Massacre Time (1966)

Prospector Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) returns home to find that his land has been taken over by the Scott family. Tom finds his brother, Jeff (George Hilton), a drunken mess who doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. Together (although Jeff is quite reluctant) they team up to take back what is rightfully theirs. Even more revenge-fodder is piled on after Tom is nearly whipped to death by Junior Scott and Jeff’s mother gets killed in a gallop-by shooting. A scandalous secret is revealed and now the brothers have even more to fight for and they won’t rest until every one of the Scott family’s stooges are six feet under.

Like nearly all of his contemporary Italian directors, Lucio Fulci (The Beyond) spent some time in the spaghetti western genre. While not on par with classics such as Django or For a Few Dollars More, Massacre Time is an excellent Sunday afternoon gunslinger flick. Camerawork by Riccardo Pallottini (The Killer Must Kill Again) is tight and captures all of the action excellently. The soundtrack by composer Coriolano Gori (Four Times that Night) is acceptable and I dig that theme song (“A thousand miles you’re all alone! ALL ALONE!”).

Franco Nero (Street Law) and George Hilton (My Dear Killer) make an excellent pair despite Hilton’s scene-stealing (he puts a cigar out in a duder’s face and tries to get a chicken drunk!). Another excellent performance comes from Giuseppe Addobbati (Strip Nude for Your Killer) whose portrayal of Junior Scott is psychotic and practically orgasmic when it comes to committing acts of violence. Be sure to look for the menacing Romano Puppo (Fulci’s Contraband) in a small role as one of Scott’s henchman. And Aysanoa Runachagua is too freakin’ cool as Sonko, the silent gunman.

While Massacre Time may not be an all out classic, it is still entertaining as hell with only a blatantly sped-up fight sequence and a generic plot holding it back. The shootouts are well-staged, the bad guys are especially cruel, and there are even some moments of comic relief thrown in for good measure. It’s quite interesting to see this side of Fulci whose gore-filled horror films dominate the largest part of his legacy.