''Per il gusto di uccidere'' (internationally released as ''Taste of Killing'', ''Lanky Fellow'' and ''For the Taste of Killing'' and originally titled as ''Cacciatore di taglie'') is the 1966

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

film debut directed by

Tonino Valerii Tonino Valerii (20 May 1934 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian film director, most known for his Spaghetti Westerns. Tonino (Antonio) Valerii started his film career as an assistant director on Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'', before mo ...

. It is also the first film to use the camera system known as 2P. It was filmed in

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

. It is produced by Francesco Genesi, Vincenzo Genesi, Daniele Senatore, Stefano Melpignano and Jose Lopez Moreno, scored by Nico Massi and edited by Rosa G. Salgado.

Plot

At the start of the story, the band of Sanchez ambushes a military transport escorting $100,000 to Omaha. He leaves together with two men to take the money to Mexico, while the other gang members dress in the uniforms of the dead soldiers and continue the transport, to use this as a cover to enter and rob the bank of Omaha. This nifty plan is undone by the bounty hunter Hank Fellow, who has been watching the attack in the telescopic sight of his rifle – without firing or otherwise interfering. He then takes his time following Sanchez' group, unnerving the men with some long range pot shots, before confronting and killing them in a stand up gunfight at close range. Then he hurries back to warn the town, and the "soldiers" are ambushed at the bank and killed, most of them by Fellows himself. The mine owner Collins, who urgently needs to ship a load of gold past the dangerous gang of Gus Kennebeck, suggests a deal – Fellows cuts up his 10% reward as an insurance, and gets the double amount back if he manages to get the gold to Omaha and keep it there until a military escort picks it up. Fellows accepts, and when Kennebeck's gang waits in ambush, the bounty killer picks off a few of them, which makes Kennebeck hold off the attack. At night Fellows has the gold taken away from the bank, and refuses to tell Collins where it is. The same night he has observed Kennebeck visiting a woman in town, Isabelle, and the next day he captures Kennebeck's captain Machete after a visit there. The sheriff and his men beat up Machete until he confesses to them that Isabelle is Kennebeck's woman, and when the gang will attack. When the bandits attack, Fellows blows up a bridge on their way to town. They attack from other directions against the citizens waiting in prepared positions. After a lot of casualties on both sides the bandits reach the bank and make their way into the vault, where Fellows has prepared a barrel of explosives connected to the telegraph line. When a signal is given that they are inside, Fellows orders the telegraph operator to start sending, and the remaining bandits are killed in an explosion. Kennebeck did not take part in the attack, but when he learns about the outcome he arrives to fight Fellows. He challenges him to drop the rifle with the telescopic sight. When his two remaining men appear, and are killed before they can shoot, Kennebeck goes for that rifle but is shot by Fellows through the sight. When the military troop arrives, the banker discloses that the gold has been disguised as the new stairs of the bank. Fellows is paid and leaves. On the road he observes the military transport being ambushed by another gang of bandits, and grins.

Cast

* Craig Hill as Hank Fellows *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

as Gus Kennebeck *

Piero Lulli Piero Lulli (1 February 1923 – 23 June 1991) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 111 films between 1942 and 1977. He was the younger brother of actor Folco Lulli. Selected filmography * '' A Pilot Returns'' (1942) - De Santis * '' ...

as Collins *

Fernando Sancho Fernando Sancho Les (7 January 1916 – 31 July 1990) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during or ...

as Sánchez *

Rada Rassimov Rada Rassimov (born 7 May 1938) is an Italian actress of Serb origin, who has appeared in film since the early 1960s and television since 1975. Filmography *''Una tragedia americana'' (1962, TV Mini-Series) - La signora Brent *''Sfida al re ...

as Isabel *

Franco Ressel Franco Ressel (8 February 1925 – 30 April 1985) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1961 and 1985. Selected filmography * ''La cento chilometri'' (1959) – The Gay Race Walker (uncredited) * '' The Assa ...

as Aarons *

José Manuel Martín José Manuel Martín Pérez (24 May 1924 – 12 April 2006) was a Spanish film and television actor, radio broadcaster, and screenwriter. He was a popular character actor in Spanish cinema during the 1950s and 60s, best remembered for playing vi ...

as Rodrigo * George Wang as Mingo / Machete * Diana Martín as Peggy / Molly Kennebeck * Graham Sooty as Jefferson * José Marco as John Kennebeck *

Lorenzo Robledo Lorenzo Robledo (3 July 1918 – September 2006) was a Spanish film actor, who made over 85 appearances in film between 1956 and 1982. He is a familiar face in Italian Westerns, having appeared in a total of 32 spaghetti Westerns throughout the ...

as Sheriff *

Sancho Gracia Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia (27 September 1936 – 8 August 2012) was a Spanish motion picture and television actor. Career Born in Madrid, Gracia started his acting career in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived from 1947 until 1961. In Urugu ...

as Bill Kilpatrick * José Canalejas as Peter * Dario De Grasi as Steve * Enrique Santiago as Sanchez henchman *

Frank Braña Frank Braña (born Francisco Braña Pérez; 24 February 1934 – 13 February 2012) was a Spanish character actor. Biography He was born Francisco Braña Pérez in Pola de Allande, Asturias, Spain on 24 February 1934. Also credited as Frank Bl ...

Olga Karlatos Olga Karlatos (; 20 April 1947) is a retired Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer, known primarily for performing in Italian horror cinema. Career Between the end of the 1960s and the early 70s, Karlatos had a short career as a singer, recor ...

as Molly

Release

''Per il gusto di uccidere'' was released in Italy on 8 June 1966 where it was distributed by

Titanus Titanus (also called Titanus Distribuzione) is an Italian film production and distribution company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Vi ...

. The film grossed a total of 495.449 million

Italian lire The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually fo ...

in Italy.

Reception

In his investigation of narrative structures in

films, Fridlund writes that ''Per il gusto di uccidere'', unlike influential

films like ''

For a Few Dollars More ''For a Few Dollars More'' () is a 1965 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonté as the primary villain. Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a se ...

'' or '' Django'', presents a protagonist who is always in control. The developments never put him at the mercy of any villain, so he is never subject to torture. He does not go out of his way to pursue a second motive, and his choices do not put any loved ones of his in danger. However, these kinds of complications are not missing, but instead befall other characters in the story.Fridlund, Bert: ''The Spaghetti Western. A Thematic Analysis''. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006 pp. 138-39.

Releases

Wild East released this on an out-of-print limited edition R0 NTSC DVD in 2006

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Per il gusto di uccidere 1966 films Italian Western (genre) films Spanish Western (genre) films Spaghetti Western films 1966 Western (genre) films Films directed by Tonino Valerii Films shot in Almería Films scored by Nico Fidenco 1966 directorial debut films 1960s Italian films