not horrible nor great

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Well at this time my family was living at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines. We lived at Cubi Point which was the Air Station part of the base. We had our own theater there. On the base were 4 movie theaters and each was free. Let me tell you as a high school kid we didn't miss many movies. There was no TV out there back in 1968-70 except for Philippine TV. When you went to a movie it was packed with sailors and marines. The place would go wild with hooting and hollering during the movies. The Brute and the Beast would play every couple of months or so and the place would be packed. It was so tacky everyone loved it. I remember a couple of scenes, mostly toward the end of the movie. One was where someone was shooting at someone and there were no bullets left in the gun. He throws the gun at someone and a bullet fires. But the classic scene, that brought everyone to their feet with roaring laughter was where the hero was in a gun battle with the bad guys. Bullets were flying all around him continually until he comes out from cover, stands up in the open on a wagon that is up on a ramp, pushes himself and the wagon down the ramp at the bad guys (again no one was even shooting at him at this time) crashes into the barrier the bad guys set up, goes up in the air, does a couple of flips and lands behind the bad guys, and shoots all of them dead. The theater went wild! Yes it was fun on those bases during that time period. It is an experience I still treasure to this day!

Lucio Fulci was obviously best known for his horror films, but like most Italian directors in the sixties, seventies and eighties; he could turn his hand to other genres too, and this is one of the films that Fulci made before he started being worshipped by anyone who knows their horror! The obvious film to draw parallels with this film would be Sergio Corbucci's Django, as Franco Nero plays pretty much the same character and the look and feel of both films is very similar. Both were released in 1966 - so it could be a case of 'great minds think alike' - but given the Italians' record for ripping things off, I wouldn't be surprised if production began on this one five minutes after the news came through that Django was a hit. The plot is pretty standard western fare, we've got Django...oops, I mean Tom Corbett; a man who returns to his home town to find that a ruthless bloke named Scott has taken over everything. Along with his alcoholic brother, Tom decides that enough is enough! And then goes and shoots everyone...As soon as this film starts, you know you're in Django territory. One of things that Corbucci's successful western was most famous for was its title song, and this one has one too! In very much the same style, and once again it's very catchy! Franco Nero is obviously the biggest standout where the cast is concerned, but he receives excellent feedback from George Hilton, who is sublime as the alcoholic brother and manages to steal every scene he's in; and Nino Castelnuovo, who certainly makes an impression in his bad guy role. Unfortunately, my copy of this film is dubbed - and the dubbing really is terrible! Nero's American accent is ridiculous...but luckily that doesn't make the film any less enjoyable. The most important thing is that all the western trademarks are present - the atmosphere is pure Spaghetti western, and the shootouts certainly pack a punch! Fulci was a brilliant director, and this is shown best when the guns are blazing - the final climax is a major highlight. Overall, this isn't a boundary breaking western; but it's a damn good one and anyone into this sort of film will want to take a look!

Lucio Fulci was an awesome human being and still pretty much a deity in my crazy little world! Mainly for his gore flicks and giallos, but here he proves that even westerns can be a specialty of his. "Four of the Apocalypse" isn't really that impressive, but his unofficial contribution/cash-in to the Django series is fantastic entertainment, with a solid story, exhilarating music and several truly cool gunfights. Franco Nero, the number one male symbol of Italian Westerns, stars as a Texan gold digger who's called back to this hometown by his old friend. It seems like the entire town has been monopolized by a certain Mr. Scott and his men can get away free with randomly killing everyone they please, including women, children and elderly folks. Even Tom Corbett's parental farm has been taken over by Scott and his brother Jeff became a low-keyed alcoholic...even more than he already was. It's up to Django (although he's not called Django) to reinstate law & order and to revive his brother's desire to kill. "Massacre Time" is actually a rather unusual western. No matter how cool and charismatic Franco Nero is, he's really getting his butt whooped by George Hilton, who plays his hard-drinking yet straight-shooting brother Jeff. It's a fast-paced genre-highlight, with a delightful 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' mentality as well as a handful of ingenious twists in the plot. No nonsense, just hard boiled macho-action, particularly during the last half hour. The song "Back Home Someday" sung by Sergio Endrigo is easily the best western song I ever heard. Highly recommended, if you're fortunate enough to stumble across a decent copy.*Note: user-comment dedicated to Dario_2nd! The man with the largest collection of films imaginable.

What a truly wonderful discovery and surprise. Lucio Fulci is best know in the genre of horror, I must admit to not being one of his biggest fans, his movies lack consistency, his earlier work outweighs, by far, his later work. But even the films regarded by his fans, The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters etc. are severely overrated. Before I saw his Spaghetti Western Tempo di massacro (Massacre Time) I was impressed more by his earlier work, Don't Torture a Duckling for a perfect example of Giallo cinema. It all changed when I caught this truly outstanding cinematic experience...Tempo di massacro. From the excellent original Morricone' esquire score by Coriolano Gori to fantastic action sequences that obviously inspired John Woo's narrative traits (complete with flying 'slow mo' doves) The consistently great Franco Nero here gives an adequate performance (mirroring Eastwood's on screen presence) pairing perfectly with his on screen brother George Hilton who steals many of the films greatest lines from him. But the highlight of the film, by far, is the absolutely fantastic and mesmerising performance of Nino Castelnuovo playing the sinister whip brandishing Junior. Castelnuovo's performance lights up the screen here in a way rarely has been seen in cinema (for me Castlenuovo is one of the best character actors in Italian cinema with career defining leaps in so many genres ranging from comedy, horror, romance, erotica, western, sci-fi and drama) From the fantastic 'whipping' scene to the organ-playing scene... Nino Castelnuovo steals every moment on screen... and considering Franco Nero is in this that is by no means an easy achievement!Just check this cinematic classic out...I have no doubt in saying that in a few more years, this will be seen as a true classic of the genre and will finally be given the respect and audience it so rightly deserves. Lucio Fulci's finest work! A MUST SEE!Much more than just sixties exploitation cinema. I don't use this word lightly... it's a masterpiece of sixties cinema.