This was Clint Eastwood's first starring role in an American Western, following his phenomenal success in Italy. It is a bitter film, an uneven one, and sometimes quite as violent as its Italian counterparts. But it's more deserving of serious consideration as a movie than Eastwood's work with Italian director Sergio Leone, not least for the fine, burnished colour photography of Leonard South and Richard Kline and for an extraordinary supporting cast that includes Bruce Dern, Ed Begley, Charles McGraw, Ben Johnson, Dennis Hopper, James McArthur and (especially good in a 'bit' as a prisoner) one-time 'B' movie cowboy star Bob Steele.

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