Telly Savalas is Vince Carden, boss of the town of Fargo River and an ambitious rancher who has a map on his office wall to track his land holdings.
About the only thing standing between him and an idyllic existence is the local Apaches, and he places a bounty on Indian scalps in hopes of exterminating them.
George Maharis plays his brother Paul Cardenas, a man who left the Carden ranch years earlier after the mysterious death of his first true love (Jocelyn Lane as Louisa Rojas).
By the time she died, Paul had already forsaken her after being convinced by his brother that she was a two-bit tramp, willing to sleep with anyone who unbuckled his pants, including Vince.
Years later, Paul helps save members of a wagon train from the Apaches and finds himself back home, facing the brother he resents and a town full of people who think he killed Louisa because he’d gotten her pregnant.
Now that he’s back, Paul tries to convince the townsfolk that Vince is helping stir up the Indian trouble, for his own gain.
But he has two reasons to hang around — a father who is in ill health and a pretty young lady named Kate Mayfield, the daughter of the sheriff Vince owns.
Telly Savalas as Vince Carden, trying to start an Indian war in Land Raiders (1969)
George Maharis as Paul Cardenas, reunited with an old friend in Land Raiders (1969)
Review:
Savalas steals the show in this Spanish-American co-production. And if Maharis is a bit over-the-top in his role … well, he’s rescued by a plot that keeps the action coming and has enough depth to be a big step ahead of lots of Spaghetti Westerns being churned out by the late 1960s.
The Indian attack on the wagon train is particularly effective. And, in a neat twist, it’s not Paul who gets even with his vicious brother in the climatic moment.
A rousing score from Bruno Nicolai helps set the mood, and Arlene Dahl, years removed from per prime, turns in a nice performance as the woman who loves Vince in spite of his flaws.
Janet Landgard as Kate Mayfield, urging her father to finally stand up against Vince Carden in Land Raiders (1969)
Arlene Dahl as Martha Carden, in love with Vince in spite of his flaws in Land Raiders (1969)
Directed by:
Nathan H. Juran
Cast:
Telly Savalas … Vince Carden
George Maharis … Paul Cardenas
Arlene Dahl … Martha Carden
Janet Landgard … Kate Mayfield
Phil Brown … Sheriff Mayfield
Guy Rolfe … Major Tanner
Jocelyn Lane … Louisa Rojas
Robert Carricart … Julio Rojas
Fernando Rey … Priest
aka:
Bruciatelo vivo!
Day of the Landgrabbers
The Day of the Land Grabber
Score: Bruno Nicolai
Phil Brown as Sheriff Mayfield, a lawman afraid to buck Vince Carden in Land Raiders (1969)
George Coulouris as Senor Juan Cardenas, wishing his sons got along in Land Raiders (1969)
Memorable lines:
Vince Carden: “Listen Major, I don’t give a damn what the general feels or what he wants. There’s no law against killin’ Apaches, and until there is, I’m going to go on doin’ just that.”
Vince Carden: “Who you gonna believe? Someone who’s been with you through the years, helping you protect your family and your property and trying to make this a decent town to live in? Or this spineless stud, who pulled up his pants and ran like hell when he got a little Mexican girl in trouble?”
Sheriff Mayfield: “Knew I never should have been a lawman. First time I put this badge on I stuck myself.”
Vince Carden: “Kill them all, big and little. Nits make lice.”
Jocelyn Lane as Louisa Rojas, the young girl who came between brothers Vince and Paul in Land Raiders (1969)
Guy Rolfe as Major Tanner, sharing Carden’s concern that the government won’t be tough enough with the Indians in Land Raiders (1969)
Trivia:
Jocelyn Lane appears in the flashback sequences as Paul Carden’s former lover, impregnated by his brother. It would mark the next to last film role for the Austrialian-born beauty, who married into Spanish royalty in 1973.
Arlene Dahl was 41 and well removed from her glory days when she played Vince Carden’s wife in this film. If the name sounds familiar, it might be because she played the female lead in the following Westerns two decades earlier: “Southern Yankee” (1948), “The Outriders” (1950) and “Ambush” (1950).
One of five Spaghetti Western appearances for Telly Savalas, who was soon to become renown to TV fans in the role of Kojak. He also appeared in “A Town Called Hell,” “Massacre at Fort Holman,” “Bandara Bandits” (aka “Sony and Jed”) and “Pancho Villa.”
Born in Dec. 2, 1947, Janet Landgard was a former child star, appearing in nine episodes of “The Donna Reed” show between 1963 and 1965. After that, she would appear in just four movies, most noteably “The Swimmer” in 1968 opposite Burt Lancaster. When Former Child Star Central caught up with her in 2002, she was living in Colorado with her husband and involved in an effort to reintroduce wolves to the Rocky Mountains. This film marked her only Spaghetti.
George Maharis as Paul Cardenas, making a point with the sheriff in Land Raiders (1969)
Louisa, the saloon girl who sparks Paul Cardenas’s memory of a lost love in Land Raiders (1969)
Telly Savalas as Vince Carden and Arlene Dahl as wife Martha learn of a deadly Apache raid in Land Raiders (1969)
George Maharis as Paul Cardenas and Janet Landgard as Kate Mayfield, surveying the aftermath of an Indian attack in Land Raiders (1969)
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