The Man Who Came to Kill (1965) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Carl Mohner is Doc MacGregor, once a surgeon so skilled he was known as Magic Hands. Now he’s a drunk and a card shark with a price on his head.

Fleeing his latest killings over a poker game, he comes across the body of a man named Larry Kitchener and decides to steal his identity.

He then proceeds to the town of Baldosas, where he’s in for a bit of a surprise. They’ve been awaiting Larry Kitchener, the famed lawman who cleaned up Colorado City.

The real Larry Kitchener, the one who is now dead, has agreed to become the town’s new sheriff and help Baldosas deal with a Mexican bandit named (Pablo Reyes).

The phony Larry Kitchener has no option but to accept the sheriff’s badge. That’s because he’s being accompanied by a bounty hunter named Slade (Luis Davila), who was in pursuit of … that’s right, Doc MacGregor.

Soon, Doc/Kitchener finds another reason to care about what happens in Baldosas: A pretty and very spunky widow named Norma O’Connor (Gloria Milland) with a son who looks up to the famed lawman.

There are more surprises too. Reyes has a partner in Baldosas and their plan is to gain control of as much land as possible as cheaply as possible before the railroad arrives.

Luis Davila as Slade, working on a deal with Pablo Reyes in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Carl Mohner as Larry Kitchener, meeting bounty hunter Slade in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Review:

A decent concept — and the quandry Carl Mohner’s character finds himself in — should have turned into a better film.

But Fernando Sancho is on hand at his unrestrained worst as a loud-mouthed braggart of a Mexican bandit and winds up pretty much dominating the film.

Luis Davila turns in a much more measured performance as the bounty hunter who quickly suspects Kitchener isn’t really Kitchener, but finds himself growing fond of the man who was supposed to be his prey.

There’s a memorable scene in which Kitchener is beaten senseless, then strung up with dynamite under his feet. And a groan-worthy one in which Kitchener and Slade escape an ambush because a load of logs just happens to be tied near a cliff, just waiting for someone to shoot the rope so they can come raining down on the bad guys.

Fernando Sancho as Pablo Reyes, unimpressed by the news he’s receiving in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Gloria Milland as Norma O’Connor, hoping something can be done about Pablo Reyes in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Directed by:
Alfonso Balcazar

Cast:
Carl Mohner … Doc MacGregor / Larry Kitchener
a Karl Mohner
Luis Davila .. Slade
Gloria Milland … Norma O’Connor
Fernando Sancho … Pablo Reyes
Umberto Raho … Brogan (mayor)
Loris Loddi … Bob O’Connor
Oscar Pellicer … Borgan nephew

Also with: Irene Mir, Juanita Espin, Pedro Gil, Deniela Igliozzi, Carlos Ronda, Evaristo Maran, Franco Balducci, Claudio Scarchilli, Dario De Grassi

Runtime: 107 min.

aka:
L’uomo dalla pistola d’oro
Doc, Hands of Steel
Mad Mexican

Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Song: “Golden Gun” by The Wilder Brothers

Umberto Raho as Brogan, mayor of Baldosas, finding himself at the point of Reyes’ knife in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Oscar Pellicer as Borgan’s nephew, who’s pretty sure he recognizes the new sheriff from somewhere in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Memorable lines:

Sheriff: “When are you going to stop being a bounty killer, Slade?
Slade: “When sheriffs like you get off their tail and do their jobs.”

Pablo Reyes, holding the bullet taken from his side: “I want to return this to Larry Kitchener. He’ll get it the same way I got it. But in this case, in the middle of his heart. Did you hear me? In the middle of his heart!”

Doc, aka Larry Kitchener: “It’s not safe anymore at your ranch?”
Norma O’Connor: “I thought the reason you came was to protect us. Not merely to advise us to leave our land deserted.”

Slade, of Doc/Kitchener: “I want his dead body.”
Pablo Reyes: “You want his dead body? Want do you want to do with that?”
Slade: “That’s none of your business.”
Reyes: “No mi gusta. I don’t like people with no respect for the dead.”

Mayor Brogan to Doc, about his hidden identity: “Don’t worry. Everyone of us has a secret in this town.”

Pablo Reyes, leaving Kitchener in a bind: “Well, Kitchener, this is the last time we see your face, before hell swallows it.”

Slade, prepared to stand alongside Kitchener as Reyes and his men descend on town: “Don’t bother to thank me. My vocation in life is killing outlaws.”

Loris Loddi as Bob O’Connor, Norma’s son in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Gloria Milland as Norma O’Connor, forced to watch the sheriff being beaten in The Man Who Came to Kill (1965)

Trivia:

Born in Vienna, Austria, Carl Mohner was also well-known as a painter and, according to the Western All’Italiana blog, has work on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Mohner appeared in three Spaghetti Westerns. His others included “The Last Gun” (1964) and “30 Winchesters for El Diablo.” His best-known role is probably as company of a feared German battleship in 1960’s “Sink the Bismark!” After retiring from acting, he settled in McAllen, Texas.

Alfonso Balcazar also wrote the screenplay for this film. The nine Westerns he directed included a Sartana knockout (“Sartana Does Not Forgive” 1968), a Sabata knockoff (“Watch Out Gringo, Sabata Will Return” 1972) and a Trinity knockoff (“A Noose is Waiting for You Trinity” 1972).