Clint the Nevada's Loner Review
Clint the Nevada's Loner (See Database Page) was released in 1967 but thematically it belongs to the early stages of the euro western. Clint Harrison (what's in a name?) is a man who can't escape his reputation as a gunslinger. All he wants to do is to settle down with his estranged wife (who abhors violence) and son (who was told that he was killed in a duel), but he's challenged repeatedly by gunmen who want to make a name for themselves and many now hold him for an ruthless killer.
The theme of the gunslinger who can't escape his violent past, was a popular story device in Hollywood oaters from the golden years, but the obvious model here is Henry King's The Gunfighter (1950), which also features an estranged wife and son. But when Daniel Martin's Clint rides into the valley to reunite with his family, George Stevens' Shane quickly takes over. Clint is drawn into a conflict between peaceful homesteaders and a powerful rancher, Shannon, who wants the drive them out of the valley. Clint has promised the mother of his child to hang up his gun, but when Shannon and his evil sons start killing the homesteaders, we know that he is the only one who can put an end to the terror ...
The film was rejected by some spaghetti westerns fans for being 'too American'; the distinctive stylistic and atmospheric features the genre is usually identified with, are largely absent here. The movie is a clean, good-versus-bad cowboy adventure, cliché-ridden and old-fashioned; it's actually often closer in spirit to Hollywood B-movies than to the classic westerns from the fifties it's trying to emulate; some of it even reminded me of the simplicity of the Karl May movies; at one point I was sure that the kid, talking about Clint the stranger, was going to say something like: Aber das is doch Old Shatterhand! (That is Old Shatterhand!).
This doesn't mean it's without any charm. It's competently made and has a glorious look, the impressive mountain range of the Pyrenees falling in for the Rockies. I've never been a fan of George Martin but Walter Barnes and Fernando Sancho are excellent genre heavies and Swiss actor Pinkas Braun is a delight as Barnes' handicapped and frustrated son, who wants to prove daddy that he's every bit as mean as his black-clad older brother (Paolo Gozlino). It's always nice to have Marianne Koch in a movie, even if most of her scenes are pretty schmaltzy. With the exception of a protracted siege scene near the end of the movie (which looks rather chaotic) the action moments are brief but well-handled. And schmaltzy or not: that final scene is a clever variation on the (in)famous final moments - 'Shane, come back Shane!' - of Stevens' movie.
Links:
- Clint the Nevada's Loner was released by Wild East on a double feature with the sequel There's a Noose waiting for you, Trinity; the DVD seems to be OOP, but maybe you can get yourself a copy in a deal.
Dir: Alfonso Balcazar - Cast: George Martin, Marianne Koch, Walter Barnes, Fernando Sancho, Paolo Gozlino, Pinkas Braun, Gerhard Rietmann, Xan Das Bolas, Francisco Jose Huetos, Renato Baldini, Gustavo Re, Remo De Angelis, Beni Deus - Music: Nora Orlandi
Special thanks to Simha Chardon