Wordiezett So much average

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

gavin6942 Four men embark on a mission to unearth a fortune in gold from a mine.The film is directed by Giorgio Capitani, who you have probably never heard of unless you're into obscure Italian films. It was produced by Luciano Ercoli who is a bit better known. And written by Fernando DiLeo (Slaughter Hotel), who is probably the best-known of the three. Really, the only reason to watch this is for Klaus Kinski, and even there it falls short because the dubbing just makes him sound silly.The copy I saw (on a double-disc with "Border Shootout") was pretty rough. If a negative could be found, I could see the film getting a nice polish and being a better western under all the dust. Sadly, if it was recorded the way many Italian films were, there is no original audio, so the way it is now is probably the way it always will be.

bkoganbing Like so many Van Heflin and Gilbert Roland hit the trail for Europe in search of roles in the 60s. This was a German made western so rather than call it a spaghetti western, maybe a weinerschnitzel western would be more appropriate.Of course I have a prejudice toward any other country attempting the great American art form, but The Ruthless Four is not too bad for the genre. It concerns Van Heflin who already killed one partner trying to do him out of his half. But as he explains it's not the finding, it's the digging and the transportation if you make a big strike that you have to have help and maybe cut them in. But who can you trust when gold is involved?The trouble is that Heflin, Roland, and George Hilton and Klaus Kinski the young guns who they get all don't trust each other. Not even Heflin and Roland who have history, both good and bad.This was all done before in better American films like The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and Lust For Gold. Still this one isn't too bad and Heflin and Roland are always worthwhile.

zardoz-13 Although it doesn't rival director John Huston's legendary classic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) with Humphrey Bogart, "The Ruthless Four" qualifies as a taunt, entertaining little Spaghetti western that ranks several Stetsons above its European competitors. Roughly speaking, for the sake of simplicity, Spaghetti westerns can be classified in three groups: the traditional Sergio Leone epics with bounty hunters galore in the arid Southwest, such as "For A Few Dollars More" (1965), while the non-traditional Spaghetti westerns varies the settings or protagonists, principally Sergio Corbucci's "The Big Silence" (1968) where the action occurred closer to the Canadian border than the dusty Mexican border as was the Leone custom. Corbucci's off-beat westerns steer clear of traditional elements, preferring to rearrange them, as exemplified in Corbucci's "Django" (1966) where the hero dragged around a coffin with a Gatling gun style machine gun in it. Mind you, Corbucci made westerns that accommodated all three groups, but his different westerns emerge with greater prominence. "Navajo Joe" (1966) with Burt Reynolds as the Native American protagonist qualified as another example of an out of the ordinary Corbucci oater. Similarly, director Lucio Fulci's "Four Gunmen of the Apocalypse" (1975) is another example of this different breed of European western. The third group is Corbucci inspired, too: the Mexican revolution westerns. Leone rode around this sub-genre until he helmed "Duck You Sucker" in 1973. These westerns usually featured a mercenary as the protagonist, such as Franco Nero in "The Mercenary" (1968) and "Companeros" (1970) who sold his services to the highest bidder during the war between the corrupt Mexican government and the poor peons at the dawn of the 20th century. Typically, however, he reformed by the finale to take sides with the peons. Marxist theorists would crave these yarns for their political ramifications. Admittedly, this analysis reduces the entire Spaghetti western genre to a single bullet in the cylinder of a Colt's .45 revolver."The Ruthless Four" fits into the second group of Spaghetti westerns in terms of its protagonists. Sam Cooper (Van Heflin of "Shane") excels as a crusty old prospector who strikes pay dirt with his partner at a remote mine carved out of a slope in the middle of nowhere. Cooper's partner double-crosses him and tries to kill him, but Cooper outsmarts his adversary and kills him in a mine explosion. Cooper barely survives the journey of hardship back to town. Along the way, human carrion steals his pack horses at gunpoint and leaves him stranded at a river with his goods strewn around him. Cooper gathers what little that he can carry, then does something that no other character has ever done before in any Spaghetti--much less an American--western; he pours out the gold that he cannot tote into the river! Sam Cooper has a moral compass that doesn't deviate from the right setting, and this explains his longevity. Once he reaches town, Cooper decides to wire a $100 dollars to a kid that he helped raise before he turned to prospecting. He realizes that he cannot trust a partner after his last experience, so he beckons for Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton of "Sartana's Coming, Get Your Coffins Ready") to join him. Unfortunately, Cooper doesn't realize that Manolo has grown into a man who is drastically different from the boy that Cooper raised. First, Manolo is a liar, a cardsharp, and cheat; second, Manolo is in cahoots with an enigmatic but evil hombre named 'Brent the Blond' (Klaus Kinski of "And God Said to Cain") who dresses like a preacher, drinks milk in the saloon, and proves as deadly as a rattlesnake. Later, after they reach the mine and we actually see them excavating rocks, Brent looks like death personified with a pick-ax instead of a scythe. He wears a cloak and the dust from their exertions covers his striking features so that he resembles the Grim Reaper. Manolo's inclusion of Brent surprises Cooper so much that he convinces a man with a grudge against him, Mason (the incomparable Gilbert Roland of "Any Gun Can Play") to come along with them as he tells the others "because four men can dig more gold than three." Earlier, Manolo had used this idea to justify Brent accompanying them. This uneasy quartet spends the rest of the movie keeping their suspicious eyeballs on each other. Mason blames Cooper for his incarnation in a Florida prison and his subsequent contraction of malaria.Director Giorgio Capitani stages a first-class gunfight at the ruins of a monastery as our heroes head off into the desert for the mine. The elaborate pretense that Mason and Brent engage in prior to the shoot-out is clever. They want to have their guns in hand without the villains noticing that they have drawn them. Inconspicuously, our protagonists rely on sleight of hand to remove each other's pistol without attracting attention. This way Mason and Brent can start blazing away a lot sooner at their ambushers. The unusual relationships that exist between the protagonists generate considerable tension throughout this 96-minute melodrama. The characters are more complex than in the usual Spaghetti. The Augusto ("Grand Slam") Caminito and Fernando Di Leo ("Mr. Scarface") screenplay makes the subtle implication that Manolo and Brent are homosexuals.'The Ruthless Four" differs from most Spaghetti westerns. First, the hero is not a bounty hunter. Second, the protagonist is the oldest of the quartet and he doesn't wield a six-gun like a wizard. Composer Carlo Rustichelli, who scored two Terrence Hill westerns—"Ace High" and "Boot Hill"—doesn't provide an operatic Ennio Morricone orchestral soundtrack. Fourth, "The Ruthless Four" is a realistic morality play; the good are rewarded for their virtue while the evil are punished with death for their perfidy. Meanwhile, this western shares some traits with the Leone western. Nobody is to be trusted. Greed is the central theme with paranoia rampant in the relationship among the quartet. Nobody gets out of this gritty oater without catching a bullet.

