Land Raiders

The best thing about "Land Raiders" is Spain standing in for Arizona and some good photography of impressive scenery. The plot isn't too bad, though I agree with those who have remarked on the dissimilarity between the brothers Pablo and Vicente. There were a couple of scenes that made me scoff: Kate's elegant dress on a three-week wagon-train journey, and Kate and Pablo's rapid arrival back in town looking remarkably clean after jumping out of a wagon and a long, hot walk. And there was the common feature of so many Westerns, firearms that appeared not to need re-loading. Still, entertaining enough, and after a little hesitation I gave it seven points.

Ruthless Vince Carden (Telly Savalas) dominates the Arizona-territory town of Forge River and buys the scalps of murdered Indians. He has driven his brother Paul (George Maharis)from his home, and this leads to the total disillusionment of his wife Martha (Arlene Dahl.) Haunted by the mysterious death of a girl he had loved, Paul ends his wandering and attaches himself to a wagon train heading for Forge River; with the train is Kate Mayfield (Janet Landgard), who is returning home after years of school in the East. Paul and Kate are the sole survivors when Apaches attack the train, in reprisal for a slaughter staged by Vince's men. Vince uses the Indian attack on the train as an excuse to lead the raid on a defenseless Apache village, which sparks a massive assault on Forge River. So, attack A leads to counter-attack B which leads to reprisal attack C which leads to final attack D, which leads to a climatic fight between Vince and Paul. Pass the pasta tamales, please.

Wealthy Spanish landowner Telly Savalas pays mercenaries to kill Apaches and then benefits when their reprisal killings against whites create cheap vacant properties for him to add to his empire. Meanwhile, his younger brother comes home and opposes him, opening up old wounds involving Telly's past misdeeds. An American film shot in Europe (Spain?), Land Raiders is an obvious attempt to imitate the look and style of the Italian westerns popular at the time. Still, it's a pretty good movie with hard-boiled characters, splashes of blood, and a little bit of nudity thrown in, not to mention the score by Ennio Morricone's frequent arranger Bruno Nicolai. Telly Savalas is smooth and sinister, appearing to have a lot of fun, while George Maharis gives a likable, noble performance as his brother. Impressive looking stock footage pads out the action sequences nicely, but it's too easily distinguishable from the bulk of the film.