Three prospectors divide and bury their gold to safeguard it from warring Apaches. Cue a series of double crosses, triple crosses, chases, and shoot-outs as greed drives the three men to murder and betrayal.
O Inferno Dourado
USANR
USA
🤠 Western Community Weekend 🤠 (18.08.2023 - 20.08.2023)
präsentiert von Sheriff Svipi
Schon in der ersten Minute wird aus einem erfolgreichen Goldgräber-Trio, mit einem sich leicht durchziehenden rassistischen Unterton, ein Duett. Und nachdem sie auf dem Rückweg durch gefährliches Apachen-Gebiet ihr Gold vergraben und ihre Pferde opfern müssen, um den wütenden Indianern zu entkommen, ist das Misstrauen schnell der größte Feind.
Ich war gespannt, wie sich ein klassisch schwarzweißer Western, von jemandem mit so einer B-Horror-Filmografie entwickeln würde. Das "B" ist hier zwar an einigen Stellen zu erkennen, aber der kleine 4er-Cast mit mMn leider mehreren zu wenig genutzten charismatischen Gesichtern, die einfache "Gier und Rache"-Story, der ziemlich ungewöhnlich gechillte Score und die spannende Beziehung zwischen unserem angeschossen und zurückgelassenen…
Fascinating for how the racial elements seem inextricable from the western adventure elements, and especially for the Lisa Lu character, who is easily the most sympathetic character here but is allowed to be prickly in ways that push against our sympathies. And at 72 minutes, you can't lose.
“Mountain win. Gold will win. My dream will be real.”
Wow. I would love to see more westerns like this. It’s like a warped reimagining of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre through the lens of Monte Hellman. Only this felt a lot more raw and vital than Hellman’s westerns. Loved the stark, monochromatic cinematography and immersive camerawork.
This felt like the quintessential ‘California Western’. Desert-induced attrition. Barren terrain. Gold prospectors. Chinese railroad workers. Tan, blond bounty hunter. A rumblin’ surf rock soundtrack.
I think this is actually the first western I’ve ever seen where the hero has to negotiate the dynamite slow fuse trope. What a throwback!
“You’re not tough, Senn. You’re just mean.”
I watched this yesterday and nearly forgot about it. It's essentially a considerably more fleshed out, good episode of Gunsmoke or The Rifleman.
It even stars actors that would probably show up as guest stars of those shows.
Lisa Lu is pretty interesting as a young Chinese gal used as a pawn, a plaything, a love interest, a captive and a bargaining chip. She's tough, smart and just wants to get to San Fran.
The film opens with three miners dividing their gold. When Taylor (Charles Lampkin) rides off, Senn (Bruce Gordon) shoots him off his horse. Hayden (John Vivyan) is freaked, but Senn assures him he's safe because they're both white (and he needs him to get back to civilization). This is just the beginning of the racism and treachery in this dark, overlooked Western. Facing an Apache attack, the two are forced to bury the gold and abandon their horses. Senn finds Taylor's horse and leaves Hayden to die in the desert. Senn plays it safe and tries to frame Hayden in order to get bounty hunter Fry (Kevin Hagen). Hayden is rescued by Ming Kwai (Lisa Lu), who sees him as her way to San Francisco. Hayden's kinda racist too so this doesn't go well either. A forerunner to the "everybody is scummy" Spaghetti Westerns. Directed by Herbert L. Strock. Worth seeking out.
This kinda whips ass, actually. A dark, bloody tale of greed and vengeance. Lisa Lu completely steals the show as the hero's frenemy - making this one of very few Westerns from that era to acknowledge the presence of Chinese-Americans, too.
I don't know if Tarantino ever saw this, but it's a violent, stylishly filmed story of morally murky characters, starring a prolific and talented but unappreciated actor in a rare leading role, so if I were a betting man... It's very much a precursor to the sort of thing he'd do 30+ years later.
A film that shoots its six shots in the first ten or so minutes, leaving itself without any ammunition. It was marked notable for Lisa Lu's performance as Ming Kwai, but she merely plays an object that keeps parroting the words "San Francisco".
Gold! Free gold! Do you want it? Yes? Then come and take it! It is free! It is yours! Good luck!
Nice and simple western. Mostly westerns are centered around the men. This one contains one very interesting female character. She is spicy and stubborn and she makes the whole movie more entertaining.
I definitely didn't remember there being quite this much racism. It's uncomfortable to watch, to say the least.
It weirdly also ends up foregrounding how incidental race is to the proceedings. The Ming Kwai character could've easily been a white girl instead. The Natives are functionally there solely to facilitate the resolution, which could've easily been accomplished instead by an accident or natural disaster.
But that would be whitewashing. Chinese and Native people were present in the west, and are obviously integral to the history of the place. To leave them out - and to leave out the conflicts with White people - is erasure.
Which gets to why this film is so compelling. Unambitious genre films (art, really) sometimes…
PROGRESSIVE LOW-LOW-BUDGET WESTERN...ANTICIPATING THE "SPAGHETTI" WAVE MIGRATION
With its Roots Firmly in “TV-Land”, this Progressive Little Western Gets Its “Quirk-On” with an Interracial Romance, Artsy Camera Angles, and Blowing Up Apaches with Dynamite.
From the “Tube” We Get Director Herbert L. Strock, besides Directing Episodes of Almost Every TV-Western that Ever Was, did Make a Slight Mark with Low-Budget Cult Films Like “Gog” (1954), “I Was a Teen-Age Frankenstein” (1957), and “Blood of Dracula” (1957).
Leading Man “John Vivyan”, Best Known for His TV-Stint as “Mr. Lucky” (1959-60), but also was in, as Support, the Big-Budget “Imitation of Life” (1959) with “Lana Turner”. He and His “Dimpled Chin” Continued on TV Until the 80’s.
“Bruce Gordon”, had a Mostly TV-Career,…
Cheap, lean, and simple, a Western with little twists to keep it moving for 72 minutes, but more ambition in storytelling than that time frame allows to be effective.
John Vivyan stars as Hayden, and we open on him, Senn (Bruce Gordon), and Taylor (Charles Lampkin) having struck nicely on a bit of prospecting. Taylor is killed before the title hits the screen, with Senn wielding the gun. From there, things go awry between Hayden and Senn, and the only other two people in the credited cast enter the fray: Ming (Lisa Lu), who rescues Hayden from dying in the sun, and Jake Fry (Kevin Hagen), recruited by Senn as a bounty hunter with a tale of Hayden killing Taylor.…
