¨Dollar for the dead¨is an acceptable Spanish/USA co-production with intelligent writing and slick direction by Gene Quintano . This Quintano's Western is packed with noisy action and lots of violence . American-Spanish co-production financed by Enrique Cerezo and Tony Anthony (who in the 60s and 70s starred various Spaghetti as ¨Blindman¨) full of action , exaggerated characters, shootouts and drama . This is a surprisingly low-key Spaghetti Western set in the post-Civil War era in which a washed-out gunslinger (Emilio Estevez) join forces with a cripple Confederate ex-soldier (William Forsythe) and taking on a variety of problems and risks with the aim to get a treasure . As two diverse characters unite forces to carry out the robbing a loot . They are being pursued by Union soldiers (Jonathan Banks) and an avenger super-quick gunfighter (Howie Long ). They find numerous complications when free a man (Ed Lauter) with part of the map to the gold which appears drawn on various cartridges holders. It all leads to an outer border small town terrorized by a Federale captain(Jordi Molla) and led a by a Mexican priest named Friar Ramon(Joaquim De Almeida) who also has knowledge of the hidden gold.This entertaining picture contains action Western , shootouts and bits of campy and refreshing events with turns and twists . It's an improbable blending of standard Western , including Spaghetti's homage , with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining. An interesting casting full of American actors as Estevez , Long , Forsythe , Lauter and Spanish players as Simon Andreu , Jordi Molla and Portugues as Joaquin De Almeida ; all of them make this oater well worth the watching . Delightful Western in which a violent ¨Man with no name¨ using his wits , breaking all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants realizes a killing spree , as he relentlessly robs and murders by means of some spectacular showdowns in operatic style taken from John Woo films . Amiable but sometimes lumbering Western goes on and on about the same premise , as minutes are superfluous , it has quarter hour of excess , as it packs some moments turn out to be dull and tiring . There is plenty of action and lots of stunts in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts, fights or stunts every few minutes . The musician George S. Clinton composes a nice soundtrack with catching leitmotif and well conducted in Ennio Morricone style ; it's full of strange sounds with use of harmonica , trumpets and guitar. Striking cinematography by Giovanni Fiore with barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun, and outdoor sequences shot on outskirts of Madrid and LaTabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain . Gene Quintano's direction is well crafted, here he's more cynical and violent and less inclined toward humor and packs too much action , but especially this moving Western contains broad violence . He also wrote ¨The long Kill¨ with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Simon Andreu realized by Bill Corcoran at the same time and in similar ink . The movie contains gun-play, action Western, bloody spectacle and fist-fights . It's an offbeat , surprising and uneven Western particularly influenced by Sergio Leone from ¨One time in the West¨and Sergio Corbucci from ¨Djanjo¨ but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and enough excitement .

While i have not yet seen the famous films of Sergio Leone,i have to say that i still found this film to be pretty enjoyable. The plot:One day a lone stranger comes into a Western town and ends up having a drink with a vet of the American Cival War.The vet tells him that him and three other guys were each given 1/4th of a map by there Cival War captain(who got killed in the war a few days later.)Who had told them that its a map to where half a million dollars is!After hearing this,the stranger decides to help the guy out with finding the other pieces of the map.But with a bunch of gangs after them and a very poor town near by,they have to hope to get to the gold ,ans really deiced what to do with it. View on the film:Screenplay/direction-The film is written and directed by Gene Quintano.One of the disappointing things about the film is the interior scenes,because they are so under-lit that it looks like the actors are just standing in front of some planks of wood!This sadly lowers the "epic" feel of the film,also some of the over-the-top use of slow-mo that sadly lessons the effect of it when its used well(the horse sliding backwards is easily the best it is used here.)Thought it has to be said that Quintano can do some clever stuff(Filming the camp fire scene in a great way,and cutting from the towns people to the stranger and the vet. The cast:I feel for this film i should highlight Emilio Estevezs performance.While i was a bit disappointed with his performance in the Western Young Guns,he has really improved as an scene then.He does a good job at making the stranger a bit of a lighter person.instead of being completely dark. Final view on the film:A good (thought flawed) that you can watch with the family,and a good performance by Esterves.

SPOILERS! SPOILERS!First of all: sorry for my poor English. I really like this idea: John Woo goes Wild West. I wonder where The Cowboy has got his magic handguns which never run of ammo? My favorite scene begins when The Cowboy makes a huge hole in the floor, then falls down, shoots about twenty enemies, goes out to the street and kills thirty guys more... without reloading his colts! Cheesy, but looking nice. Of course, every bullet, fired by The Cowboy, reaches its target... So, if you like funny action flicks with a huge body count, watch this one.

I had hoped that this was a badly made spoof, but alas no.This is not a good western. Emilio Estevez simply does not look the part in the lead role. Having him being part of a group of teen bandits may have worked, but as a supposed a 'mysterious stranger' it does not.Estevez grimaces, squints and scowls in all the right places but he just seems like a college kid on a day trip to the country. The first gunfight in a bar was quite amusing in places, though this was probably not the directors intention, as he desperately tries to paint Estevez as a highly skilled and near god-like gunman of the Wild West.You are led to believe that Estevez can drop his whisky, pick up his gun (which seems to be some sort of automatically reloading sixty-shooter), shoot people though walls and doors with the aid of some kind of X-ray vision, and catch his whisky before it hits the floor.The plot revolves around a chase for a hidden fortune, which is a fair basis for a western, like Sergio Leone's brilliant The Good, The Bad and the Ugly starring Clint Eastwood. Even Clint Eastwood has to reload _his_ gun once in a while.But towards the end I wasn't involved enough to care if they ever got the money.