Red-Barracuda
This above average spaghetti western focuses on a bounty hunter who is hired by bankers in a small town to protect their cachet of gold against a predicted heist by Mexican bandits.The director here was Tonino Valerii who was assistant director to Sergio Leone in his first two classic westerns, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For A Few Dollars More (1965). He then went it alone himself as a director making very good efforts such as Day of Anger (1967), A Taste of Killing was his debut as director and while it isn't quite as good, it is still definitely an impressive effort and better than most in its sub-genre. It benefits from a good turn from Craig Hill in the central role as the bounty hunter. He has unusual vulnerabilities such as the fact he can't read but he also has the more typical spaghetti western trait in that he is in possession of an unusual weapon, in this case a sniper rifle with telescopic sight. He is a nicely amoral central character who waits for robberies to happen and then proceeds to rob the robbers and return the money to the authorities and so bagging 10% in the process! The movie ends with a wry scene where our hero observes a gang of new bandits through his telescopic lens as they prepare to ambush the gold shipment he protected earlier on. He couldn't be happier - another 10% deal looks imminent.
Leofwine_draca
A TASTE OF KILLING is a low budget and generic spaghetti western made in the wake of the success of Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. It stars the square-jawed Craig Hill as a supremely confident bounty hunter who makes a living from bumping off bank robbers until some money-men come up with a new mission for him: to stop a planned heist BEFORE it takes place.This movie is undistinguished by genre standards although there isn't really anything to dislike about it. Director Tonino Valerii would later go on to helm stylish efforts like MY NAME IS NOBODY and A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE and it's clear he was finding his feet with this, his first movie. The familiar faces of Spanish star Fernando Sancho and George Martin (as the baddie) appear, and watch out for Chinese actor George Wang cast as a Mexican.The plot and characters are rather typical for this genre and there are few twists to keep you occupied. However, the cinematography at least makes it look good, and the various action scenes are well handled. What I particularly liked was the lead's proficiency with his sniper rifle, which leads him to take down various enemies at various points throughout the movie. It's a nice little addition to an otherwise uneven outing that's only suitable for die-hard genre fans.
FightingWesterner
Bounty Killer Craig Hill follows monetary shipments and rescues the money after they're robbed. After a typical job, he gambles his ten-thousand dollar reward on a double-or-nothing proposition involving himself protecting a gold cache. Trying to take the gold is George Martin, the bandit that killed Hill's brother some time before.A good enough Italian western, this has some decent action and suspense scenes, with Hill's character pulling off some excellent rifle work. Yes, it's derivative, but still pretty solid. The climax is well handled too.Director Tonino Valerii went on to make My Name Is Nobody, one of the best spaghetti westerns ever.Here, villainous Martin looks a bit like William Shatner, if he were cast as a Klingon!
Wizard-8
I'm glad that there is a DVD company (Wild East) in North America that is releasing a number of spaghetti westerns that never before got the attention in North America, probably due to the fact that they generally don't have the star power as other spaghetti westerns. I just watched one of their releases -"Taste Of Killing", and as a spaghetti western fan I was satisfied by the end for several reasons.One reason is that the hero of this spaghetti western is not a superhero. Yes, he's smart and quick with a gun, but he doesn't seem to have mystical powers like other spaghetti western heroes. He can't read, for one thing, and in a few instances he relies on teaming up with townspeople so that his plans can succeed. Craig Hill does well playing this hero.The script has a few other surprises as well. It's a more leisurely-paced movie, with not as much action as some other spaghetti westerns. (Though the action scenes are pretty good, especially the final shootout with the evil gang on the city streets.) But the script keeps up plenty of plot turns so viewers won't get bored. There's also plenty of focus on some of the supporting characters.And as a bonus, there's a tuneful and lively score by Nico Fidenco. In short, there's a lot to like here. Maybe this isn't a spaghetti western to start with if you are unfamiliar with the genre, but for fans of the genre it will satisfy.
AD
