La sfida dei MacKenna

"La sfida dei MacKenna" (1970), also known as "Challenge of McKenna" and "Badlands Drifter", is a Spaghetti Western directed by León Klimovsky. The story is thus: an ex-preacher, now a drifter (played by John Ireland) gets into a deadly dispute with powerful Mexican rancher Don Diego (Roberto Camardiel). This is quite a bizarre Western for its genre: there is little action (most of which is well-staged, apart from the anti-climatic final confrontation) and has a lot of Catholic symbolism (the dramatic and striking first scene for example, where a man is hung on a cross against the skyline). The acting, for this wordy movie is excellent: Ireland, while too old for the part is believable and moving as a man who has lost his faith and Robert Woods as Chris, son of Diego, is in one of his best roles. The film is well-served by Klimovsky's direction and the screenplay is strange but riveting. Only one thing blot's this film, and that is the romantic sub-plot that is totally redundant and unnecessary. However, apart from that, this is an unusual Spaghetti Western well-worth seeing.