A rollicking spoof of the Spaghetti Western genre, "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" offers some fun for fans of the genre, although ultimately it's awfully silly stuff. American actors Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood star as the title characters, members of the same outlaw gang. Roy goes his own way, hoping that he'll be able to successfully go straight. But Roy, Jack, and others all end up on the trail of some hidden gold, with other people such as flamboyant villain "The Reverend" (Teodoro Corra) and self-serving, materialistic Indian prostitute Manila (Marilu Tolo) also playing key roles in the proceedings.Although a far cry from the best work of Italian maestro Mario Bava, it's still a definite curiosity that his admirers will want to check out. It's a real change of pace for the filmmaker; rarely did he embrace comedy this thoroughly. While not always terribly funny - it does wear a little thin - it can't be denied that it's a very lively film that delivers some reasonably rousing action scenes. The performances are suited to the material. Halsey and Southwood have good chemistry; both are handsome, charismatic stars. Corra is way over the top as the effeminate bad guy who absolutely hates the feeling of being cold. But it's the gorgeous Tolo who often steals the show; her character really is something. In one hysterical sequence, she insists that Jack take a bath - in cold water - before she'll agree to make love to him.Bavas' creation of visuals and camera work are typically stylish, helping to keep this modest diversion watchable for a decently paced 86 minutes. It definitely ends on a real high note.Six out of 10.

Silly and funny Western about two drifters carry out several adventures , saloon brawls and resolve conflicts among nasty robbers that want to take a treasure . This is a serviceable comic spaghetti western which doesn't take itself too seriously . This good natured comic spaghetti packs diverting elements , tongue-in-cheek , thrills , shootouts , fighting , explosions , and results to be quite entertaining but middling . It is set California, the 1870s . Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are outlaws and although they are good friends , they cannot get along peacefully . Meantime , a beautiful Indian (Marilú Tolo) helps both drifters and plays both sides against each other . They take on a sadistic priest-turned-crime boss , nicknamed The Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) , and his hoodlums , who attempt to rob a valuable treasure . Roy then decides that he has enough of being an outlaw and leaves the bunch in search of a good , honest job as a sheriff in nearby Carson City . Roy , Winchester and his cohorts foil the planned robbery to keep the treasure for themselves . Our two not so upright heroes rob the robbers but, needless to say, get distracted by the gorgeous Indian girl . Comical Spaghetti Western about a simple and plain plot , as two outlaws compete with each other over a treasure map , being realized in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style and considered to be rip-off of the Trinidad and Bambino westerns . The film is plenty of fistfight between Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood over who will take the treasure and who will become sole leader of their band . This is a slightly funny film with entertaining as well as bewildering events , giggles , craziness , twists and lots and fun . In ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨ there are pursuits , stagecoach attacks , crossfire , saloon brawls , cutthroats gunslingers and many others things . This bemusing movie is packed with tongue-in-cheek , slapstick , a steady stream of gags , lively situations abound , sheer belly laughs , crazy humor , too much fun and to be perfect for youngsters . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and poor results . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some fights , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Mediocre Western All'Italiana made in laughable style with a screenplay written by Mario Di Nardo , including amusing dialogue , silly situations , plot twists and turns . Filmmaker Mario Bava often uses disconcerting and surrealist situations to give us a passable movie plenty of funny happenings as well as absurd incidents ; and that , at least , kept me entertained for the almost half an hour of duration . The cast and support cast are passable . As sympathetic acting by starring trio : Brett Halsey , Charles Southwood and Marilù Tolo as a young Native American woman . Furthermore , there appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti Western , such as : Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Bruno Corazzari , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd and Franco Pesce , among others .Roy Colt and Winchester Jack was regularly directed by Mario Bava . This was one of the films on which Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava , began his career as his father's assistant ; Lamberto would latter become a director himself , winning a successful career . Mario was the main creator of Italian ¨Giallo¨ genre , Bava ("Blood and Black Lace", ¨House of exorcism¨ , Black Sabbath¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental representatives . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Bava directed all kinds of genres such as , Sci-Fi : ¨Planet of Vampires¨ , Peplum : "Hercules in the Center of the Earth" , ¨Battle of Marathon¨ , Historical : "Erik the Conqueror" , "Viking Massacre" and Western : "The Road to Fort Alamo" , ¨Ringo from Nebraska" and this ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨.

