The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The Kid (Gary Allen) and Armadillo (Jeff Kanew) return to their ranch to find the Kid’s girl sobbing in the barn.

While they’ve been away, she’s been gang raped by four drunken Indians. Naturally, they set out to find the culprits.

But that’s only part of a cycle of violence in the West where they live, and retribution for the rape won’t bring a life of happily-ever-after for the Kid and his girl.

In fact, she winds up a victim for a second time. And this time, it’s because someone else is seeking revenge against the Kid.

And the Psycho who leads the gang of ruffians in these here parts is so wicked and mean, he makes The Kid, his sidekick and the warring Indians seem tame.

Gary Allen as The Kid, donning his hat after a night spent with a whore in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The Kid’s Mexican sidekick Armadillo (Jeff Kanew) waiting his turn with Yolanda in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Review:

Everyone’s wicked and no one dies slowly in this best-avoided mess of a film, which features lots of senseless violence and Gary Allen doing a Clint Eastwood impression.

What it lacks is a coherent plot. The film just lunges from one savage act to another.

At one point, we’re introduced to a gun-toting, bounty hunter of a preacher. But after he dispatches of a couple of wanted outlaws, he disappears from the film.

And if you’re a female in William K. Hennigar’s West, watch out, because chivalry is dead and every man is a sex-crazed rapist.

Don McGovern as The Psycho, ready for a final showdown with The Kid in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Sossanah Campbell, The Kid’s girl, tells how she was raped by four Indians in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Directed by:
William K. Hennigar

Cast:
Gary Allen … The Kid
Steve Rivard … Bart Lenoir
Jeff Kanew … Armadillo
Susannah Campbell … The Kid’s girl
Yolanda Signorelli … Yolanda
Richard Palenske … Yolanda’s father
Helen Stewart … Bart’s Girl
Samantha Worthington … Bar Girl
Racine … Indian woman
Don McGovern … Psycho

Runtime: 96 min.

aka:
Arrivò Angel Kid e… cominciò la festa

The cowboy searching for his brother and spotting a pretty blonde in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The woman haunted by memories of being molested by her father in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Memorable lines:

Pretty blonde: “You’re not at all like you’re brother.”
The Kid’s brother: “I’ve been told that all my life.”
The blonde: “You’re nice. You’re brother … he’s like an animal.”
The Kid’s brother: “Sometimes, I can be like an animal too.”

Pretty blonde, recalling the night she caught her father molesting her in her sleep: “I saw him die inside. Then a tear came streaming down one cheek. Funny what you remember. And what you forget. It was his right cheek. Then he walked into his room and he shot himself.”

The Psycho, preparing to cut the throat of one of his own men during a card game: “I always win.”

Richard Palenske as Yolanda’s father, grateful to be rescued from the Psycho’s men in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Yolanda Signorelli as Yolanda, eager to show her gratitude toward The Kid and his sidekick in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The bounty hunting, two-gun preacher guns down another man in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Samantha Worthington as a server happily greeting The Psycho and his gang to her bar in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The Psycho’s abused lover, the woman featured in the posters for The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

The Kid’s Mexican sidekick — Jeff Kanew as Armadillo — has a tryst interrupted in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Gary Allen as The Kid and his girl (Sossanah Campbell) get an unexpected visit from The Psycho in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)

Gary Allen as The Kid and his sidekick Armadillo (Jeff Kanew), ready to dole out a dose of justice in The Wicked Die Slow (1968)