Macarroni Western starred by two ordinary Spaghetti actors as Guy Madison and Edd Byrnes ; both of whom played several Italian oaters . Simple but effective Western that has all the classic ingredients of a good Spaghetti . It deals with a gunman named Stuart (Edd Byrnes) joins up with a gang of Confederate guerrillas commanded by Col. Thomas Blake (Guy Madison) to find a cache of missing Confederate gold . Set during post Civil War a misfit group carries out a risked travel beyond enemy lines , as Stuart teams up a motley bunch , including a veteran captain and other various colleagues (Ryk Boyd and Ennio Girolami , among others) to help them out by promising a massive reward if it succeeds . As the meanest rebel ever born lives only to make 'em die . They must pull off the dangerous objective , as Stuart and the ambitious drifters join forces to take a lot of money from confederacy that has been buried into an Indian cemetery similarly to ¨The good , the bad and the ugly¨ . The dangerous assignment is set against stark environment , Union soldiers attacks and hazardous trails . As the battle for victory has ended but the war for vengeance goes on.This enjoyable Ravioli Western packs thrills, action , brawls , crossfire and drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts , fights or stunts every few minutes . This is an agreeable Western all'Italiana dealing with a continuous confrontation among protagonists and both of them against several opponents . The movie has the typical European Western characters , as the bloody facing off , greedy antiheroes, dusty and spectacular showdowns , extreme baddies ; and being rightly directed . This Italian Western was filmed in 1967 , a notorious year in the development of European western that almost doubled since former year with movies mostly filmed in Spain and Italy . Director Enzo G Castell makes a nice camera work with some zooms and clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , spectacular shootouts and entertaining scenes . The film blends violence , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining ; there is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the ending gunfights and the customary showdown conclusion . Guy Madison's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character, a rebel confederate Colonel similarly to Quantrill or Anderson , but the fantastic performance by Edd Byrnes as a likable gunslinger saves the show . Edd is very fine , he ravages the screen , he jumps , bounds and leaps , hit and run . Byrnes as a brave and two-fisted gunfighter is terrific , subsequently the would play similar roles in other Spaghettis as "Professionals for a Massacre" by Nando Cicero and ¨Any can gun play¨ by Enzo G Castell . Ennio Girolami , Marino Girolami's son , plays as a cruelly baddie role ,he is pretty good , subsequently he would play similar characters in various oaters and Spaghettis , many of them directed by his brother Enzo G Castellari . The musician Francesco De Massi composes a nice soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie , adding catching songs at the initiation and final .The film was well produced/written by Marino Girolami who used pseudonyms as Fred Wilson or Dario Silvestri , he is father of Enzo G. Castellari and Ennio Girolami and brother of Romolo Guerrieri . Marino wrote and directed several Western such as "Badmen of the West" ,"Two Ringos from Texas", "God Was in the West, Too, at One Time" , "God Was in the West, Too, at One Time" . The motion picture was professionally directed by Enzo G Castell . Enzo usually makes experimental editing techniques such as unbroken transitions from one scene to another and a cameo appearance in his films . Castellari often works with Guido and Maurizio De Angelis and uses to do slow motion shootouts and choreographic death scenes . Enzo is a good a craftsman working in all kind of genres , as he made Western especially . His first one was ¨Some dollars for Django¨ co-directed by Leon Klimovsky , but actually, for the most part of its filming by the disagreements arising with Klimovsky was realized by Enzo G. Castellari, which this film was his directorial debut in a sub-genre that became one of its greatest representatives ; in fact if you compare the beginning of "7 Winchester for a massacre" which would direct the next year and the end this one seem to be similar direction . After that , he went on directing ¨ Johnny Hamlet¨ , ¨Kill them everybody and came back alone¨, ¨Tedeum¨ , ¨Cipolla colt¨ and the masterpiece : ¨Keoma¨ and finally its inferior sequel ¨Jonathan of the Bears¨ also with Franco Nero . Some of them are serious , others are goofy and plenty of slapstick and slapdash . This ¨Seven Winchester for a massacre¨ is a bewildering story , enjoyable in lots of parts and it will appeal to Spaghetti Western fans . It's a passable film , and better than a lot of the ulterior spaghetti western to come .

