters.

There is a memorable scene in which Slim uses a unique method to quicken his draw. One of his “gang members” repeatedly pounds an axe into a piece of wood. Slim has to anticipate each fall of the axe and pull his gun — or lose his gun hand to the axe.

The ending features a pretty neat twist as well.

Directed by:
Mauirzio Pradeaux

Cast:
Claudio Undari … Ramon Morales
as Robert Hundar
Wilma Lindamar … Esmerelda
Jean Louis … Slim Baxter
Jose Torres … Lucas
Ferruccio Viotti … John Baxter
as Thomas Clay
Omero Gargano .. Manuel
Mario Dardanelli .. Francisco
as Mario Darnell
Nino Musco … Pedro
Renato Trottolo … Joselito
Antonio Basile … Juan Morales
Claudio Biava … Kelton Towers
Ugo Sasso … Reed Baxter
Laura Nucci … Mrs. Baxter
Lino Ranieri … Doctor
as Honil Ranieri
Aldo Berti … Jack Karson / Castro

Runtime: 93 min.

aka:
Ramon il Messicano

Music: Felice Di Stefano

Memorable lines:

Esmerelda: “Mr. Baxter, listen. Please, I’d like to stay at your house.”
Mr. Baxter: “Yes, of course you can, child. I’m sure you’re better off with us and stay as long as you like.”
Esmerelda is almost immediately kidnapped from the Baxter ranch by Ramon’s men.

Mr. Baxter, of his son Slim: “I tell you, he’s not here. He’s gone to Tucson to buy a team of horses for the ranch.”
Ramon Morales: “Too bad I missed him. I want to see him. And you know what I’m going to do to get him back here in a hurry? We invite him to your funeral!”

Joselito, after being summoned by Ramon for information on the whereabouts of Slim Baxter: “Joselito knows everything and sees everything. Except every so often, he doesn’t know anything and doesn’t see anything.”

Townsman, learning the next stage should arrive safely because a priest is on board: “He must be a foolish priest to come out to this wilderness.”
Joselito: “He comes to marry those who wants it and bury those who needs it and baptize babies who don’t want it or need it.”

Joselito, after Slim fires a couple of warning shots in his direction: “Don’t shoot. I’m allergic to bullets. Especially when they’re aimed right at my nose.”

Ramon to one of his men, after they’ve killed every Baxter but Slim: “Ramon Morales has always been a supporter of the law. Remember it, amigo.”

Trivia:

This marked the directorial debut for Mauirzio Pradeaux and the only Spaghetti Western among the seven films he’s credited with directing.

The damsel in distress here – billed as Wilma or Vilma Lindamar depending on the print – looks mighty familiar. But IMDb has her with just three credits under that name and this as her only Spaghetti Western. According to the Bang Bang a Italiana blog, she hailed from Brazil and was the daughter of an actress, Maria Ribeiro.