Bad Man's River

5/29/2023

When I saw the billings for this, I admit that it piqued my interest. Who'd ever have pitched the epitome of style that is James Mason into a western with Lee Van Cleef? Well, Gene Martin did - and he made a mess of the whole thing. Mason actually features quite sparingly as "Montero", the gent who has pinched "Alicia" (Gina Lollobrigida) from her train-robbing husband "King" (Lee Van Cleef). Not only did she abandon him, but she managed to get him sectioned at the same time for being mad, and she absconded with all his loot. Anyway, he escapes and they rendezvous some years later on a river boat where she outlines a cunning plan to rob the Mexican government of $1m in gold. Philip Yordan wrote the screenplay, but perhaps he was only engaged for a few days because what we have is really a

1/1/2024

**_Goofy Spag Western with Lee Van Cleef, Gina Lollobrigida and James Mason_** During the Mexican Revolution, a bank robber near the Southwest border (Van Cleef) marries a woman (Lollobrigida) that doesn’t end well. So, he gets involved with a scheme to blow up an arsenal of the Mexican army and rob those who bring the replacement funds. James Mason shows up in the last act. A joint Italian/French/Spanish production, “Bad Man’s River” (1971) is a quirky Western comedy in the tradition of American ones, like "McLintock," "Cat Ballou," "Texas Across the River,” "Support Your Local Sheriff" and “Little Big Man.” This might be the silliest of them all and prefigures “Blazing Saddles,” albeit with the vibe and issues usually associated with Euro Westerns. The soundtrack is puerile in a