This isn't a spaghetti western as some people have labeled it to be, seeing that there was no Italian involvement. Instead, it was a co-production between the United Kingdom and Spain. However, it all the same looks and feels just like a spaghetti western despite having an American (Robert Parrish) in the director's chair. Parrish certainly gives the movie a nice gritty feeling. Unfortunately, he seems unable to do much with the script. The story starts off making a reasonable amount of sense, but eventually starts to get very confusing thanks to the multiple characters and the various twists and turns. It doesn't help that a lot of the dialogue is poorly recorded, making it hard at times to figure out what the characters are saying. In the end, the movie becomes somewhat boring due to the confusion, as well as the fact that there is a lot less action than you might think. It also wastes a very interesting cast, who all seem to know they are stuck in a lesser movie and give half-hearted performances as a result.

That's the question viewers continually ask themselves while watching A Town Called Hell.Mexican Colonel Martin Landau wants Aguila captured, while former revolutionary Robert Shaw, now a priest knows what Aguila looks like but he's not telling and Stella Stevens thinks Aguila may have murdered her husband (when not lying in a coffin, pretending to be a corpse!), offering twenty thousand dollars to the person who points him out.Macho posturing, a great all-star cast including Telly Savalas as the towns sleazy mayor, and strong visuals are all wasted on a confusing script and bad editing in this wannabe spaghetti western made by British filmmakers in Spain and set during the Mexican Revolution.Everything's cleared up in the film's weird final scene, but by that time the viewer is so mentally exhausted as to no longer care! However, I'll grudgingly recommend this strictly for the action sequences and an odd dance-hall scene featuring a soundalike cover version of Johnny Horton's hit song "The Battle Of New Orleans", featuring a few verses I've never heard before!

This movie is a triumph of the spirit, if by "triumph of the spirit" you mean "I have no idea what's actually going on with this movie." However, it creates obsessions. Have you ever seen that movie "SIEGE" where a group of Nazis called "new order" take over a gay bar? Neither have I though I would have liked to.My first exposure to this amazing piece of cinematography came shrink-wrapped from a junk store in New Hampshire next to blood and semen-stained ALF sheets and a shrunken goats head. Back then it was known as "SIEGE," and with a plot like SIEGE's, who would not want to see it? Expecting fascist gay bar follies, and being stoned, I was taken aback to find Telly Savalas ruling the screen. . . ruling the town, really.This movie has no plot. Strike that, it has 17 plots, all of which last for two minutes. If you do the math though, I think the actual movie is longer than that. Due to the fact that the opening screen clearly said "SIEGE," the electrifying introduction of this movie, which I understand has Mexicans, is lost forever in the sands of time. Telly Savalas is clearly the mayor of a town called Bastard, and frankly, it's about friggin time. He's crucified five minutes later. He's replaced by a Mexican who find's Telly Savalas' barechested, muscle-bound shoes too !LIVE! to fill. I can't remember if the Mexican dude is bumped off, but a general comes in five minutes later. I'm pretty sure the general is also a Mexican.A woman rides in on a hearse. There is also a priest.My mind explodes.If you want E*X*C*I*T*E*M*E*N*T, "Speed 2" can't touch "A Town Called Bastard" with Ernest Borgnine's weenis at the end of a ten foot pole. Period. I love when somebody writes the word period after a sentence they want to emphasize. It really doubles up the finality of it all. Period.p.s. the guy from jaws is in this movie.

This film starts in spectacular fashion as a gang of rebels gun down the entire congregation of a church, young and old, including the priest. The barbaric nature of this opening continues throughout "A Town Called Hell".The majority of the movie is set in the Mexican town of Bastardo, which is under the leadership of Don Carlos (Telly Savalas). A hearse arrives at the gates, with an empty coffin and two passengers - Alvira (Stella Stevens), a blonde widower clothed in black, and her mysterious unnamed companion (Dudley Sutton). She is searching for the man that killed her husband, and offers Carlos gold if he will hand over the guilty man - who she believes to be named Aguila.The town priest (Robert Shaw), who we immediately recognise as one of the leaders of the rebels that carried out the massacre in the first scene, appears to have a knowledge of Aguila's identity. When the town is overrun by the army, also looking for Aguila, the Colonel (Martin Landau - the other rebel leader from the prologue) threatens to execute all the town unless the identity is revealed. The Colonel advises the Priest that he swapped sides, as the army provided better rewards than the rebels could ever offer.Much of the film centres on the strained relationship between Shaw and Landau's characters. Shaw's whiskey guzzling priest is particularly well played and likable, with a guarded past that is revealed throughout the film. Albeit a fairly short lived role (facing execution by one of his own men about half way through the film), Savalas' character is very enjoyable to watch, both calm but merciless. There are also small parts for Spaghetti regulars Fernando Rey and Aldo Sambrell.Whilst the film is pretty barbaric throughout, with the town's inhabitants showing little honour or mercy for their own kind (just ask Don Carlos!), it also has a dark and mysterious feel - particularly well portrayed by the widow and her mute protector.It is fair to say that I am often sceptical of a film's worth when I find a copy in a bargain bin or for £0.01 on ebay. I purchased "A Town Called Hell" for a single penny on ebay, and therefore thought it was likely to be a lesser western, and became even more sceptical when I discovered its British involvement (oh me of little faith, but I couldn't picture my homeland creating a western successfully). I was pleasantly surprised to find a well thought-out movie, with a well developed (if sometimes confusing) plot, and some great character acting. Well worth a view.