Bandidos (1967)

A good second-tier spaghetti Western. The plot concerns a professional stunt gunman called Richard Martin (Enrico Maria Salerno) who has his hands shot during a train robbery in the opening scene. He sets out to get revenge on the robber, Billy Kane (Venatino Venantini). Since Richard Martin’s injuries preclude him from firing guns himself, he takes on a protege (Terry Jenkins) who he teaches to gunfight. There’s some interesting plot twists later in the film that serve to tie all the characters together to form an unusual and satisfying story.

Overall the film has a slightly uneven quality. There’s some very nice camera-work in places, including a long tracking shot of a post-massacre train that is reminiscent of (the later) Once Upon A Time In The We; the sort of close-ups of guns, faces and spurs that we expect from the Spaghetti Western, and some clever use of reflections. This is possibly to be expected – the director here, Massimo Dallamano was Sergio Leone’s director of photography on the first two Dollar’s Trilogy films. However, it doesn’t always feel like a consistent style and is mixed in with some much more ordinary shots. Similarly the story uses on classic themes such as injured gunfighters unable to fight (e.g. The Man From Laramie) and the master gunfighter/apprentice relationship, and brings its own unique twists to theme. However this is mixed with scenes were the characters actions don’t make a whole lot of sense (endless double-crossings and forgivings between and within bandit gangs).

There’s a lot to enjoy here, and it’s well worth a watch, but it isn’t quite a classic (although there’s moments when it does feel close).

(There’s also an amusing Franke Laine-style song played over the train massacre that is obviously badly translated from Italian.)