The Last Ride to Santa Cruz
- Mario Adorf: Pedro Ortiz
- Edmund Purdom: Rex Kelly
- Marianne Koch: Elizabeth Kelly
- Marisa Mell: Juanita
- Klaus Kinski: José
- Sieghardt Rupp: Fernando
- Walter Giller: Woody
- Thomas Fritsch: Carlos
- Florian Kühne: Steve Kelly
- Martin Urtel: Priest
The Last Ride to Santa Cruz is a Western by Rolf Olsen from the year 1963.
Action
The bandit Pedro Ortiz comes out of prison and he and the two ruthless henchmen José and Fernando on the way to the silver mine of Santa Cruz, where he has hidden the loot of his last raid. But first he wants revenge on Rex Kelly, who once put him behind bars. Kelly is no longer a sheriff, and runs a bank. Ortiz kidnapped Rex's wife and their son Steve and blackmailed a handsome ransom. Kelly goes in pursuit of the gang to rescue his family. On the mountain there is a showdown between Kelly and Ortiz.
Reviews
" In the wake of the major international success of the Karl May films like The Treasure of Silver or Winnetou also comedy director Rolf Olsen tried in the Western genre - but without much success. According to the book by Herbert Reinecker, who wrote the template under the pseudonym Alex Mountain ( he would have known why!), Was a fidgety as uninspired cobbled together work that evokes exclusively by the occupation of interest. "
" Allrovi " notes that " this 'whirlpool - Western ' more on bloody fights and shootings put significant than the American models, which he must follow otherwise. "
Background
The film was made parallel to the successful German Karl May westerns. Leading actor Mario Adorf played in Winnetou I, Winnetou II Klaus Kinski in a supporting role. Despite an outstanding cast, the film was at the time a failure, and received poor reviews.
From a historical perspective, the film- production is a pioneer spaghetti Westerns. The unusual brutality in the film and not unsympathetic portrayal of the " villain " were to style elements of the new genre. Marianne Koch Sieghardt Rupp and were cast in Sergio Leone's classic genreprägendem For a fistful of dollars, which appeared a year later. Klaus Kinski, for The Last Ride to Santa Cruz was the first Western to his film career, a star of the spaghetti Westerns, including his roles in For a Few Dollars More (1965 ), Kill Amigo (1966) and corpses pave his way ( was 1968).