Fearing for her life because the Cooper gang controls the local town, a young woman withdraws all of her money from the bank and sets out for a fresh start with her brother.
Only the gang catches up with her and takes the gold; she is raped and killed.
And so Jeff McNeal (Dino Strano) and his sidekick Tornado (Mario Brega) head to the besieged town to track down the men who killed Jeff’s sister.
While there, Jeff reignites an old flame with a barroom girl named Rosie (Femi Benussi) and tries to convince the new sheriff that guns, not talk, are the key to dealing with Cooper (Gordon Mitchell) and his men.
When the outlaws attack the town to regain control, Liz (Mirella Rossi), a young friend of Jeff and Tornado, is gunned down, setting the stage for a final showdown.
It’s a showdown Jeff’s been waiting for; it’s a showdown Rosie begs him not to participate in.
Dino Strano as Jeff McNeal, seeking revenge for his sister’s death in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Gordon Mitchell as Cooper, the man behind the trouble in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Review:
When the bad guys don’t even die with gusto, bracing themselves as they fall or landing in a pile of hay, you know you’re in for a long haul. From often laughable dialogue to ridiculously staged fistfights, this sure doesn’t come with many highlights.
Making matters worse, the first several minutes of the film — including the scene in which Jeff’s sister was killed — was apparently lifted from another movie. So when Jeff seeks his revenge, you’re not going to recognize any of the bad guys.
Then there’s the title. Where are the seven men on horseback? Cooper has six men riding in a pack on several occasions. Once, when Jeff needs rescuing from the desert, six townspeople come to the rescue, making seven when they slowly ride back to town. Those can’t be the devils. Can they?
Mario Brega as Tornado, Jeff’s sidekick in “Seven Devils on Horseback” (1972)
Femi Benussi as Rosie says she’s not quite ready to become an honest woman in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Directed by:
Gianni Crea
Cast:
Dino Strano … Jeff McNeal
as Dean Straford
Mario Brega … Tornado
Femi Benussi … Rosie
Gordon Mitchell … Cooper
Giuseppe Mattei … Foster
as Pino Mattei
Jack Logan … Sozzese
Mirella Rossi … Liz
Nino Musco … The Mayor
Maurizio Tocchi … The Sheriff
Also with: Luigi Antonio Guerra, Lina Franchi, Mimmo Maggio, Pietro Torrisi, Fulvio Pellegrino, Alfonso Giganti, Franca Scagnetti, Angelo Casadei, Artemio Antonini
aka:
I sette del gruppo selvaggio
Seven Savage Men
Maurizio Tocchi as Perry, the sheriff seeking a peaceful solution in “Seven Devils on Horseback” (1972)
Giuseppe Mattei as Foster, Cooper’s enforcer in “Seven Devils on Horseback” (1972)
Memorable lines:
Tornado, of the men Cooper sends to kill he and Jeff: “They’re not bad fellas. Just dumb.”
Mayor of the new sheriff: “You think he’ll make it?”
Businessman: “Yeah, if he doesn’t get killed.”
Jeff McNeal: “Now, look, sheriff, you don’t fight a fire by reciting some poetry at it. The only way to fight a bad fire is to set another one, just like it. Fight fire with fire.”
Jeff McNeal: “You’re not strong. You’re just a bloody vulture.”
Cooper: “If you figure vulture is the right word, I want you to know: there will always be vultures in the world.”
McNeal: “That’s an interesting theory, but it’s insane. Cause murder and bloodshed just bring more murder and bloodshed. Cooper, your time is running out. You’re good as dead.”
Nino Musco as Horace, the mayor in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Femi Benucci as Rosie and Dino Strano as Jeff McNeal wonder how to bring peace to town in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Triviia:
Gianni Crea directed just eight films and five of them were Spaghetti Westerns, beginning with “Law of Violence” in 1969 and ending with this film, which was released in 1975, though filmed in 1972.
The first eight minutes of this film are lifted from Django’s Spur (1972, aka Deadly trackers). Sharp-eyed Spaghetti fans will recognize Dada Gallotti, Furio Meniconi, George Wang, Rik Battaglia and Attilio Dottesio, none of whom appear in any of the original footage.
Mario Brega was a butcher and bodyguard before moving into acting and appeared in all three of Sergio Leone’s Clint Eastwood films, as Chico in “A Fistful of Dollars,” as Nino in “A Few Dollars More” and as Corporal Wallace in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” He also had a role as a gangster in Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America.” Brega died in 1994 at age 71.
Gordon Mitchell as Cooper gets an ultimatum he doesn’t like in Seven Devils on Horseback (1972)
Femi Benucci as Rosie and Dino Strano as Jeff McNeal in “Seven Devils on Horseback” (1972)
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