L'uomo della valle maledetta

An acceptable story dealing with racial issues with mixed couple , adding a touch of peculiarity , some great characters , an attractive music score and doesn't follows the Sergio Leone wake , but it is proceeded in American models . ¨Man of the Cursed Valley" (1964) by Siro Marcellini , being well starred by Ty Hardin , Iran Eory , Jose Nieto , including the usual racial problems . Chorizo/Spaghetti about a violent feud among two families , Indian and White , against an interracial couple , whom impede to have a peaceable existence . The film blends a love story , pursuits , brawls , tension , but results in a mediocre as well as predictable story . Follows the exploits of a young White woman who attempts to reunite his lover Indian . When Gwen (Iran Eory) is attacked by a group of Indians (Rafael Albaicín , Tito Garcia , Jose Marco) she arranges to getaway out of the tepee and is found wandering into the wild by a cowboy named Johnny (Ty Hardin) , a good man married too young and whose spouse left him . Gwen is wounded and Johnny manages to nurse her . Johnny and Gwen then decide to go to El Paso where there is a mission run by a Catholic priest , Padre Ryan (John Bartha) , who cares Johnny's daughter and where Gwen will be safe and protected against Indian attacks . We learn from Gwen that her father didn't want to marry her to an Indian called Torito , as Johnny decides to go to meet Sam Burnett (José Nieto) , Gwen's dad , to convince him .

An Italian-Spanish co-production with a tragic love story , chases , thrills , action , fights , Indian attacks and many other things . Being filmed in Spanish places located on outskirts Madrid and Poblado Hoyo De Manzanares , replacing Almeria . It's a Western freely based on famous play by Shakespeare titled ¨Romeo and Giuletta¨ , adding racist touches . However , nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and new roles and new layers of complexity begin to emerge until we are enmeshed in a difficult situation among warring family members with the added problem of the original Indian still attempting to track down the damsel in distress . This is a passable Paella/Spaghetti Western with some moments genuinely entertaining if you can avoid thinking too much . The picture bears remarkable resemblance to "Il Piombo e La Carne" also titled "Bullet in the Flesh" (1967) by Marino Girolami ; it also deals with a racial love story, being starred by Rod Cameron , Dean Harrison , Ennio Girolami , Patricia Viterbo . "The Man of the Accursed Valley" stars Ty Hardin , here he is fine ; in his beginnings , Ty was dismissed as just a hunk of "beefcake" , but he also played various Spaghetti , such as ¨Acquasanta Joe" , Day of Judgment" , and "You're Jinxed, Friend You've Met Sacramento" . And gorgeous Iran Eory who was born in Teheran , but nationalized Spanish and played various Spaniard films of all kinds of genres . Furthermore, it appears usual secondary actors from Italy/Spain Western , mostly Spanish support cast , such as Jose Nieto , José Marco , Rafael Albaicín , Tito Garcia , and several others .

The musician Manuel Parada composes a vibrant soundtrack in American style and well conducted . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Alfredo Fraile , though being necessary a perfect remastering because of the copy is worn-out . The motion picture was well written and produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero who ordered to built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares called 'Golden City', it resulted to be the locations in which were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Spanish and Italian and occasionally American people . This Western town called ¨Golden City¨ in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) was made with sets by two great production designers , Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , and it is today sadly disappeared . There was filmed several Western as ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , ¨Dead man ride¨, various Zorros and this one . Eduardo Manzanos started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin . After that , he produced in his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra Di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Marchent with Frank Latimore .

This picture was professionally directed by Siro Marcellini and Primo Zeglio , though with no originality . Marcellini was a nice craftsman who directed another Western titled ¨Lola Colt¨ but his speciality was the adventure genre such as "The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules" , I Cavalieri del Diablo¨, "The Two Rivals" and "The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan" . While Primo Zeglio was a good professional , a cool filmmaker who wrote and directed all kinds of genres such as Adventure : "Seven Seas to Calais" , ¨Genoneva De Bravante¨ , "Revenge of the Pirates", "Son of the Red Corsair" ¨, ¨Captain Ghost¨, ¨Morgan the pirate¨ , Sci-Fi : "Mission Stardust" , Peplum : "I Am Semiramis" , ¨Nero and Messalina¨ , ¨Rosmunda e Alboino¨ and Spaghetti : ""The Relentless Four¨, "Texas Ranger" , ¨Winchester One of One Thousand¨ also titled ¨Winchester Justice¨ and this ¨L'uomo Della Valle Maledetta" or "Man of the Cursed Valley".

As a pre-1966 Italian western, this film does not have many of the "trademarks" of the spaghetti western--there's no heavily echoed Duane Eddy-style guitar on the soundtrack, no extreme close-ups, no focus on desolate landscapes, no nihilistic feel. A young lady is attacked by three Indians (who look like Italian hippies!), but she manages to escape and is found wandering in the wildnerness by Ty Hardin, who nurses her back to health and proposes to take her to El Paso to a mission where Hardin's daughter is staying and where the lady will be safe and cared for. After fifteen minutes, that seems to be the "plot" of CURSED VALLEY, but nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and new characters and new layers of complexity begin to emerge until we are enmeshed in a difficult situation among warring family members with the added problem of the original Indians still trying to track down the lady. As the film proceeds, it brings up a number of interesting issues including racially mixed marriages, which it deals with in a surprisingly complex and mature manner. Visually, the film is attractive (the circulating video is letterboxed) with a number of well-composed shots (the one where Torito, the lady's husband, watches through a window his wife leaving with Hardin I still remember). Director Primo Zeglio (here using the Omar Hopkins pseudonym) also directed such interesting films as SON OF THE RED CORSAIR with Lex Barker (see my review), MORGAN THE PIRATE with Steve Reeves, the US-TV staple SEVEN SEAS TO CALAIS with Rod Taylor, and the space opera MISSION STARDUST with Lang Jeffries as sci-fi pulp hero Perry Rhodan. At this point in his career,Ty Hardin was only a few years away from his starring role as Bronco Layne in the BRONCO TV series (which still holds up well today), and had recently appeared in such hits as PT 109 and BATTLE OF THE BULGE. CURSED VALLEY seems to be his first European credit--he went on to make many films overseas. Unfortunately, Hardin does not dub his own voice here, so his performance is not as effective as it could have been, though it works well enough anyway (and Hardin's female fans should note that he appears without his shirt in a number of scenes in the first half hour). Overall, this is an interesting western, though not a typical Italian western. The musical score is quite rousing, often sounding like music from some 50s television western or a Republic western. Except for an acoustic guitar sequence, it does not have a spaghetti western feel at all. I consider this an above average western and would recommend it to any Eurowestern, western, or Ty Hardin fans.

Quite an unusual 1964 drama masquerading as proto-spaghetti-western and dealing with issues of racism towards Native Americans and the interracial marriage of a white woman and "Indian" man 3 years before GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.

Spanish-Italian production starring Ty Hardin as a guy helping an unfortunate couple deal with her racist father while a bunch of bloodthirsty Natives chasing them. Action is pretty lame and serves as background to a drama/romance plot.

Overall pretty mediocre movie if not for an unusual theme. "Indians" have very thick 5 o'clock shadows and women wearing heavy 60's style makeup-just an interesting bit in the proto-spaghetti-western genre.