The greatest movie ever made..!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It's doesn't stand out as much as the other Spaghetti Westerns movies, I have watch. Its story doesn't seem that interesting at first glance, but it is, once you get into it. It's just would be better told in a more enhanced writer's hands. Remind me of 1957's 3:10 to Yuma or Anthony Mann's 1953's The Naked Spur with its story. Though based on the western pulp novel by American Marvin Albert call 'Bounty Hunter', this movie follows the same basic patterns as other Italian flicks with the whole resurrection & insurrection plot line. That's if you can find this rare movie. It's badly damaged or cut by the years. Some versions are missing dialogue or violence key scenes. Some of the voice dubbing sound is missing, so that at these points the English audio with subtitles was used. There is also muffling and few background hiss. There are hints of very minor cropping at the sides of the print but seems to be original aspect ratio. It depends on what version, you end up getting. It doesn't help that 'The Ugly Ones' has many internationally re-released titles such as The Bounty Killer, The Days of the Guns, The Price of a Man, No Money equal no coffin, and etc. etc. It might get confusing, but all of those titles are the same movie. Directed by Eugenio Martín, the film marked the debut of Tomás Milián in the western genre playing the bad guy Jose Gomez, an outlaw treated and protected by his hometown from the law because they believe he is a local hero. Only one man, can be brave enough to risk the odds, and capture him; Bounty hunter, Luke Chilson (Richard Wyler). The pacing in the film is really slow, and stretch to near yawning point. The opening sequences of Luke Chilson catching another escapee, and Jose Gomez escaping could be cut out, and it wouldn't make any different in the end. The second half of the movie, more than makes up for it. The action scenes are pretty good. I do like the diner escape scene. The violence is not over the top, it's has some realistic looking dangerous stunt work. There's a scene where a guy gets shot off of his horse, and after he falls, that horse rolls right over him. That couldn't have felt very good. Also scenes of blood, bruising, and one shot kills that isn't fake looking. The acting is great. I'm overall impression of Milian committed to portrayal a man on a path of self-destruction. The film is loaded with interesting complex analysis of Jose's criminality ranging from his parent's violence death and land stolen by American raiders to racism by law enforcement. In the movie, violence and corruption traps Gomez, who led by his own good intentions, in the end become more corrupted and violent as those that brutalized him. By making Gomez more likable and romantic in nature. The audience is almost likely get sucker punched into rooting for him, until the evil fabric of his character becomes apparent. The film really hits the heights as the locals see the transformation of Gomez's dark side peeking out, more and more. Milian plays this villain role great, but in some scenes it seem like he is just murmuring nonsense. Wyler's bounty hunter is far more restrained subdued stoic good guy, yet apt for the character he portrays. Thank goodness, Chilson does not succumb to becoming a romantic lead in this. He is a well-drawn character rather than a stock heroic figure that you expect in a western. Surprising even the female role play by Halina Zelewska as Eden is never degrades her into a sex object due to her character's complex duality between Gomez and Chilson that causes her character conflict. Her decision play the biggest part of the ending in the film. It has weight with the black hat/white hat scenario. Some people see it as a right wing message that says the poor should look deeper into what they call these Robin Hood type heroes. I have to somewhat agree. Altogether, this creates an interesting story that is very sophisticated for what is, basically, a B-List movie. The camera work is pretty good, and captured both the wide open spaces and the claustrophobic confines of the buildings where much of the action in takes place. Once again, watch the diner scene again. There is a very abnormal implementation of zoom shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax use as a dreamlike intoxicated, surreal fragmentation of Gomez's mind. Rather than the usual sustained, intensity-building close-ups that Sergio Leone was so fond of, the filmmaker here uses a rapidly zooming in and out camera for a more unsettling effect. It's somewhat annoying and headache to watch. The soundtrack is exceptional with a score by Stelvio Cipriani that exemplifies the unique qualities of the Euro western score. Overall: it's worth the watch if a Spaghetti Western's fan, but a bit forgettable compare to the other flashy Spaghetti Westerns, I'm used to.

The film stars Richard Wyler as a 'bounty killer'--a term I can't recall having ever heard except in Italian westerns (the correct American term is 'bounty hunter'). He's looking for José Gómez (Tomas Milian)--a guy who has escaped thanks, in part, to assistance from his girlfriend (Zalewska). She believes he's an innocent man and does not realize he's really a two-bit murderer.Having seen a lot of Italian westerns, I find a certain sameness to many of them. Sure, the plots are a bit different--but not remarkably so. It's not a bad western but it also doesn't stand out in any particular way. The music is nice, the action decent and the story reasonably interesting. But, on the other hand there is a certain 'sameness' to the film--as if I'd seen a lot of other films like it. Plus, although Halina Zalewska is absolutely gorgeous in the film, she looks right out of 1967--with lipstick, hair and makeup that you'd never have found on a woman of the late 19th century. Also, while I don't want to see gallons of blood, this was an odd film because you see absolutely none--and this made little sense. Nor, now that I think of it, did the escape--as there is no way all these federal agents could be killed without the bad guys (who were outnumbered) even losing a single man.

