Ageing a dozen years and adding a chin full of whiskers makes Guy Madison almost unrecognizable from the title character he portrayed in the 1950 classic TV Western "Wild Bill Hickok". Here he portrays a gunman of questionable reputation who accepts a mission to track down the purveyors of rifles and rotgut to reservation Indians. Those same outlaws are in turn gunning for Martin Benson, and intend to make it a painful ride along the way.
Making the affair a bit dicey, Benson is saddled with an entire family who he hasn't seen or contacted in years. His parents have been busy though, while Martin appears to be about fifty, his youngest brother Aryas looks to be around twelve. There's also sister Susan and brother Daniel (Steve Merrick), that one would swear could be the winner of a Will Hutchins look alike contest. The family is the target of villain boss Graham (Rik Battaglia), who figures that if he treats everyone badly, his reward will be Susan's hand in marriage.
I saw the film under the title "This Man Can't Die", and though my summary reference quotes Martin Benson when he shoots one of Graham's henchman, the title actually refers to Tony Guy (Peter Martell). Or at least I think it does. Tony is Benson's partner gone undercover to infiltrate the Graham gang, and when he's left for dead at the Benson homestead, Daniel and Susan attempt to nurse him back to health to get information on the bad guys. I found it interesting that they would hide him in a furnished cave at the edge of their ranch, nice touch.
At times I had the impression that the film tried being a 'peep show' Western, what with the prominently visible female breasts from time to time, though often in violent situations. It seemed to be done more for risqué effect than to advance the story, but each tease was a sit up and take notice moment.
There's a curious mountain man named Joe who appears a couple of times, who quite humorously has a small ladder built into the saddle for his mule Washington. In a scene near the end when bad guy Graham gets the drop on Martin, the mule man's appearance out of nowhere turns the tide. You can see the contrived finale coming as Graham and Benson wrestle over a rope fashioned into a noose; you know that the bad guy will swing for his indiscretions.
Though the credits list this as a color film, the DVD print I viewed was in black and white, and I think I preferred it that way. It was part of a compilation of nine 'Spaghetti Westerns' from St. Clair Vision, but to my mind it had the look and feel of an American made flick. Only the musical score from Amedeo Tommasi helps convince otherwise.
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