In 1983, director Matt Cimber and gorgeous star Laurene Landon made one of the better low-budget female-driven action flicks of the 1980s, "Hundra". The following year, the same team tried again to do much of the same, but lightning did not strike twice. "Yellow Hair" has an imaginative start (kids sitting down in a theater to watch the movie we're about to watch, hollering and commenting on the credits), a promising introduction for the title character (beating a male Indian with some of the wrestling moves Landon learned from "All The Marbles", including a fantastic dropkick!), a likable male sidekick for Yellow Hair, and some great stunts. But the film drags at times, with scenes going on longer than they should (a prime example is Kid shooting snakes for about 5 minutes), and the aforementioned fight scene with Yellow Hair is her ONLY fight scene in the entire movie, aside from a punch and a kick here and there. That's why "Hundra" was better - it gave Landon more opportunities to fight. **1/2 out of 4.
... View MoreThere are some reviews on this site that give Yellow Hair one star. That's uncalled for as this is not a bad movie. It's no Seven Samurai, but let's be honest with our expectations on a movie called 'Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold'. This movie doesn't deliver Oscars, but it does deliver a funny script with plenty of gun-play and Spaghetti Western caricatures of good and bad guys (or gals!). It promotes itself as a 'Lost Ark' style adventure movie, and that is more than a little misleading, as this could have just as easily been a Corbucci or Tessari film. I would let that go, however, and just enjoy a goofy throwback with a high entertainment value. Rating: 26/40
... View MoreFiery blonde half-breed Yellow Hair (a winningly sassy and vibrant performance by the lovely Laurene Landon) and her easygoing cowpoke partner the Pecos Kid (a likable turn by Ken Roberson) are after a fortune in Mayan gold. The courageous duo have run-ins with an army of Mexican soldiers, a gang of dastardly bandits, and a lethal tribe of cunning Aztec warriors while searching the countryside for said gold. Director Matt Cimber, who also co-wrote the genial and eventful script with John Kershaw, relates the fun story at a steady pace, creates and sustains an engaging lighthearted tone, stages the thrilling action set pieces with gusto and competence, pays affectionate homage to the old-fashioned Western serials of yore, and further spruces things up with an amusing line in sharp cheeky humor. Moreover, the game cast have a field day with the breezy material: John Gharrari as fearsome Aztec chieftain Shayowteewah, Luis Lorento as the slimy and effeminate Colonel Torres, Aldo Sambrell as vicious mute bandit gang leader Flores, Claudia Gravy as Yellow Hair's wise Indian mother Grey Cloud, Ramiro Oliveros as mean saloon owner Tortuga, and Suzannah Woodside as brash saloon tart Rainbow. Appealing leads Landon and Roberson display a very nice and natural on-screen chemistry. John Cabrera's cinematography makes nifty use of wipes and strenuous slow motion. Franco Piersanti's spirited score hits the stirring spot. An extremely entertaining movie.
... View MoreThere is little to be said in favour of this unholy mixture of slapstick and Spaghetti Western sadism. It's long, it's boring, and hasn't a spark of originality about it.I have no idea who the producers thought the target audience for this movie might be but the pitch must have been a doozy to get someone to stump up the money."It's a Spaghetti Western Comedy - only, and here's the twist, we have a woman hero and make it look like an old time Saturday morning children's serial to cash in on the Indiana Jones market! How can we loose?" Three big targets to hit - and they missed all three. The comedy is feeble - are we really supposed to find the fact that the generalissimo is a teensy bit camp funny? The serial framing device is so clumsily and laboriously done that any humour in it evaporates before it gets going. The whole point about the Saturday serials was that there was a cliffhanger at the end of each episode*, a point that seems to have been totally missed by the writers. The only one of their targets they came close to hitting was the parody/homage of the Spaghetti Western genre - but as that was a genre that was always happily sending itself up it's a very easy target to hit. Give anyone a week in Almeria with a few unshaven actors in cowboy costumes and they could have come up with this stuff.Avoid.*Apart from the last one naturally.
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