Russ Tamblyn is Johnny, a young man determined to bring outlaw Ace Ketchum to justice, though no one is quite sure why.
He’s wounded helping save a cattle herd from bandidos and is taken in by Don Pedro Fortuna, a rich landowner living south of the border.
Don Pedro’s pretty young daughter Pilar (Maria Granada) helps nurse Johnny back to health and winds up falling in love with the young man.
But Johnny has no time for woman or for love. He needs to find Ketchum and finally tells Pilar why: The outlaw was responsible for his mother’s death. What he doesn’t tell her is that he is Ketchum’s son.
But Johnny isn’t the only one on Ketchum’s trail. Mace Fenton wants the $10,000 bounty on his head, figuring that much money will earn his a type of acceptance his half-Mexican, half-white heritage never will.
And bandit Juan Morales has an old score to settle with Ketchum, though he wouldn’t mind having part of that bounty money, too.
Johnny could care less about the bounty. He just wants Ketchum dead.
And he’s spent all his life preparing for the moment they meet.
Russ Tamblyn as Johnny Ketchum, helping foil a stagecoach holdup attempt in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Maria Granada as Pilar Fortuna, the rich landowner’s daughter who falls for Johnny Ketchum in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Review:
A Spanish/U.S. production that features a rousing, Spaghetti style score and an equally rousing final showdown, but is otherwise pretty predictable.
Russ Tamblyn plays a young man, but was 32 when this film was released. He must decide whether to live for love or hate. James Philbrook, who went on to appear in a number of Spaghetti Westerns, plays his father, the outlaw Ace Ketchum.
Maria Granada might look familiar to lots of Spaghetti fans. Her brief film career also included appearances in “The Savage Guns,” “Gunfighters of the Casa Grande” and “The Big Gundown.”
James Philbrook as Ace Ketchum, learning his son has a knack with a six-gun in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Aldo Sambrell (left) as Juan Morales, a bandit leader determined to settle an old score with Ace Ketchum in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Directed by:
Paul Landres
Cast:
Russ Tamblyn … Johnny Ketchum
Kieron Moore … Mace Fenton
James Philbrook … Ace Ketchum
Fernando Rey … Don Pedro Fortuna
Maria Granada … Pilar Fortuna
Aldo Sambrell … Juan Morales
Antono Casas … Pecos
Barta Barri … Esteban
Renato Polselli … Sheriff Litton
Andy Anza … Fuentes
Fernando Hilbeck … Joaquin
Hector Quiroga … Jim
Carmen Tarrazo … Maria
Runtime: 91 min.
Kieron Moore as Mace Fenton, the sheriff’s deputy unsure which side of the border he belongs on in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Renato Polselli as Sheriff Litton, wondering if there’s more good or bad in Johnny Ketchum in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Memorable lines:
Johnny Ketchum, of Deputy Mace Fenton: “What’s bothering him? The weight of his badge?”
Sheriff Litton: “Nope. Just having a Texas father and a Mexican mother. Neither side really cottons to him.”
Don Pedro to Pilar: “He must decide to live for love or possibly die for hate. I am sorry, Pilar, but that is the way of men.”
Johnny Ketchum: “Fenton, when you’re gunning for a man, he deserves to die from the front. And close enough to know the reason why.”
Ace Ketchum: “I’m not going to die in bed if there’s a good fight around.”
Fernando Rey as Don Pedro Fortuna, the rich Mexican landowner who gives Johnny Ketchum refuge in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Barta Barri as Esteban, foreman on Don Pedro Fortuna’s ranch in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Maria Granada as Pilar Fortuna, expressing her love for Johnny to her servant Maria (Carmen Tarrazo) in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
Russ Tamblyn as Johnny Ketchum, riding off to find his estranged outlaw father in Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
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