Stoical smoothie Roy Colt (affable Brett Halsey) and his more scruffy wild card buddy Winchester Jack (the equally engaging Charles Southwood) go searching for a fortune in gold. Shrewd spitfire Native American prostitute Manila (winningly played by the lovely Marilu Tolo) tags along. Meanwhile, irascible Russian villain the Reverend (robustly essayed with lip-smacking brio by Teodora Corra) also tries to find the gold. Director Mario Bava cheerfully pokes fun at the Spaghetti Western genre in this lively and amusing send-up that neatly combines elements from both "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Moreover, Bava relates the wacky story at a constant brisk pace, gives the picture a suitably dirty'n'dusty look, and stages the stirring shoot-outs with considerable rip-roaring flair. This movie reaches its gut-busting peak during a hysterical sequence set in a brothel called Wimpy City. Halsey and Southwood display a loose, funny and appealing chemistry as our titular bumbling outlaw duo while Tolo almost steals the show with her wonderfully fiery portrayal of the cagey and enticing Manila. Kudos are also in order for Antonio Rinaldi's slick, often dazzling cinematography and Piero Umiliani's supremely funky'n'twangy score. A hugely enjoyable hoot.

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970) * 1/2 (out of 4) Spaghetti western directed by Mario Bava about two outlaws (Brett Halsey, Charles Southwood) trying to find a treasure. Outside some nice cinematography this film is pretty much a wasted effort for everyone involved, especially the director. I'm a fairly big fan of Bava but this here certainly ranks down at the bottom of his filmography. The film goes for way too many laughs, which is okay if any of them were actually funny. In the end the film is basically a rip of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are a few good moments but not enough to make it worth watching.

Knowing that Mario Bava spent most of his career directing horror flicks, it may come as a surprise that he also directed a western. Well, not only did he direct one, it came out quite cool. Portraying a pair of outlaws splitting up and meeting again after one of them has gone straight, "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" plays everything for all that it's worth. As can be expected, there's plenty of gunfights (I suspect that the Old West was like that). But what I notice was different about this movie that wasn't true about any other spaghetti westerns - at least the ones that I've seen - was the whole brothel scene; it was probably fun to film all that! Leave it to the Italians to stick something like that in a western.Anyway, this is one movie that makes no pretense about being anything other than pure, unadulterated fun. Some of the characters - particularly the Reverend - seemed a little annoying. But the movie's quick pace makes up for any problems. I liked the movie. And not just because Manila was really hot! PS: Brett Halsey, who played Roy Colt, had earlier co-starred with Vincent Price in "Son of the Fly" and "Twice-Told Tales".

If this film is judged only on its own merits, without reference to other entirely unrelated entries in the Mario Bava lexicon, it holds its own as light-hearted entertainment. Unlike most Italian comic westerns, this one holds the interest largely due to its three central players' well rendered characters and exploits. The cinematography is also far better than many others in the genre.Charles Southwood is perfect as the scruffy, irrepressible Jack, in contrast to the stolid, lachrymose-faced Roy (Halsey)and both of them can be relied upon to out-cheat the other when they aren't busy beating the tar out of each other to show their mutual affection. Southwood is really quite outstanding and should have been in a lot more films.Marilu Tolo is very effective here (much more than she is in most of her roles) as the feisty and very resourceful Indian prostitute who is determined to coerce someone into marrying her, preferably Jack or Roy. Don't miss the sequence when she hooks up with Southwood and forces him at gunpoint to take a bath before becoming a "client." Under protest, Southwood descends to the cellar and has to break the ice on the water before stripping off his smelly long-johns to take the plunge. By the shrunken state of his retracted genitals, the water is cold indeed. The shotgun pointed at him by the comely Tolo probably helped, too. Now there's a touch you would never have seen in an American-made western.