The sheriff of Tombstone has cornered Johnny Ringo, but his gang helps him escape to the Conroy ranch where the shootout continues.
The ranch house catches on fire. By the time Capt. Jason Conroy arrives on the scene, his wife and two children have been buried; they died in the blaze.
Nearby is a grave for Johnny Ringo. He supposedly died in the fire as well.
Conroy (Seighart Rupp) doesn’t believe it, even though he watches Ringo’s lady love, Bea Burdette (Marianna Koch) visit his supposed grave.
He wants revenge. And he’s willing to pay gunmen and informants who will help him get it.
Flash forward two years, and Sam Dobie (Lex Barker) arrives in Leadville, hiring on as a gun salesman for pretty Barbara Bold.
She has a revolutionary new six-gun for sale; she just needs a way to market it.
Dobie finds the perfect way when he meets up with fast gun Clyde Smith (Joachim Fuchsberger). With Smith showing off how fast and accurate the new six-gun is, sales sky rocket.
Problem is, Dobie’s so good with the six-gun, folks begin to suspect he’s none other than Johnny Ringo. A burn mark on his right shoulder and the fact that he likes to wear his holster on his left hip seem to confirm those suspicions.
A traveling troubadour named Billy Monroe (Ralf Wolter) telegraphs that news to Conroy. And, pretty soon, he and three henchmen arrive in Leadville, looking for confirmation that they’ve finally found their man.
Lex Barker as Sam Dobie, content to sell guns and let someone else do the fancy shooting in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Joachim Fuchsberger as Clyde Smith, forced to deal with a trouble maker in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Review:
Spaghetti fans familiar with Lex Barker’s Winnetou films might be pleasantly surprised by this film, because it’s much darker in tone than those films.
It helps that the Clyde Smith characters comes to like the fact that folks suspect he’s a notorious gunman. He even plays along at times.
It helps that Bea Burdette reunites with the real Johnny Ringo, threatening to blow his cover. Instead, they devise a plan to prove Clyde Smith really is Johnny Ringo.
But then Bea catches the real Johnny in a romantic entanglement with the pretty gun shop owner.
Will she kill him? Will he kill her, since she’s the only person around who knows his real identity? Or will they allow Capt. Conroy to exact his revenge against the wrong man?
Spunky performances by Marianne Koch and Barbara Bold also make this worth watching. Ralf Wolter from the Winnetou films played the traveling minstrel who sings “The Ballad of Johnny Ringo.”
Sieghart Rupp as Capt. Jason Conroy, offering Sam Dobie a bounty to help locate Johnny Ringo in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Ralf Wolter as minstrel Billy Monroe, performing the Ballad of Johnny Ringo in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Directed by:
Jose Luis Madrid
Cast:
Lex Barker … Sam Dobie
Joachim Fuchsberger … Clyde Smith
Marianne Koch … Bea Burdette
Ralf Wolter … Billy Monroe
Barbara Bold … Cathy Carmichael
Sieghart Rupp … Capt. Jason Conroy
Cesar Ojinaga … Thorpe
Vincente Soler … Kowalski
Carlos Oterro … Mason, bathhouse owner
Isidro Novellas … Sheriff of Tombstone
Also with: Montserrat Porta, Francisco Nieto, Alberto Gadea, Jose Fiol, Augusto Fernandez, Gabriel Espinosa, Francisco Cebrian, Roger Justafre, Francisco Aguilera, Rafael Indio Gonzalez, Joaquin Navales, Damaso Muni, Victor Bayo, Angel Maya, Mary Carmen Castro, Allen Pinson, Miguel Gracia, Antonio Jimenez Escribano, Juan Antonio Rubio
Runtime: 91 min.
aka:
Wer kennt Johnny R.?
La balada de Johnny Ringo
Una bara per Ringo
Music: Federico Martinez Tudo
Marianne Koch as Bea Burdette, confronting the man she loves in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Barbara Bold as Cathy Carmichael greeting Sam Dobie, her new salesman in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Memorable lines:
Sam Dobie, upon getting an offer from Capt. Conroy: “You are very kind and generous in your offer. It could tempt anyone. But I like to be honest. And to charge for finding a dead person would not be.”
Cathy Carmichael, barging into the bathouse: “Who among you is Clyde Smith?”
Clyde: “My name is Clyde Smith.”
Cathy: “The shooting champion?”
Clyde, nude behind a curtain, laughing: “Well, at this time, without cartridges.”
Cesar Ojinaga as Thorpe, one of the first men to accuse Smith of being Johnny Ringo in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Marianne Koch as Bea Burdette, using a white flag to help Johnny Ringo escape capture in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Trivia:
* Barbara Bold is a blonde beauty as gun shop owner Cathy Carmichael. But this marked her film debut and one of just four movies in which she appeared.
* This film was shot in late 1965 and early 1966 and released in May 1966 in West Germany. But the film sat on the shelf until the summer of 1967 in Italy and until 1968-69 in Spanish markets.
* Though he appeared in more than 60 films, Joachim Fuchsberger won’t be a familiar face for Spaghetti fans. His only other Western was 1965’s “The Last Tomahawk.” He also starred in 1965’s “The Face of Fu Manchu” and was an announcer at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich.
Sieghart Rupp as Capt. Jason Conroy confronts Bea Burdette about Johnny Ringo rumours in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Lex Baker as Sam Dobie, making a business proposition to gunshop owner Cathy Carmichael in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
Barbara Bold as Cathy Carmichael, barging into a men’s bathhouse to convince Clyde Smith to help her sell revolvers in Who Killed Johnny R? (!966)
Marianne Koch as Bea Burdette overhears an alarming conversation about Johnny Ringo in Who Killed Johnny R? (1966)
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