Vengeance Is Mine (1967)
Instead of just going for the next Sartana, I took a bit of a detour with an earlier movie also starring Gianni Garko. While it has a very familiar structure with bounty hunters and betrayal, it stands a bit out among the crowd of similar movies by adding a family background for the protagonist. Instead of the usual nameless blank slate gunslinger. Here Gianni Garko plays a bitter bounty gunslinger who has suffered 10 years in prison due to a betrayal by his brother. His lust for revenge is complicated by their mother wishes, which makes for a slightly unique type of narrative for the genre. It adds an emotional level that is rarely seen in spaghetti westerns, and it deserves points for its ambition, though it still fumbles somewhat with the execution. The mediocre dubbing and acting doesn’t seal the emotional impact of the rather tragic story, but the movie is still a worth a watch for those interested in some of the overlooked gems of the genre.
Rating: 3.5