Sugar Colt (1966)

Near the end of the Civil War, 100 Union sharpshooters go missing.

The head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency suspects some are still alive because of a $10,000 ransom note a relative of one of the officer’s received.

Pinkerton turns to nephew Tom Cooper for help. After all, during the war, Cooper was Sugar Colt, one of the most famous agents with the federal investigative bureau.

But these days, Cooper is busy running the Academy of the Spiritual Defense of Women’s Rights, a school that teaches pretty young women to shoot. It’s a comfortable life he’s not exactly eager to leave.

When Pinkerton is shot dead in the street, Cooper has a change of heart.

And so off to Snake Valley he goes, pretending to be a doctor, but intending to find out just what happened to those missing Union officers.

He soon learns strangers aren’t treated very kindly in Snake Valley. Even Bess (Gina Rovere), the otherwise friendly saloon owner, and her pretty niece Josephine (Soledad Miranda) are reluctant to get involved, warning him to skedaddle while he can.

Those who do speak up? Well, the new doctor in town discovers that those who make appointments with him rarely keep them. In some cases, they aren’t alive to do so.

Review:

Jack Betts (aka Hunt Powers) steals the show in a film that’s miles ahead of average Spaghetti, with a unique plot, plenty of action and quite a bit of playfulness.

Among Sugar Colt’s tricks — laughing gas, a wagon wheel spiked with dynamite and a mirrored ring finger he uses to spot unsuspecting bad guys about to be in need of a funeral.

Giuliano Raffaelli is Col. Haberbrook, the man behind the dastardly deed of kidnapping the young officers and holding them captive; Erno Crisa plays Younger, his fast gun.

Few light-hearted Spaghettis strike the right balance between humor and seriousness. This one manages to.

Directed by:
Franco Giraldi

Cast:
Jack Betts … Sugar Colt / Tom Cooper
as Hunt Powers
Soledad Miranda … Josephine
Giuliano Raffaelli … Col. Haberbrook
Gina Rovere … Bess
as Jenny Oak
Erno Crisa … Younger
as James Parker
Luis Barboo … Bingo
Manuel Muniz … Agony
as Pajarito
George Rigaud … Alan Pinkerton

Also with: Fortunato Arena, Frank Brana, Alfonso Rojas, José Canalejas, Víctor Israel, Paolo Magalotti, Antonio Padilla, Osiride Pevarello, Riccardo Pizzuti, Nazzareno Zamperla, Mara Krup, Rossella Bergamonti, Giovanni Scarciofolo as Jeff Cameron, José Galera Balazote, Valentino Macchi, Paolo Carta, Patrizia Giammei, Alfred Thomas, Elisabetta Welinski

Score: Luis Bacalov
Song: “Sugar Colt” performed by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni

Runtime: 97 min.

Memorable lines:

Potential female customer at Sugar Colt’s school: “I want to learn to shoot.”
Sugar Colt: “May I ask the reason why?”
Customer: “I want to kill my husband. But I want to do it with style.”

Cooper’s Uncle: “You’ve been a boxer, actor, singer, smuggler, gambler, and now you’re teaching women how to shoot. Disgusting.”

Haberbrook: “You’ll pay me a visit?”
Sugar Colt, snarling: “You can count on it.”

Sugar Colt, awakening after a bad beating: “I was hoping I’d end up in your bed.”
Josephina: “You almost ended up in the cemetery.”

Trivia:

This was the only Spaghetti appearance for female lead Soledad Miranda, who later wound up in several horror flicks. Those included Lesbian Vampires, released in 1971, the year after her tragic death in a car accident in Portugal at age 27.

Jack Betts, the star here, adopted the name Hunt Powers in Europe, where he starred in about 16 movies before returning to the U.S. He has appeared on such TV shows as Friends, Fraiser, Everybody Loves Raymond and My Name is Earl.

Mara Krupp, the hotel manager’s wife from “A Few Dollars More,” and Rosella Bergamonti, who had larger roles in several Spaghettis, appear briefly here as customers at Tom Cooper’s shooting school.

Soledad Miranda as Josephine, perplexed by a stranger’s motives in Sugar Colt (1966)

Jack Betts (Hunt Powers) as Sugar Colt, with the bugle that haunts residents of Snake Valley in Sugar Colt (1966)

Victor Isreal as Calhoun the gravedigger in Sugar Colt (1966)

Jack Betts (Hunt Powers) as Dr. Tom Collins, after Josephine (Soledad Miranda) questions his courage in Sugar Colt (1966)

Jack Betts (Hunt Powers) as Sugar Colt, trying to win the confidence of saloon owner Bess (Gina Rovere ) in Sugar Colt (1966)

Soledad Miranda as Josephine finds a comfy spot in a buckboard in Sugar Colt (1966)