Ride for a Massacre (1967)

Peter Lee Lawrence is Johnny Mounters, youngest son of Gringo family locked in a deadly feud with the Campos clan over a disputed piece of land.

With the body count rising, the elders — Luis Induni as Bill Mounters and Rufino Ingles as Pedro Campos — propose a showdown overseen by a judge.

The winning family gets the land; the losing family must leave California.

But with the local law (Piero Lulli as Sheriff Cooper) under their thumb, the Campos decide to ambush the Mounters.

Though he misses that fight, partly due to his lack of skill with a six-gun, Johnny is taken captive by the Campos family.

He escapes with the help of a grizzled gunman named Lefty. And by the time Lefty’s through with Johnny, he’s much more skilled with a gun and has sampled women as well.

But his biggest revelation comes when he and Lefty hold up a stage that’s supposed to be carrying weapons to the Campos clan.

They find no weapons; Johnny does have his first encounter with a lovely and feisty young woman named Julietta.

Her last name turns out to be Campos. And the fact that she’s been promised to the sheriff merely adds another complication to a budding romance that threatens to bring more bloodshed between the warring families.

Review:

In his only Western, Gianni Puccini manages to weave a well-worn Western theme of mentor-pupil with an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet into a Spaghetti that’s much more entertaining than most.

He captures viewers’ attention in a heartbeat as a badly wounded and blood-soaked young man rides across the screen in the opening scene, only to die no sooner than he reaches his home.

And he closes the film in pretty memorable fashion as well.

In between, we get solid performances from Peter Lee Lawrence, Peter Martell as Campos’ vicious older son, Cristina Galbo as the spirited and lovely young Julietta, and Maria Cuadra as the saloon singer whose jealousy sparks the final fit of violence.

Directed by:
Gianni Puccini

Cast:
Peter Lee Lawrence … Johnny Mounters
as Arthur Grant
Cristina Galbo … Julietta Campos
as Cristina Calbo
Peter Martell … Rodrigo Campos
(Pietro Martellanza)
Andres Mejuto … Lefty
Piero Lulli … Sheriff Cooper
Maria Cuadra … Roselyn
Luis Induni … Bill Mounters
Ann Maria Noe … Mrs. Mounters
Rufino Ingles … Senor Pedro Campos
Angel Alvarez … Padre
Javier Rivera … Judge Alfonso Castro
Jose Rubio … Campos son
Paolo Magalotti … Mounter’s son

Also with … Luciano Cattenaci, Eulalia Tenorio, Mirella Pamphili, Sandalio Hernandez, Franc Pasquetto

Runtime: 89 min.

aka:
Dove si spara di piu
Fury of Johnny Kid
Ultimate Gunfighter
Love, Hate and Vengeance

Music: Gino Peguri

Memorable lines:

Mrs. Mounters: “I don’t want you to learn how to kill like your brothers and the rest.”
Johnny Mounters: “Don’t say that. Around here, a man’s got to learn about killing. Or he ain’t a man.”
Mrs. Mounters, drawing Johnny’s pistol and plugging the sign he earlier missed: “One thing’s more important than using a gun. That’s to be man enough not to.”

Campos’ man, having lassoed Johnny Mounters: “What do we do with this little blonde devil?”
Rodrigo Campos: “We’ll send him down to hell, where he belongs.”

Rosalyn: “Why does a nice kid like you hang around with someone like Lefty Higgins?”
Johnny: “It’s a good idea to have friends who know more about life than you do, don’t you think?”

Julietta to Johnny: “It’s better we were dead than to be in love with one another.”

Trivia:

* In his Westerns All’Italiana blog, Spaghetti Western expert Tom Betts reports that there is an alternate ending to the film. And that’s easy to envision given the film’s final scene.

* Peter Lee Lawrence made his film debut with an uncredited role in “For a Few Dollars More.” This marked his second film and his first starring role. Several more Spaghettis would follow. This is the only one in which he used the name Arthur Grant.

* Cristina Galbo was just 17 when this film was released. Two years later, she married Peter Lee Lawrence and they remained wed until he died in 1974. They had one son together. She later moved to the U.S. and taught Flamenco dancing in the state’s university system.

* Director Gianni Puccini died in late 1968, about a year and a half after this film was released, at age 54.