Murietta – Geißel von Kalifornien (1965)

Murietta – Geißel von Kalifornien: Directed by George Sherman. With Jeffrey Hunter, Diana Lorys, Arthur Kennedy, Roberto Camardiel. The story of Joaquin Murrieta, a real life Mexican bandit who terrorized California with his gang of raiders and cutthroats during the first half of the 19th century. Some saw him as a murderous outlaw, others as the Mexican Robin Hood.

“Peaceful Mexican prospector Jeffrey Hunter is beaten, his claim stolen, and his pregnant wife murdered by a group of racist thugs. Getting revenge, he finds himself pursued by lawman Arthur Kennedy and usurping control of a gang of banditos, before declaring war on all the gringos in California!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother mean, hate-filled, hard-boiled, Spanish made, though American directed, low-budget western, this is sparked by an intense performance by Hunter, whou0026#39;s too-short career was practically built on playing angry anti-heroes. Itu0026#39;s also a joy to see old Hollywood star Kennedy as the voice of justice and reason, the type of role he didnu0026#39;t get to play much in his latter career, where he like Ray Milland, was typecast as bitter curmudgeons or sour-puss detectives. Itu0026#39;s always nice to see Euro- starlet Diana Lorys as well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn my opinion, Jeffrey Hunter ranks right up there with the other great new Hollywood actors of the 1950u0026#39;s, Brando, Dean, Newman. Only for him, the roles seemed to dry up. If anything though, heu0026#39;s the man who inadvertently saved Star Trek. If heu0026#39;d been available to shoot additional footage, Star Trek would have ended up as a stand-alone drive-in movie and a new pilot, most likely, would not have been ordered!”