"Payment in Blood" qualifies as a violent, above-average, Spaghetti western shoot'em up with a high body count. Like director Sergio Leone's bigger budgeted "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," the leaner budgeted "Payment in Blood" concerns the quest for buried treasure. The outlaw villains embark on a search for a fabled fortune, approximately $200-thousand, stashed at an undisclosed location by Confederate General Beauregard. Of course, anybody who knows anything about Civil War history knows Beauregard hid no such loot. Typically, most westerns that appropriate this plot attribute the lost Confederate gold to President Jefferson Davis. Ironically, during the opening credits sequence, which contains a montage of Civil War photographs, you won't see a picture of Beauregard, while you will see pictures of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant. The protagonist, Stuart Edd Byrnes of "Any Gun Can Play"), has a grudge to settle with the head villain (Guy Madison of "Massacre River") and his gang of bloodthirsty gunmen. Primarily known overseas as "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre," "Payment in Blood" constituted writer & director Enzo G. Castellari's third western. Castellari's first western at the helm was "Few Dollars for Django" for which he received no credit, and "Any Gun Can Play" was his second oater, with a bigger, better cast. "Payment in Blood" doesn't top either "Any Gun Can Play" or a later Castellari Civil War western "Kill Them All and Come Back Alone" with Chuck Connors. Long-time screen writing collaborator Tito Carpi of "Few Dollars for Django" and "Bullets and the Flesh" scribe Marino Girolami penned the formulaic plot with Castellari for "Payment in Blood." The difference between "Payment in Blood" and "Any Gun Can Play" is the latter is more elaborate than the former. "Payment in Blood" amounts to a rather contrived western that uses the venerable plot about an individual who goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of homicidal criminals and thwart them. The dialogue is neither as amusing as "Any Gun Can Play," but "Payment in Blood" boasts a surprise ending. Although it seems like scores of men wind up with bullet holes during the numerous shoot-outs, "Payment in Blood" lacks the titular element that became such a fixture in later westerns like "The Wild Bunch." The frontier action takes place in 1867 after the conclusion of the American Civil War. A renegade Confederate officer, Colonel Thomas Blake (Guy Madison of "Five against the House"), refuses to stop fighting Union authorities and leads his troops on raids against the army and civilians alike. During the opening moments of "Payment in Blood," writer & director Enzo G. Castellari introduces us to not only the pugnacious Blake but also the hell-spawn that ride with him. Included in this notorious gang are Chamaco Gonzales (Ennio Girolami of "The Hellbenders"), Rios (Aysanoa Runachagua of "El Cisco"), Fred Calhoun (Federico Boido of "Planet of the Vampires"), Zeb Russel, and Mesa Alvarez (Attilio Severini of "Massacre at Grand Canyon"). Blake and his marauders carry out indiscriminate raids, steal horses, loot houses, and kill men, women and children without a qualm. Most of this information is imparted to us by nameless supporting players standing around wanted posters of Blake men and complaining about his depredations. The reward on Blake's head has risen to $5-thousand. Chamaco rides into a town one day and eavesdrops on a conversation between a crippled, former Confederate soldier and a cowboy. "What can you expect from a rotten war like ours? Brother against brother. When you teach a man it's right to kill, how can you unteach him?" The other man observes about Blake's killers: "They have learned to like being heroes. They've learned to like killing." Chamaco confronts the crippled Southerner, Jeremy, because the latter had ridden with General Beauregard and may know the location of the lost treasure. Before he can learn anything from Jeremy, Chamaco has to kill him. A military tribunal sentences Chamaco to die in front of an army firing squad. Stuart surprises the military and rescues Chamaco just as the soldiers are about to execute him. You see, Stuart is driving a wagon past the firing squad when he delivers his ultimatum to the army. He shoots the officer's sword and several Winchester rifles spring from the wagon, suggesting that several men are aiming those long guns. As it turns out, nobody is aiming those rifles, and Stuart has packed a bag of dynamite in the wagon bed so when one of the soldiers opens fire on the vehicle, the wagon vanishes in an explosion.Chamaco takes Stuart to Blake's camp after they sneak across the Rio Grande without attracting attention from the border patrols. It seems that Stuart served as one of General Beauregard's chiefs of staff. Stuart's introduction to Blake's gang and his ability to match them at their expertise makes for a good scene. The photography of Zeb snatching the revolver out of Stuart's holster with his bull whip is exciting. After he arrives in Blake's camp, Stuart refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the loot to the cunning colonel. Eventually, Stuart does reveal the location, and they find a strong box buried in an Indian cemetery. Things take a turn for the worst when Blake discovers that the money in the strong box is a pile of worthless Confederate bank notes. Meantime, the survivors of the Durango come after Blake for killing their husbands. Edd Byrnes appears out of place with his clean-shaven features among a cast of characters who sport some form of facial hair. Guy Madison is suitably murderous as the bad guy in a role that he rarely played. The first time that we see Madison as Colonel Blake, Blake rides out of a cloud of gunfire in a town that his men and he are shooting up. Composer Francesco De Masi provides a charismatic orchestral score that perks up this western. Once you've heard De Masi's flavorful score, you won't forget it.

Crazed Confederate raider Guy Madison can't stop raiding, even after the Civil War is over and done with. Ex-Confederate Edd "Kookie" Byrnes knows where a fortune in confederate treasure is buried and needs the bloodthirsty Madison and his band of cutthroats to get there, leading to an uneasy alliance and a harrowing trip across the frontier.Another of director Enzo G. Castellari's patented brand of light-hearted adventure films, Payment In Blood is a decent enough, if not very original movie. It does have it's share of good action scenes, locations, and performances by it's lead actors, benefiting greatly from Byrnes charisma and Madison's machismo. The climax at the Indian burial ground is pretty neat too.Castellari is actually pretty good at setting up and directing action sequences. He made his fair share of good movies, but I feel he really could have knocked it out of the park (and still can) if given the right script.

Hmmm, now this sounds very familiar to me..... clean shaven poncho wearing bounty hunter goes undercover with a gang of "bad guys" in the pursuit of a cash box buried in a graveyard by soldiers during the Civil War.And, yes, there are more than a few similarities between this film and Leone's "For a Few Dollars More" (in particular) and "Good, the Bad and the Ugly". And, yes, it has obviously a lower budget than both the aforementioned films. But when the "borrowed" stories are so good, there doesn't seem to be a problem in my eyes in recounting extended versions of such tales. So, I really enjoyed this film in its own right.The leading role does owe more than a nod of the cowboy hat to Eastwood's Man with No Name, and in that respect Byrnes is not an ample substitute. To me, he is far too clean looking (although, like Eastwood's character, he will do whatever he needs to in order to get a job done). The show stealers are Blake (played by Guy Madison) and that rarest of things - a spaghetti western female role (Loiuse Barrett).Whilst not as outstanding as some other Castellari films (say, Keoma and Jonathan and the Bears), it is still a highly enjoyable Spaghetti Western fare that I would recommend to fans of this genre.