Reverend Colt (1970)

Guy Madison plays the Rev. Miller Colt, a bounty hunter who returns to a familiar town out West to open a church.

But shortly after he arrives in town, a bank is robbed and he’s discovered leaning over a dead teller. He’s jailed, accused of committing the crime.

When Sheriff Donovan (Richard Harrison) has no luck tracking the other bandits or recovering the loot, the reverend offers to go after them in order to clear his name. Convinced the reverend is innocent, Donovan agrees.

But Miller Colt winds up facing long odds. He helps rescue a small wagon train from a bandits’ ambush, then guides them to a fort where they can recover and hold off any subsequent attacks. What he doesn’t know is that the wells in the fort are empty.

And the bandits are determined. That’s because the leader of the wagon train, a former Confederate colonel, is suspected of having a small fortune stashed in his regimental trunk.

Guy Madison as Rev. Miller Colt, reflecting on his transformation from bounty killer to man of the cloth in Reverend Colt (1970)

Richard Harrison as Sheriff Donovan, explaining why he’s sent the man suspected of robbing the bank in search of the bank robbers in Reverend Colt (1970)

Review:

Madison was 48 when this film was released, and it’s not one of his best. The comic touches inserted into the film don’t quite match the desperate situation our heroes are supposed to find themselves in.

Of course, for that matter, the situation never seems all that desperate, and the bandits seem pretty inept.

There are plenty of subplots. Fred Smith is along with the wagon train only to watch over Dorothy, a sister-in-law who doesn’t much like him. Pat McMurray is the bagpipe playing, artillery loving former soldier, but wife Mary wears the pants in that family.

And pretty colonel’s daughter Katy falls for a wounded man named Gary who is taken in by members of the wagon train. She doesn’t know what Rev. Colt and Smith do — that Gary was one of the bandits.

A couple of unexpected twists help. Poor dubbing (Madison clearly did not dub himself) and a strange ending do not.

Giuseppe Cardillo (Steven Tedd) as Gary, facing off against a former gang member in Reverend Colt (1970)

Maria Salerno (Marta Monterrey) as Katy, hoping to make an impression on Gary with a new dress in Reverend Colt (1970)

Directed by:
Leon Klimovsky
(Marino Girolami)

Cast:
Guy Madison … Rev. Miller Colt
Richard Harrison … Sheriff Donovan
Ennio Girolami .. Mestizo
as Thomas Moore
Alfonso Rojas … Col. Charles Jackson
German Cobos … Fred Smith
Perla Cristal … Dorothy
Cris Huerta … Pat MacMurray
Maria Martin… Mary MacMurray
Ignazio Spalla … Metticcio
as Pedro Sanchez
Giuseppe Cardillo … Gary
as Steven Tedd
Maria Salerno … Katy
as Marta Monterrey
Nino Marchetti … Deputy Hop
Jose Canalejas … Martin

aka:
Reverendo Colt
Reverend’s Colt

Runtime: 86 min.

Ennio Girolami (Thomas Moore) as Mestizo with accomplice Billy (Mariano Vida Molina) discussing an attack on the wagons in Reverend Colt (1970)

Jose Canalejes as Joe Martin, prepared for an expected attack on the fort in Reverend Colt (1970)

Memorable lines:

Rev. Colt: “Now I’m a man of God. I’m going to build a church here.”
Sheriff Donovan, laughing: “You, a priest? And what are you going to build this church from? All your old cartridge cases?”

Deputy: “Can’t you say anything nice about the coffee I make?”
Sheriff Donovan: “Yeah, if you sell it as rat poison, you’ll make a fortune.”

Fred Smith: “So the seminaries are now teaching their newly ordained the art of gun-fighting, huh?”
Rev. Colt: “Why not? Nothin’ better than a bullet to persuade a reluctant churchgoer.”

Fred Smith, about trusting Gary: “I think you’re taking a hell of a risk, trusting that boy.”
Rev. Colt: “I don’t think we have to worry. He’s been slushing through the mire because he’s never been given a chance to walk on green grass. And we can give him a chance.”

German Cobos as Fred Smith, a gambler letting his anger get the best of him in Reverend Colt (1970)

Perla Cristal as Dorothy, reacting to the bandits latest ploy in Reverend Colt (1970)

Trivia:

Guy Madison’s first wife was Gail Russell. They divorced in 1954. In an AP story published at the time, Madison complained that he often had to cook meals and clean their house because his wife “had no interest in keeping up the home, wouldn’t allow servants and showed no interest in my work.” Madison was 32 at the time; Russell was 29.

Spanish born Maria Martin had more than 80 TV and screen credits between 1943 and 1998. She was 43 when her first Spaghetti (“Ringo and Gringo Against All”) was released in 1966. As a result, the size of her seven Spaghetti roles varied. She’s probably best known as Kitty, the drunk Joseph Cotton has posing as his wife in “The Hellbenders” (1967).

Alfonso Rojas as Col. Charles Jackson, concerned about the lack of water in the fort in Reverend Colt (1970)

Cris Huerta as Pat MacMurray when the wagons come under attack in Reverend Colt (1970)

Maria Martin as Mary MacMurray, prepared to help defend the fort in Reverend Colt (1970)

Maria Salerno as Katy and Giuseppe Cardillo (Steven Tedd) as Gary react to sounds of coming trouble in Reverend Colt (1970)

Guy Madison as Rev. Miller Colt, breaking the news that he’s turned religious to a former saloon girl friend in Reverend Colt (1970)

Ennio Girolami (Thomas Moore) as Mestizo, wanting to enchange Katy (Maria Salerno) for the gold he thinks the travelers has in Reverend Colt (1970)