Some of the previous posters have mentioned that this movie gets some inspiration from the American western "Shane". The final sequence of this movie certainly copies the ending of "Shane", but other than that the movie goes its own way. Though the way it goes - a tale about a ruthless rancher squeezing his neighbors out of the way - will seem quite familiar to many western fans. The movie does have a couple of good action sequences - a saloon fistfight and an explosive gun battle in the city streets. What's unusual about this western is how more American it feels than your typical spaghetti western, from its direction to its music. But in the end, if you don't mind seeing this familiar story again, you will probably get some enjoyment from this western.

Former gunfighter Clint (George Martin) returns to his wife and young son's farm, where he's taken back if he takes a vow of non-violence. However, trying to conform to his wife's standards starts to lose him the affection of his son, after he's forced to back down in the face of a nasty cattle baron and his goons, including familiar face Fernando Sancho.A Spanish/German/Italian co-production, shot in Germany, this tries a bit harder than the average spaghetti western to replicate the look and feel of it's traditional American counterpart. This certainly looks more like the American west than other European westerns I've seen.As mentioned before, Clint The Stranger borrows it's plot pretty much verbatim from Shane. This is quite reminiscent also of 1950's The Gunfighter, with Gregory Peck.This is a decent and somewhat believable movie, but Clint's wife's stubborn stance against violence is pretty hard to take, considering the shenanigans of the films villains!Four years later George Martin reprised his role and directed an equally alright remake/sequel that more easily fit the mold of the spaghetti western.