lost-in-limbo Sam Cooper (Van Heflin) is a gold prospector who discovers a mine filled with gold, but his partner tries to kill him, but before he does Sam gets him. Riding back to town his robbed of his horses, but not his gold. Too heavy to carry all of it, he dumps some in the river and hides the rest. When he arrives in town he sends a message for his adopted (possibly homosexual) son Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton) to see if he wants to be his partner and go back up to the mind. After Manolo arrives in town so does the mysterious Brent (Klaus Kinski) who gets in with the deal because of Manolo. Not trusting what has happen Sam asks Mason (Gilbert Rolanda) long time army buddy, who now has a grudge against him to tag along so his not back-stabbed and he agrees only if he gets 50% of his share. So now the conniving begins when the four head out for this mine."The Ruthless Four" is one of many spaghetti westerns that flooded the mid to late 60's, but something about this Italian/German production that stood out from the rest for me. It's not I think it's brilliant, but actually the simple story which at times felt like it came across more out of something of Hollywood is a curious piece. Its hard to put my finger on it, sure it didn't entirely blow me away, but this a sturdy spaghetti western is done with buckets of chic and grit. Though, I warn you if your looking for a abundance of wild and over-the-top violence, you'll surely be disappointed as they only come in small doses. But when they do occur that's when the flair kicked in, with well mounted shootouts and showdowns, even if they do lack some sort of sting (well, except for a certain bloody showdown between Brent and Sam). But like I typed earlier these are far and in between plenty of sequences involving a lot chat, confrontations, accusations and scheming. That's basically what happens in the first half of the film, but when the four head out to the mine that's when things "kinda" get going with a change of pace in the plot. It's more about the effects of paranoia and greed with these shifty man trying to knock each other off, or teaming up to get this gold no matter what. There's always something going on to keep you glued.What makes up for the slow going nature is the encroaching camera shots that seem to have a mind of its own! It rather was dynamic, especially amongst the upbeat moments. And also Klaus Kinski performance, his venomous persona soared above the rest and added a lot to proceedings. His sly character didn't say too much, but the his appearance and blistering stare were just unsettling. In my eyes he also makes a grand first appearance on screen. Just like in most spaghetti westerns the camera work is prominent, but so is the score and landscape. Here is no exception, but the score that flooded the film was rather bloated and bombarded some scenes without grace. But not enough to really tick me off. Now the location, well the harsh rocky terrain where most of the film took place truly helped portray the rough and cruelty of the ever changing face of the west.The well rounded characters and story builds on a remarkably persuasive script, it wasn't particularly hammy like I thought it might be. Sure there were some things left up in the air, but it didn't damage the story at all. It was more up to you to decide on certain things that were hinted. While the other three performances from Gilbert Roland, Van Heflin and George Hilton were nothing but terrific.Solid spaghetti western caper. It's something a bit different, but I would definitely recommended it, if only for Kinski's performance. Give it a chance, you might be surprised?