The great Mario Bava will always be best known for his Gothic horror and Giallo films, but he was a very versatile director (like most Italian directors around the time) that made many films in genres outside of horror, and Roy Colt and Winchester Jack is his attempt at making a film within Italy's popular Spaghetti Western genre. This film is not widely liked amongst Mario Bava's fans and it's not hard to see why - the film really doesn't feel like a Bava film at all as it features none of his trademarks and the plot also has a lot of problems and elements that don't work. The film takes obvious influence from the greatest of all the Spaghetti Westerns; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and focuses on the race to claim some buried gold. The main characters are a pair of outlaws named Roy Colt and Winchester Jack. They were once in a gang together, but Roy left to find honest work and ends up becoming sheriff of a small town. A bank owner there has some gold buried and after Jack and his gang steal the map, Roy heads out on their tail. A corrupt reverend and a devious Indian girl also join the party...The film is obviously not meant to be taken seriously and Bava packs it with comedy. It has to be said that a lot of it completely misses the mark and isn't funny - but there are some laughs, and scenes such as the one that takes place inside a Brothel in "Wimpy City" work simply because it's so surreal. As the title suggests, this is a character driven western and the leads are both well designed and well acted by American actors Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood. Their relationship is one of the key elements of the film and the way they interact with each other is generally entertaining. The biggest highlight of the film for me was undoubtedly the beautiful and seductive Marilù Tolo who plays the Indian girl and steals every scene she's in - I would even go as far as to say that this film would not have worked without her in it. The only character that doesn't work too well is The Reverend, who is more irritating than amusing. There's some good fighting in the film - plenty of gunfights and fistfights and at eighty five minutes, there isn't really time for the plot to get boring. Overall, on the grand scheme of things; this is not a particularly good western or a particularly good Bava film - but it's entertaining enough and I did enjoy it.

While this comic Spaghetti Western was nowhere near as bad as its low reputation amidst the director’s canon would seem to suggest, it can’t possibly hold a candle to Sergio Leone’s classic THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) – and it would be puerile for anyone to attempt comparisons of this sort! It’s the last of Bava’s three such genre efforts but, actually, the first I’ve watched; I used to think that he was constrained within the number of relatively low-brow peplums he made, but even those showed greater commitment – and vigor during the action sequences. Here we get plenty of brawling and shooting, to be sure, but the handling throughout is decidedly sloppy…as if Bava, rather than be inspired by these traditionally ‘big’ moments, wanted to get such genre requirements out of the way! That said, despite utilizing a wide variety of locations in its plot about two rival outlaw gangs’ quest for gold, these don’t seem to have stimulated the director’s trademark compositional skills; even worse, the comedy element comes across as heavy-handed most of the time, resulting in a flat and drawn-out film (even if it runs for a mere 85 minutes)! Brett Halsey (from Bava’s FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT [1969]) and Charles Southwood don’t exactly generate fireworks in the title roles and, in fact, the best in the cast are Marilu' Tolo as Winchester’s spirited (and shrewd) Indian girl and Teodoro Corra' as The Reverend, the atypically buffoonish baddie – a Russian émigré who still can’t get over the cold of his native land. Isa Miranda (who would work again with Bava when he treaded more familiar ground in BAY OF BLOOD [1971]) appears as the brothel Madame in what is perhaps the most slapsticky and forced set-piece in the entire film.Hardly memorable in itself, there are still a few mild highlights in this reasonably agreeable, innocuous yet patchy genre offering: the spastic gunman at the beginning, the obviously fake snake which menaces Winchester (reminiscent of the one in Fritz Lang’s THE Indian TOMB [1959]), the exploding villain, and the final shot with the heroes’ feet up in the air as they engage in yet another fisticuff. Piero Umiliani’s lively score certainly contributes to the film’s characteristically light touch.