El Puro (1969)
This qualified as a little hidden gem in the genre and really happy that Arrow has restored and released this as part of the Savage Guns collection. From the get go, you sense the Leone and Morricone influences, especially with the score that is very close to plagiarism of the well known themes from the Dollars trilogy. Taking more than a little inspiration from the masters is very common in spaghetti western, but here it was outright absurd and took me a little bit out of the movie. A shame because everything else here brings unique approaches to the usual formulas.
While we are used to less than heroic main characters, I don’t I have seen anyone as downtrodden, depressive and broken as Robert Wood’s portrayal of El Puro here. He barely has a will to live and has a serious drinking problem. He is still afraid to die, so when a group of degenerate, though well dressed, bounty hunters go after him, he manages to fight back.
The movie certainly doesn’t rush things, with long scenes that may seem mostly like filler, but effectively gives the characters depth without ever giving us much backstory. There are very few gunfights, and they happen very fast.
The sparse story and drawn out scenes makes for a rather bleak viewing that transfixed me from start to finish.
Rating: 4