Heading west, ex-Confederate Giuliano Gemma agrees to help capture a bandit, only to find out that the "outlaw is his brother and himself a patsy in an even bigger plot involving a crooked banker and a group of put-upon homesteaders.Like most of Giuliano Gemma's westerns, this isn't near the top of the heap. However, it's sturdy enough, with a lot of action, some pretty dastardly villains, and a few good plot twists. It could have used a little bit more grit and suspense in the first hour though.Also, Gemma is always fun to root for, no matter how good or bad the film is. In the beginning (sporting a beard), he looks kind of like Charleton Heston in Planet Of The Apes!

Confederate soldier Gary O'Hara (Guiliano Gemma) and his brother Phil are released from a prisoner of war camp following the end of the civil war, the barrels of their guns removed by their captors. Gary returns home to his wife Judy (Evelyn Stewart) whilst Phil is not ready to live such a quiet life and heads off west.Gary soon decides to follow his brother to the town of Yellowstone, and to find work to support his family. On arrival, his combat prowess is soon put to practice, which brings him to the attention of local banker McCory (Pierre Cressoy). McCory offers him a ranch and money if he can kill local outlaw Blacky, which he agrees to do. Gary is taken to the local saloon and advised that Blacky is the man at the bar with his back to him. On confrontation, Blacky turns around, firing his gun - and revealing himself to be Phil O'Hara. McCory and his men open fire, leaving both brothers dead.By a stroke of good fortune, Gary survives the ambush, his life saved by the single silver dollar in his pocket. He sets out to discover why McCory wanted Blacky dead, and to aid the local villagers that are suffering at the hands of a group of marauding bandits. Meanwhile, Judy O'Hara travels to Yellowstone in search of her husband, and soon finds herself in the unwelcome company of McCory.As with Gemma's role in his two Ringo films, the character of Gary O'Hara would sit quite comfortably in an American made western. This is no bad thing, and he does always make for a likable hero. The same point could be levelled at the film in general - it is a likable flick, with a true old American western feel. That said, Ferrio's enjoyable whistled score clearly sits within the euro-western genre, and it does share a level of violence with its fellow Italian movies.The story itself has a few clichés (for one thing, a fair few screen characters have been saved over the years by an inanimate object conveniently placed on their person) but does that really matter? Clearly not. And there are some great scenes, particularly both the opening (great gun-play as the brothers are released) and final sequence. From a personal perspective, I was also intrigued to note a great visual likeness between Evelyn Stewart and my own girlfriend!!! Not that that should be of any real relevance to this write up.In summary, this is one of those nice easy to watch movies (legs up on the sofa, with a wine or beer for company), and certainly worth a few silver dollars of anyones money.

Although not as good as Gemma's best Italian Western Day of Anger (Giorni dell'ira, I (1967)), One Silver Dollar is still enjoyable. It's a relatively early euro oater, mimicing more closely than do later productions the conventions of the American originals, and displaying few or none of the gothic cynicism and elements of parody which invaded the genre as it became more established. Gemma plays O'Hara, a ex-confederate soldier whose return to peace time life is marred when he encounters a band of crooks intending to take over a town and buy up homesteaders. After accidentally shooting his own brother, O'Hara struggles to put an end to the criminal's schemes, as well as extracting his wife who has now fallen into clutches of the ruthless gang. Directed as ‘Calvin Jackson Padget', Ferroni's film is very effective, even if the plot is hardly original. Now and again the film suggests things to come, especially in the second half when the put upon O'Hara is by turn fooled, left for dead, beaten up, and even has his mouth filled with salt in order to make him talk – all casual cruelties startling in the context of an otherwise fairly genial ‘bad-guys-stealing-homesteaders-land' plot. Gemma is a lithe, physical hero, but a scene or two opening out his character, especially in the light of his brother's murder, would have been welcome. Hidden underneath the narrative is some discreet play with masculinity and honour: O'Hara has to make do with an emasculated six shooter, whose barrel has been sawn off by his yankee captors while the bonding between old Confederate comrades, and their ongoing humiliation, is another recurring theme. The main titles theme is one of those instantly memorable whistle mottos which are a hallmark of the genre, although on disc the sound is a bit thin and appears to be sourced from a mono master. The Australian produced DVD features the American dub in a slightly faded widescreen print. Its only through the trailer, also included, that one gets a sense of how effective the original language version would have been. Many recent Spaghetti releases include a subtitled version and this is certainly the most desirable package.

Quite a good spaghetti western. Interesting performances by all concerned together with some fine photography and direction. The theme song is worth a mention as well - very haunting.Was available on VHS a long time ago from Videoyesteryear in New Jersey. Fans of the genre should try to catch up with this one.