Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Lee Van Cleef, typically amusing, is cast as bandit Roy King, leader of a gang that also includes Angel Santos (Simon Andreu), Ed Pace (Gianni Garko), and Tom Odie (Jess Hahn). Roy makes the acquaintance of the devilish Alicia (Gina Lollobrigida), who's hatched a scheme with her fellow criminal Francisco Paco Montero to dupe the Mexican government out of a cool $1 million. But before that can happen, they fall into the clutches of revolutionaries (this tale takes place during the Mexican Revolution) and are forced to deal with them.As written by director Eugenio Martin ("Horror Express") and Hollywood veteran Philip Yordan ("Johnny Guitar", "El Cid"), this is a rather lightweight, forgettable Euro Western- comedy. While it's always nice to see the leading actors in anything, they've certainly been better utilized before and after. In the beginning, the movie is decidedly annoying, with too many dopey songs and Martin overdoing it on use of freeze frames. While it's appreciable that Martin and Yordan were going for irreverence, they make things just a little too silly.Adequate action sequences help, and the filmmaking is technically fairly slick. There are some fun gags, especially right at the start when two men are inside a bank vault.Lollobrigida and her co-star Diana Lorys are fine scenery attractions, and the former plays such a conniving character that she helps to keep things interesting. The movie doesn't really hit its stride until James Mason shows up. (For fans of the actor, be warned that almost an hour is over until he does.) It's a treat to see him in this kind of setting, and he gives the story a real shot in the arm.The exemplary cast of familiar faces also includes Aldo Sambrell, Lone Fleming, Eduardo Fajardo, and Sergio Fantoni.Admittedly, if one is looking for a Lee Van Cleef fix, they could do a lot better than this, but "Bad Man's River" delivers some undemanding fun for 92 minutes.Six out of 10.

Robber Roy King loses his wife, Alicia, to revolutionary Montero.Despite their rivalry they collaborate in an attempt to rob the Mexican government of one million dollars.Sort of a comedy spaghetti western.Lee Van Clef is wanted with an award on his head of a dollar. Wow.Directed like a TV movie. The print I saw was not wide screen.Nor was it pan and scan.That's right. It was swished.The title song will make your head explode.It's a very colorful movie. Just not so good.

With all the draws in the film - Lee Van Cleef, James Mason, Gina Lollabrigida - you would think there would be some redeeming quality to all the flowing marinara in this one. But sadly that's not the case. I had a bit of a struggle to make sense of the action, and about as difficult a time in keeping the minor characters straight. The best lines of the film have to do with my summary above, and another by Van Cleef describing his fascination with the banking business - he enjoyed transferring funds from one place to another. Sadly, that wasn't enough to carry the picture. I enjoy my share of spaghetti like the next Western fan, but this one was weak and and shy on the Parmesan. Recommended only for the die hard.

Heaven knows how a talent like Philip Yordan came to such a sorry pass as writing this mess. Heaven knows how badly James Mason must have needed money for him to take part. Lee Van Cleef, one of my great movie heroes, made some really awful films here and there, but this one takes the cake. The pop-rock/barbershop-quartet score, completely inappropriate to the time and place, is the first clue that the viewer is in for a melange of malarkey. Everyone is dubbed, of course--it's a spaghetti Western. But at least Van Cleef and Mason dub themselves. However, Mason, who despite being second-billed doesn't show up until 2/3 of the way through, makes the most embarrassing attempt at a southern American accent I can recall ever hearing. Gina Lollobrigida exposes her talent in her special way, and the rest of the parts are played in the broadest fashion by a cast of overacting hambones. The plot is virtually unintelligible, though it does involve a river for a moment or two (the good guys hope their engine-less riverboat can drift from Matamoros to Laredo before the bad guys catch up to them--despite the fact that Laredo is UPSTREAM from Matamoros.) It's obvious that much of what goes on here is intended as comedy, except, one presumes, for scenes of people being shot and burned to death. Let's just say that none of the stars ever made a worse movie and then just pretend this farago never happened.