Eugenio Martin's "El Precio De Un Hombre" aka. "The Bounty Killer"/"The Ugly Ones" seems to enjoy a particular appreciation of many of my fellow Spaghetti Western fans, but, personally I do not regard the film as being above average. I have utmost respect for director Eugenio Martin for his fantastic Horror film "Horror Express" (1972, starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Salavas), and leading man Tomas Milian is one of my favorite actors, but, as far as I am concerned, this one is nothing beyond enjoyably entertaining, as the story is rather unoriginal and predictable. "The Ugly Ones" is only the second Western Milian ever did, the first being Sergio Sollima's masterpiece "La Resa Dei Conti" ("The Big Gundown", 1966) which is doubtlessly one of the greatest (Spaghetti) Westerns ever to be made. Milian is doubtlessly one of the greatest actors in Italian genre/cult-cinema. Starting with Westerns (most notably Sollima's trilogy), he would later become the most charismatic villain/hero in the Poliziotteschi of the 70s (most notably in Umberto Lenzi's fantastic "Milano Odia" and "Roma A Mano Armata"), and his oeuvre also includes a variety of other great films, such as Lucio Fulci's brilliant Giallo "Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino" ("Don't Torture A Duckling", 1972). No matter whether he is the hero or the villain, Milian is always fantastic and completely owns the screen with his unique presence. This film is mainly recommendable for Milian, who appears as the cunning, manipulative and somewhat charming villain he would often play in later crime flicks. Otherwise, it profits from a genre-typical nice score and cinematography, cult-regular Mario Brega in a supporting role, and the greatest possible setting for a European Western: the Spanish Almeria desert. Milian plays José Gómez, an outlaw who escapes with the help of the innocent Eden (Halina Zalewska). Eden and a bunch of other good people who have known Gómez since his childhood, help him hide from Luke Chilson (Richard Wyler), a bounty hunter who is very successful in his profession. After a while, however, it becomes more and more obvious that Gómez is nothing like the poor orphan they once liked anymore...The plot has strong resemblances to Anthony Mann's American Western "The Naked Spur" of 1953 (the Spanish Version of which was also called "El Precio De Un Hombre" in some countries), but while the premise fits the morale of the American Western quite well, it does not quite fit the antihero premise of this Italian Western. Even though portrayed as the villain, Milian's Gómez is the only interesting character in the film. The hero played by Richard Wyler (who sadly passed away this month - RIP), is your typical tough guy but good guy. Halina Zalewska's character is the typical innocent and naive but kind-hearted female - no surprises here. Miss Zalewska didn't appear in too many well-known films, but might be familiar to Italian Horror/Cult-Cinema fans for appearing twice aside the wonderful Barbara Steele, in Antonio Margheriti's "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" (The Long Hair of Death", 1964) and Camillo Mastrocinque's "Un Angelo Per Satana" ("An Angel For Satan", 1966). Spaghetti Western regular Mario Brega is the most notable member of the supporting cast; Brega, who appeared in masterpieces such as Sergio Leone's Dollar-Trilogy and Sergio Corbucci's "The Great Silence" (1968), is once again good, though his role here doesn't call for particular acting skills. Overall, "El Precio De Un Hombre", is a decent enough but not particularly praiseworthy film, which is mainly recommendable for Tomas Milian.

Eugenio Martin's THE BOUNTY KILLER is another of those really impressive & highly professionally made overlooked Italian spaghetti western classics. Regardless of genre this is a highly entertaining film, imaginatively staged & filmed with stylistic flourish by "Trinity" creator Enzo Barboni. Based on the western pulp novel of the same name by Marvin H. Albert and boasting a robust Stelvio Cipriani musical score, the film has an authority to it's execution that belies the low budget origins of the production.All of this realized by a first rate cast: Thomas Milian steals the show as a suave killer who devolves into a chattering psychopath after he & his gang of grubby unwashed cut-throats take over his former home village (which due to budget restraints is populated by all of six people, but never mind). The performance is measured against Richard Wyler's grim, laconic bounty hunter, determined to bring in Milian for bounty dead or alive. Frequent Margheriti actress Halina Zalewska with her glittering blue eyes plays the woman who is both the key to Milian's wanton freedom and his eventual demise. Mario "Mr. Fun" Brega plays the beefy lummox town blacksmith who makes a mistake by helping to free Milian and very quickly comes to regret it, with colorful supporting bit parts for familiar faces like Frank Braña, Luis Barboo, José Canalejas, Enzo Fiermonte, and paunchy Ricardo Canales who is never seen without a plate of stew.Thomas Milian's performance is the key to the movie's success, specifically contrasted with Wyler's far more subdued good guy. By making Milian's character more likable and romantic in nature the audience is almost sucker punched into rooting for him, until the evil fabric of his character becomes apparent. Some of his schtick gets a bit tiresome towards the end -- he spends a lot of time murmuring what seem to be significant lines just below the audio threshold level -- but it is the first of countless tour-de-force performances by Milian. He's always a fascinating actor with a "love it or hate it" style, and I like to divide his career into a Pre-Funny Hat and Post-Funny Hat eras. This might be his best Pre-Funny Hat acting, though it's hard to beat THE BIG GUNDOWN.Another interesting aspect of the movie is Halina Zelewska's role which never degrades her into a sex object. Yes she is undeniably attractive and costumed in a manner that enhances her overlooked cleavage, but she is an equal with the boys in this one and it's refreshing to see a spaghetti western heroine who isn't just a cheap lay for the lead actor. Her role is complex and laden with a duality that causes her character conflict: Does she side with the suave bandit or the cold bounty killer? Her decisions are the most important moments of the film, a significance rarely seen among western damsels from either side of the Atlantic.Why has this film been so overlooked? Not only will western fans who scoff at spaghetti westerns find it interesting, but non-fans of the western genre will doubtlessly be drawn to the plotting and characterizations. The gunplay and bravado are just gravy on top of a wonderful concoction. 8/10