A horse thief named Ramirez (George Martin), a bank robber named Chattanooga Jim (Edd Byrnes) and a defrocked minister (George Hilton) have a date with a firing squad for profiteering while they were supposed to be fighting for the Confederacy.

But a Maj. Lloyd has made off with a small fortune in Union gold that was supposed to assist the Southern war effort.

And Gen. Silby decides the three would be more valuable alive and working to recover that gold than dead from that firing squad.

Accompanied by Lt. Logan, they set off in search of Lloyd and his fellow bandits.

Finding Lloyd proves pretty easy. Recovering the gold, whether for the Confederacy or their own gain, proves a bit more difficult thanks to the meddling of a girl named Annie and some Mexican bandits under a man known as El Primero.

George Hilton as Steel Downey, one of the three misfits out to find the gold in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

George Martin as Fidel Ramirez, one of the Rebel scoundrels offered a chance at redemption in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

Review:

A light-hearted romp of a Spaghetti that benefits from three likeable leads and an ending that piles twist upon twist upon twist. Martin, Hilton and Brynes all played lead roles in other Spaghetti films without one another’s assist.

George Martin’s Ramirez is the expert tracker of the bunch, using the mooing of a cow and the dung from horses to help track down Maj. Lloyd.

Despite his religious past, Hilton’s character loves to blow things up, and finds all sorts of imaginative ways to do so.

Edd Byrnes as Chattanooga Jim, a former bank robber turned gold hunter in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

Gerard Herter as Maj. Lloyd, ready to betray the Confederate cause for a fortune in gold in Blood Red, Yellow Gold (1967)

Directed by:
Nando Cicero

Cast:
George Hilton … Steel Downey
Edd Byrnes … Chattanooga Jim
George Martin … Fidel Ramirez
Milo Quesada … Lt. Logan
Monica Randall … Annie
Gerard Herter … Maj. Lloyd
Jose Bodalo … El Primero
Stella Monaldi … Senora Luisa
Carlo Gentili … Confederate Gen. Sibley

Also with: Claudia Trionfi, Bruno Ukmar, Pietro Torrisi, Osiride Pevarello, Paolo Figlia, Joaquin Parra, Franco Ukmar

aka
3 vilda desperados
Professionals for a Massacre
Los professionales de la muerte
Professionisti per un massacro

Score:
Carlo Pes

Runtime: 90 min.

Milo Quesada as Lt. Logan, the Confederate officer leading the mission to recover the stolen gold in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

Jose Bodalo as El Primero, determined not to lose a shooting game where a gold bar in the prize in Blood Red, Yellow Gold (1967)

Memorable lines:

Col. Silby, to our heroes: “As soldiers, you’re just common thieves. But as thieves, you can honorably serve the cause of the South.”‘

El Primero, after shooting one of his own men: “I don’t like crying.”
Whereupon one of his brothers breaks the neck of the crying man.

Ramirez: “Did you hear the lieutenant, boys? We got rid of Lloyd and his men. We destroyed a band of Mexicans. And the lieutenant thinks we’re going to be scared.”

Monica Randall, whose family is wiped out by Maj. Lloyd’s men in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

Stella Monaldi (Gisella Monaldi) as Senora Luisa, madame at a way station where the gold seekers stop in Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)

Trivia:

Edd Byrnes is best remembered for playing Kookie on the TV show “77 Sunset Strip.” But his first major role in a Western came alongside Clint Walker in “Yellowstone Kelly” (1959).

German actor Gerard Herter plays Maj. Lloyd, leader of the Confederate gold thieves in this film. He appeared in a number of other Spaghetti Westerns, including as the villainous Col. Skimmer in “Adios, Sabata,” and as the sharp-shooting baron in “Big Gundown.” In an interview for Wild East, Edd Byrnes said Herter drove his Mercedes all the way from Germany to Spain so it’d be at his disposal during the filming of this movie.