Stylish but barely mediocre overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Altogether a mediocre offering, this dreary Spaghetti Western has a muddled if unusual storyline but little real feeling for the genre. John Richardson stars in a dual role as an outlaw who's been on the run for nearly 5 years - after which he can no longer be pursued by bounty hunters - and his look-alike younger brother. The latter's deliberately confusing introduction - a gunfight in a saloon in which both opponents are killed (they are traveling entertainers offering a novel form of spectacle) - comes off as unintentionally funny. Being mistaken for his grey-haired and bespectacled brother, he's tortured by a horde of Mexican bandits (who are after the gold hidden by the latter) by way of a studded ball-and-chain; in fact, an interesting aspect of the film is its inventive deployment of weaponry - others include a knife at the end of a billiard stick, and a number of guns and rifles strategically placed on the floor above the saloon - which the younger Richardson then uses to shoot the bad guys, through the cracks in the roof! When the two siblings finally meet, the kid persuades his elder brother to give himself up - leading to a rather weak ending in which he rages over the death of his performing partner (who he had to 'execute' himself for having turned traitor)!! At least, the music score is pleasant enough...