Sheriff of Rock Springs (1971)

Rock Springs has a tradition of electing a “little sheriff,” a child who will help the real sheriff fulfill his duties for a week in remembrance of the day 10 years earlier when a brave youngster helped save the town.

This year’s election comes amid rising tensions between Mormons and Protestants living in the area. Then comes news that a vicious bandit (Enrico Manera as Burt) has escaped from a nearby jail and is expected to take an escape route near the town.

Sure enough, he shows up at the ranch of Mormon leader Jack Jones (Donald O’Brien) and takes his daughter Dania hostage to ensure safe passage over the San Felipe Pass.

Sheriff Hunter (Richard Harrison) organizes a search party to rescue the girl with the help of Ranger Capt. Will Houston (Mauro Mannatrizio).

But Steven Marlowe, the new little sheriff, and his friends also set out after the bandit at the urging of Mormon girl Shelly Reeves, who hoped to earn the title of little sheriff herself.

Review:

It’s hard to know what to make of this mess of a Spaghetti.

The premise of kids teaching adults a lesson about the spirit of cooperation seemed to have promise. But no one associated with the film, from script-writing to cinematography to direction seemed to know how to turn that promise into a coherent film.

So we have the sheriff of a peaceful town teaching young children how to shoot. An outlaw who talks tougher than he is. A laughable showdown between said outlaw and a posse made up of children.

Oh, and clearly, very little attention to detail.

So we have a Ranger captain with a CSA (Confederate States of America) emblem on his hat. And a Mormon leader with a provocative painting of a mermaid prominently displayed on a wall in his home.

The large supporting includes Ken and Lorana (Maria D’Incoronato), two reporters who have traveled all the way from Kansas to report on the little sheriff tradition for the New Daily Herald.

Lorana might be the first female journalist ever to stride into a bar in jeans and order a whiskey, then change into a pretty yellow dress when it comes time to join the sheriff’s posse. Boyfriend Ken thinks she might be smitten by the sheriff. We never find out if that’s the case.

That might be because the running time for the version I watched runs 76 minutes, 10 shorter than the reported original length of this film. Trust me, an additional 10 minutes would not have helped, merely prolonged the viewers’ suffering.

Directed by:
Mario Sabatini
as Anthony Green

Cast:
Richard Harrison … Sheriff Hunter
Donald O’Brien … Jack Jones
as Donal O’Brien
Cosetta Greco … Mrs. Jones
Enrico Manera … Burt
as Joseph Logan
Maria D’Incoronato … Lorana
as Maria Morgan
Sophia Kammara … Margie
Celso Faria … Judge
Agostino De Simone … Phillip Reeves
Maily Dona … Pearl Reese
as May Doria
Mauro Mannatrizio … Capt. Will Houston
Lina Alberti … Mormon matriarch
Alessandro Perella … Jed
Orazio Stracuzzi … Ken
Lorella Limoncelli … Dania Jones
Sergio Scarchilli … Harden

Runtime: 86 min.

aka:
Lo sceriffo di Rockspring

Music: Felice Di Stefano + Gianfranco Di Stefano

Song: “La canzone del Coyote” sung by Lorella Limoncelli

Memorable lines:

Prison guard to outlaw Burt: “You’re about as funny as a hog on a chopping block.”

Outlaw Burt: “That’s it old horse. That’s as far as you’re going, ain’t it? You did real good though. I’d give you one of my legs, if I thought it might help you. But I can’t. I’m really gonna need these legs.”

Ken: “The Mormons are going on the warpath after that insult they got earlier today.”
Sheriff Hunter: “What do you mean?”
Lorana: “They’re marching on the saloon this very second.”
Sheriff: “Great balls of fire. We can’t let that happen.”

Sheriff Hunter, walking into the saloon to stop a barroom brawl: “Here, sheriff, have a seat. Whereupon someone tosses him an unbroken chair that he promptly sits down on!

Sheriff Hunter to Burt: “You mister are the kind of people I hate.”

Trivia:

Mario Sabatini directed just five films, including one other Spaghetti Western, “A Gunman Named Dakota” (1972), starring Gordon Mitchell.

Maria D’Incoronato plays the pretty female reporter here and appeared in two other Spaghetti Westerns – “They Call Him Veritas” (1972) and a small part in one of the Holy Ghost films, “Forewarned, Half-Killed…the Word of the Holy Ghost” (1971).