Writer & director Alfonso Balcázar appropriated the vintage Alan Ladd oater "Shane" and retooled the characters for a more satisfying though less tragic conclusion. A swift-drawing, straight-shooting hombre, Clint can neither elude his deadly reputation nor the gunslingers that crave to kill him so they can acquire a name for themselves. This Spanish lensed Euro western boasts some fantastic Montana-style, Grand Teton-type mountains with snow-capped peaks. The treacherous, unrepentant villains headed up by expatriate American actor Walter Barnes and Iberian actor Fernando Sanchez challenge the hero right up to the final showdown. "Five Giants from Texas" scenarist José Antonio de la Loma collaborated with "The Man from Oklahoma" scribe Helmut Harun and Balcázar on this traditional melodrama that is predictable for the most part but nevertheless rewarding.Like George Stevens' "Shane," "Clint el solitario" is rooted in the Hollywood sagebrushers of the 1950s instead of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti westerns of the 1960s. Indeed, Balcázar doesn't wear a growth of stubble on his jaws like the traditional, hard-boiled Spaghetti western protagonist. The Hollywood counterparts for "Clint el solitario" abhorred wanton violence and discouraged the use of firearms as a means to obtaining a reputation. John Sturges' "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" preached the hazards of riding the gunslinger's trail, living alone, and dying because another man was faster on the draw and his bullet straighter. The protagonist here is a clean-shaven gunman who wants to reform, settle down with his estranged wife and help her raise his young son on a ranch, but violence overshadows his best efforts, forcing him to resort to firearms and violence. "Fistful of Dollars" heroine Marianna Koch and Francisco José Huetos play the widow and her young son and both are convincing, especially Huetos.As "Clint el solitario" unfolds, our hero Clint Harrison (George Martin of "Red Blood, Yellow Gold") is trying to put distance between himself and three riders. Clint gallops into a town and demands that a barkeep tell him where he can find his estranged wife Julie (Marianna Koch) because he wants to start over. Initially, the barkeeper refuses, until the three gunmen barge into the saloon and threaten to kill Clint. Clint complains that their brother wanted to prove that he was faster on the draw and that he had no option but to kill him. The barkeeper brandishes a rifle and covers the trio and tells Clint where he can find his wife. Clint rides off to Saddle Rock and finds himself in a town bristling with trouble between the local cattle baron and several farming families. The reason for this enmity is that the farmers have erected a dam to irrigate their crops and the cattle cannot get enough water.The moment that Clint rides into town, he recognizes the villains. Trigger-happy Ross (Fernando Sancho of "Zorro the Avenger") nearly kills a barber for giving him a bad haircut. As the foreman for the Shannon ranch, Ross shoots up the town in a rage because one of his men died at the hands of the farmers and he wants to kill the sheriff. The crippled son of Shannon, Don (Pinkas Braun), disarms Ross after the sheriff meets them in the street with Clint watching the showdown from the saloon veranda. Don surrenders Ross' firearms and his own but then stabs the lawman to death. This comes as a surprise not only to us but also to Clint.Eventually, Clint makes it out to the Green Circle spread where he reunites with Julie, but she refuses to have anything to do with him. Clint hands over his gun to her in an act of contrition. "Think it over Clint," Julie warns him, "because I won't give them back, so if you're thinking of fooling us, you better ride out now for everybody's sake." Clint doesn't budge. "I'll give you no cause to be sorry," he vows. He tells his young son Tom who doesn't know that he is his father that: "The important thing is to have a home, that's all that counts." Clearly, "Clint el solitario" qualifies as a status quo western. Initially, Julie's neighbor, Bill O'Brien (Gerhard Riedmann) suspects that Clint is on Shannon's payroll. Bill wants Julie, but she wants only to share his friendship, not is affection. The writers have done an admirable job of taking the "Shane" formula and spitting up the family from "Shane" so that the gunslinger hero can come between Julie and Bill. Unmistakably, Julie sees Bill only as a friend. Tom loves tagging along with Clint. Their friendship cools when Clint and he ride into Saddle Rock to trade corn at the general store for goods. Shannon's gunmen scare the storekeeper so that he doesn't accept Julie's goods and Tom is mortified when Clint doesn't retaliate against them for damaging their goods. Eventually, Shannon (Walter Barnes of "Rio Bravo") frames a rancher, McKinley (Beni Deus) of rustling his cattle. Shannon has the new sheriff under his thumb so they take him to jail and prepare to hang him. Indeed, Shannon wants to do everything with the law as a shield so that the government doesn't interfere. Shannon is rather cagey as a Euro-western villain. McKinley's son opposes the hanging and dies for his efforts. Shannon's gunmen dynamite the dam and drag a helpless farmer behind a wagon. Clint cannot tolerate this injustice and kills the crippled Don. Shannon sends his army of gunmen against the homesteaders in Saddle Rock, and Balcázar stages a massive gunfight with several men dying and the town virtually destroyed. Later, Clint guns down both Ross and Shannon in a duel. After the dust has settled and scores of men lay dead, Clint pulls out and rides off into the sunset with young Tom charging after him, calling to him the same way Brandon de Wilde did in "Shane." "Clint el solitario" allows Clint to reunite with Julie and Tom and live happily ever after.

This rather American-looking spaghetti western has an unusually large German contingent in the cast; Pinkas Braun as the crippled brother, Gerhard Riedmann as the devoted neighbor, and of course the lovely Marianne Koch (A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS) as Julie, Clint's distant wife. Also, it looks as if it was filmed in Bavaria, standing in for Wyoming. In keeping with its SHANE roots, George Martin (very good here) is Clint, a notorious gunslinger, trouble following him everywhere. All he wants is to settle down with his wife and son (who doesn't remember him), but he rides into a range war. The Shannons, led by pa Walter Barnes and their foreman, the great Fernando Sancho, want the valley for their grazing herds. The farmers and small ranchers don't want to leave. Sound familiar? Into this scenario rides Clint, promising his wife he will leave the violent life behind. Complications ensue. This one's pretty good. Wild East has put together two prints, and some of the lines of dialogue here are in German, subtitled in English. The print is nicely widescreen, if not the exact o.a.r., and a nice picture gallery of posters of the film round out the package. This one is especially recommended to the fan of pasta oaters, but all western fans should get a kick out of this winner.