All in all, even as someone who doesn’t gravitates toward the western genre, I found these four films part of the Vengeance Trails box set to all be well made films, all with revenge as a central theme.
Vengeance Trails: 4 Classic Westerns
— Massacre Time/My Name is Pecos/Bandidos/And God Said to Cain… —
(1966-1970)
Genre(s): Western
Arrow Video| NR – 368 min. – $99.95 | July 27, 2021
Date Published: 08/15/2021 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
Arrow Video provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3¾/5 |
Massacre Time (1966) — Tom Corbett (FRANCO NERO) is a gold prospector summoned back to his hometown to discover it languishing in the grip of powerful businessman magnate Jason Scott (GIUSEPPE ADDOBBATI) and his sadistic son Junior (NINO CASTELNUOVO), who’ve seized control in his absence. Teaming up with his drunken brother (GEORGE HILTON), Tom resolves to bring down Scotts and restore peace to the troubled township. Review: This spaghetti western stars the charismatic Franco Nero who I thoroughly enjoyed in 1966’s Django. This one isn’t terribly memorable but does take a bit of a twist of the revenge plotline and George Hilton, playing Nero’s brother, was a treat to watch. The fights and overall choreography, not to mention direction by horror maestro Lucio Fulci, were all pretty good as was the gore which, for its time, was fairly extreme (quite tame today, especially when compare it to something like The Suicide Squad which I just watched days earlier). 3.5/5
My Name is Pecos (1966) — Pecos Martinez (ROBERT WOODS) returns to his hometown, determined to settle a long-standing score with Joe Clane (PIER PAOLO CAPPONI), the gangster who wiped out his entire family and now holds the entire town in a vice-like grip. But Clane has other concerns – namely the sum of money stolen from him by one of his own men after a recent bank heist. They say it’s never wise to antagonize a desperate man, and Pecos’ return soon sets him and Clane on a collision course from which only one man can possibly emerge victorious. Review: Another typical revenge-centric plot this time with Robert Woods playing Pecos, a character that’s no different from the Man with No Name, Django, etc, as a gunslinger who gets beat up pretty good only to recover and exact vengeance on the villains who murdered his family. 3.25/5
Bandidos (1967) — Top marksman Richard Martin (ENRICO MARIA SALERNO) is inadvertently caught up in a train heist staged by his former protégé, Billy Kane (VENANTINO VENANTINI). Brutally maimed and no longer able to fire a gun, Martin ekes out a living as a traveling showman – until the day he meets Philip Raymond (TERRY JENKINS), an escaped convict framed for murder. Taking Raymond on as his apprentice, Martin plots to use him to extract his revenge on Kane, entangling the destinies of all three men and setting the stage for a brutal showdown. Review: Pretty good film with a bit of a change-up with the revenge plot. Features fine performances from Enrico Maria Salerno and Terry Jenkins (in one of only two feature films) and the direction by Massimo Dallamano (cinematographer of Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More) has some nifty shots here and there. 4.0/5
And God Said to Cain (1970) — Gary Hamilton (KLAUS KINSKI), a former Confederate officer recently pardoned following ten years of hard labor for a crime he didn’t commit. Armed only with a solitary rifle, Gary descends on his former hometown – a silent, steely-eyed assassin bend on the destruction of the man who framed him, the nefarious Acombar (PETER CARSTEN). But as night and a fearsome tornado both draw in, and with the full might of Acombar’s forced ranged against him, can he possibly succeed in his one-man mission of vengeance? Review: Last one in the “Vengeance Trails” Arrow box set and probably the darkest one of the four. Really entertaining spaghetti western with more revenge, this one with Klaus Kinski as Gary Hamilton, coming back to town after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Plot wise, not much different from what I’ve seen before, but the kills were pretty brutal (and can imagine especially so back in 1970) and never let up to the very end. 4.0/5 |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4½/5 |
| Each of the four films are housed in HD keep cases which side-slides into a firm slip case. Also inside is a fold-out poster and a nice booklet. The sleeve artwork on all four movies is reversible.
MASSACRE TIME
MY NAME IS PECOS
BANDIDOS
AND GOD SAID TO CAIN
|
VIDEO – 4½/5
|
| All four films come to Blu-ray through Arrow Video, each presented in their original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio transfers. In the case of Massacre Time, Bandidos and My Name is Pecos, the three all received new 1080p high-definition transfers taken from 2K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives while And God Said to Cain, its transfer was provided by Movietime with additional work done by Arrow for the English opening and end titles. With the technical specs out of the way, the pictures on all four films look pretty damn phenomenal, if not slightly less than perfect. Outside of some minor specs and a bit of film damage (i.e. vertical lines), detail is sharp and very nicely defined and colors appear to be nicely balanced and are in keeping with how these movies originally looked. |
AUDIO – 4/5 |
| All four movies come with Italian and English DTS-HD Master Audio mono tracks. I went back and forth with these for every film but watched most in the original dubbed language. Every one of these sounded quite good, dialogue for the most part came through with clarity with some minor damage or noise-filled scenes that were certainly noticeable however never detracted from my viewing pleasure. |
OVERALL – 4/5
|
|
All in all, even as someone who doesn’t gravitates toward the western genre, I found these four films part of the Vengeance Trails box set to all be well made films, all with revenge as a central theme. For me, my favorite was probably Bandidos, but you can’t go wrong with any of these. The transfers on all of these looked and sounded quite good and at the right price, this is worth picking up. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.