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Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) is a prospector who hasn't been in touch with
his folks for years when he receives a note from a friend of the family,
Carradine (John Bartha), to return to his hometown momentarily. Once back
home though, he doesn't feel very welcome, his mother (Rina Franchetti)
and his brother Jeff (George Hilton) want to send him right away and
refuse to tell him how they lost their family home, and everything is said
to belong to a mysterious Mr. Scott (Giuseppe Addobbati), whose men every
now and again terrorize the town, going so far as to shoot people dead in
plain daylight, led by Scott's son Junior (Nino Castelnuovo). And when Tom
talks to Carradine, that conversation is cut short by a gunshot killing
the man. Tom decides it's time to pay Scott a visit, and Jeff actually
helps him to get there by shooting dead Scott's guards - and still, all
Tom gets from that visit is being brutally whipped by Junior. What's
worse, some of Scott's men shoot Tom and Jeff's mother. Ultimately though,
Scott pays a visit to Tom to reveal that he's actually Tom's father and he
wants to hand his whole operation over to Tom as Junior has gone insane -
and then Scott is shot by Junior, and now it's clear for Tom and Jeff that
they have to go one on one with Junior and his gang - knowing quite well
they're vastly outnumbered ... With the reputation Lucio Fulci
has garnered over the year as a hardcore horror/gore director, it's hard
to even fathom he has actually started out in comedy, and Massacre Time
was actually his first turn on more serious material - and it turned out
to be a very decent spaghetti western, properly cynical and violent in all
the right places, with Franco Nero fresh from his success with Django
in the lead as an added bonus - and Nero delivers for sure. Now true,
compared with Django or other
classics of the genre, Massacre Time rather pales when it comes to
inventiveness, but it's very cool genre entertainment directed with a safe
hand and is sure to be enjoyed by spaghetti western fans.
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