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Mexico, the 1800s: A gang of lepers flee a leper colony and terrorize a nearby village - not so much out of spite, just to get their hands on some food. Now not surprisingly, the locals are less than pleased and they want to lynch the lepers and also burn down the leper colony, with hothead Camerino being their leader. But level-headed sheriff Dario manages to cool them down, and organizes a search party to find the lepers and return them to the colony. The lepers cannot be found though. Despite all his grand posturing though, Camerino is secretly head of an outlaw gang that hides the lepers and feeds them, and uses them in their raids, promising them half the loot even. And suddenly crimes attributed to "the lepers" don't just involve food but also money and valuables. Dario realizes he needs outside help for the case and thus rides to the next town to fetch prize-fighter Santo (Santo), who upon arrival in town is challenged to a fight by Camerino and gives him a good thrashing. Santo and Dario devise a plan to lure the outlaws into the open by announcing there's extra money in the bank - but Camerino realizes it's a trap, so he sets the village on fire, and then raids the bank. And not only that, they even manage to take Dario's fiancée Carmen captive. One of Camerino's gang is shot though, and Santo and Dario manage to get the secret hide-out of the gang out of him - which Camerino and company vacate though, safe for one leper who's unable to walk and is thus shot dead. In the finale, good of course triumphs over evil, and the lepers aren't only rehabilitated, Santo also tells them about a new cure for their condition.

Now the story for this movie  - Santo versus lepers in the Old West -might sound more bizarre than it turns out in execution, as at its heart, Santo contra los Jinetes del Terror very much resembles American B Westerns of a couple of decades earlier, with clearly identifiable heroes and villains and the customary deceit thrown in for good measure, and both Santo (wearing his silver wrestling outfit throughout) and the lepers are just fun additions to the pie. And this still makes for odd viewing, just not nearly as outrageous as the premise might sound. But it's good fun for sure.

That said, it should also be noted that while the heroes in the film claim to be sympathetic of the lepers, the film's general view of lepers seems to be antiquated even for 1970.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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