Telly Van Cleef and Lee Savalas
Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 01/09/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This set consists entirely of 1970s Euro-westerns. The cover of BAD BOYS OF THE WEST 4 Movie Pack is worth noting. It claims these films are "copyrighted material," when all are in the public domain. Also, the photo of Telly Savalas is an obvious and badly cropped composite.
CONTENTS:
DEATHWORK-- Lee Van Cleef is a clean-shaven half-breed officer nicknamed "Captain Apache" who has a penchant for off-key singing. During a murder investigation, the captain uncovers a presidential assassination plot, but no one will listen to him.
HUNT THE MAN DOWN-- Two bandits, one Mexican, one American, form an alliance despite one having married the other's ex-wife. Their plans to steal $1,000,000 from the Mexican government go awry when rebels capture them. Later they help their captors fight a beseiging Mexican army.
A TOWN CALLED HELL-- Telly Savalas is a Mexican revolutionary executed early on by a colonel (Martin Balsam doing a lame Mexican accent). The colonel knows that Savalas and another man are the leaders of rebels responsible for the mass slaughter of a church congregation, and he threatens to kill the townspeople one by one if they don't give the other man up.
VENDETTA-- Revolutionary/bandit Pancho Villa is double-crossed by a friend on an arms deal, and he's pursued by American and Mexican armies.
For surefire deadly western shootouts THE GUNFIGHTERS 4 Movie Pack (also from BCI / Eclipse) hits the target.
BRENTWOOD's 4-fers are nicely priced movie bundles. Video and sound quality of these digitally unrestored public domain films is generally fine. Discs are dual-side recorded.
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Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.
(3.8) Deathwork ("Captain Apache") (UK/Spain-1971) - Lee Van Cleef/Carroll Baker/Stuart Whitman
(4.2) Hunt the Man Down ("Bad Man's River") (Spain/Italy/France-1971) - Lee Van Cleef/James Mason/Gina Lollobrigida
(4.3) A Town Called Hell (Spain/UK-1971) - Telly Savalas/Robert Shaw/Stella Stevens/Fernando Rey/Martin Balsam/Dudley Sutton
(4.4) Vendetta ("Pancho Villa") (Spain/UK/USA-1972) - Telly Savalas/Clint Walker/Chuck Connors/Anne Francis"