The Savage Guns (1961)

The Savage Guns (Spanish: Tierra brutal) is a 1961 Eurowestern film, an international co-production by British and Spanish producers. Based on a specially commissioned screenplay, The San Siado Killings, written by Peter R. Newman and directed by Michael Carreras, the film is credited as the first traditional Spaghetti Western.

The film was noticeably set apart from previous "classic" American westerns starring an American leading cast (Richard Basehart, Don Taylor and Alex Nicol) and Spanish actors in supporting roles (José Manuel Martín, Paquita Rico, María Granada, Fernando Rey and José Nieto) as well as its unique use of the deserts, palm trees, agaves and whitewashed villages of southern Spain. It was also the first western to be shot on location in Almeria, Spain, an area which would be often used in later Spaghetti Westerns during the next two decades.

Synopsis

The film takes place in a small valley in the Mexican state of Sonora, near the Arizona Territory, around 1870. Steve Fallon, a drifter and gun-for-hire, is severely exhausted when travelling through the barren landscape and is found by Mike Summers and his wife, Franchea. He is taken into their home and, while recovering, he learns that a local land baron, Ortega, is pressuring local ranchers to sell their land to him with the help of Danny Pose and his gang of outlaws. Fallon also develops feelings for Fanchea's sister, Juana.

Actors