Der Supermann des Wilden Westens (1976)

Der Supermann des Wilden Westens: Directed by Don Taylor. With Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed, Robert Culp, Elizabeth Ashley. Three prospectors confront their ex-partner who, 15 years earlier, ran off with all the gold from their mine and they also plan to kidnap his wife.

“The American Western had gotten kind of tired by the early 60u0026#39;s and ended up moving overseas during that decade where it begat the Spaghetti Westerns or Euro-Westerns. There is no doubt these films really revitalized the genre, but what was especially interesting is the influence they in turn had on the American genre in the 1970u0026#39;s. This is most obvious perhaps in early American Clint Eastwood Westerns like u0026quot;Hang u0026#39;em Highu0026quot; and u0026quot;High Plains Drifteru0026quot; which traded on Eastwoodu0026#39;s mercenary u0026quot;Man with No Nameu0026quot; character. The more left-wing political Eurowesterns, meanwhile, probably had at least some influence on American films like u0026quot;McCabe and Mrs. Milleru0026quot; and u0026quot;Pat Garret and Billy the Kidu0026quot; (as well as on overtly political pseudo-Westerns like u0026quot;Billy Jacku0026quot;). This rather obscure American film is especially interesting though because it really betrays the influence of the third type of Eurowestern, the slapstick-comedy Westerns typified by the u0026quot;Trinityu0026quot; films of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is also interesting in that it casts two the scariest screen heavies of all time–Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed–in roles that sre not only sympathetic but funny. Reed plays an Indian(!), which easily could have been a disaster, but he turns out to be quite funny as a resentful half-breed who kidnaps a bunch of prostitutes in order to infect them with a dose of clap he has in order to create an epidemic that he hopes will reach all the way to the White House! He quickly forgets about this hare-brained scheme, however, when Marvinu0026#39;s character enlists his aid in getting revenge on an old partner (Robert Culp) who swindled them both and stole the Marvin characteru0026#39;s perpetually unfaithful wife (Elizabeth Ashley). Rounding out the gang is character actor Strother Martin and Kay Lenz as u0026quot;Cathouse Thursdayu0026quot;, one of the prostitutes who decides to stay with her abductors. And this itself becomes a problem because she is the favorite of a lesbian madame (Sylvia Miles), who commands her own gang and owns the only motorcar around. It all comes to a head at a boxing match/political charity for the election of William Howard Taft.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBesides Marvin and Reed, the other main asset of this film is Kay Lenz. Lenz was a very appealing actress but not a traditional Hollywood beauty (she was kind of like Sissy Spacek or Hilary Swank), which often got her cast in u0026quot;loseru0026quot; or u0026quot;outsideru0026quot; roles like the title role in the ridiculous TV movie u0026quot;The Initiation of Sarau0026quot;. After her memorable debut in u0026quot;Breezyu0026quot;, she also kind of got typecast as a younger woman romantically involved with much older male partners ( William Holden in u0026quot;Breezyu0026quot;, Lee Marvin in this). She was definitely very cute (she was once married to 70u0026#39;s heart-throb David Cassidy) and Hollywood should have done a lot more with her.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis isnu0026#39;t really a classic Western (and itu0026#39;s pretty hard to find right now), but is an interesting and entertaining film.”