Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Like so many Van Heflin and Gilbert Roland hit the trail for Europe in search of roles in the 60s. This was a German made western so rather than call it a spaghetti western, maybe a weinerschnitzel western would be more appropriate.Of course I have a prejudice toward any other country attempting the great American art form, but The Ruthless Four is not too bad for the genre. It concerns Van Heflin who already killed one partner trying to do him out of his half. But as he explains it's not the finding, it's the digging and the transportation if you make a big strike that you have to have help and maybe cut them in. But who can you trust when gold is involved?The trouble is that Heflin, Roland, and George Hilton and Klaus Kinski the young guns who they get all don't trust each other. Not even Heflin and Roland who have history, both good and bad.This was all done before in better American films like The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and Lust For Gold. Still this one isn't too bad and Heflin and Roland are always worthwhile.

Fair prospector named Sam Cooper (good lead from Van Heflin) in search of gold in West find treachery , suspicion and greed . Sam is a man who has struck a rich vain of gold. The problem is one man can't get enough out and back, he needs a partner. Circumstances conspire to land him with three. Sam calls his pupil who he raised as his son called Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton) who is accompanied by a rare person , a forth partner named Brent the Blonde (played by Werner Herzog's Best Fiend Klaus Kinski) . Old prospector Sam Cooper meet up with a grizzled gunslinger named Mason (Gilbert Roland), a man who holds a grudge against Sam believing he double crossed him some years earlier and decides to join with them in search of gold in the desert . They form a quartet of unlikely mining pals ; both of whom match wills and wits and fight outlaws , elements and ambition among them . Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but also bandits , elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster . As they struggle among themselves to unearth a fortune in gold from a remote Southwestern mine without falling prey to each other's bullets.Entertaining Spaghetti Western with shootouts , action ,violence and amusement . The story is similar to previous classic ¨The treasure of the Sierra Madre¨ but realized in Spaghetti style . The film contains action-Western , gun-play , fist-play and is pretty bemusing . Giorgio Capitani's spaghetti western, probably won't be making too many top ten lists, but its an agreeable flick . It's an exciting western that scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflicts a misfit group , including breathtaking showdown between protagonists and the enemies that stalk to them . The film blends violence , thrills , high body-count and it's fast moving and exciting . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes , including a spectacular final confrontation . Although by many to be director Giorgio Capitani's finest film , this is a tale of fear , greed and murder , as four partners fall out over the gold they have clawed out of the inhospitable and bandit-ridden deserts and mountains . It also has probably the most brutal bar fight ever put on film along with Treasure of the Sierra Madre by John Huston . Overrated by some reviewers , but till interesting to watch . It above all things mostly also remains a real characters movie, in which the four main roles are the essentials. Their dynamic together is also great and is what mostly keeps this movie going. They are three totally different characters, which is the foremost reason why they work out so great together on film. Van Heflin is superbly believable and gives a nice portrait of an increasingly unhinged prospector , Gilbert Roland is very good as a cunning gunfighter and the strange couple formed by George Hilton and Klaus Kinski are pretty well . The musician Carlo Rustichelli composes a vibrant soundtrack and well conducted by Bruno Nicolai ; including a catching leitmotif and considered to be one of the best . Atmospheric scenario with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under sunny exteriors and a glimmer sun and fine sets with striking cinematography by Sergio D'Offizi . The picture resulted to be shot entirely on location in Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot innumerable Ravioli/Paella Westerns .The motion picture was well directed by Giorgio Capitani . Giorgio is an expert on all of type of genres such as comedy : ¨Lobster for breakfast¨ (1982) , ¨I hate blondes¨ (1983) , ¨Sex Pot¨ (1975) , Musclemen tales : ¨Samson and his mighty challenge¨ or Western like this ¨Sam Cooper's gold¨ also titled ¨Each man for himself¨, Every man for himself¨ or ¨Each one for himself¨ . Rating : above average Spaghetti , superior Western that will appeal to aficionados .

If you're a Western movie genre fan, you've probably caught the classics "Shane" and "3:10 to Yuma", with Van Heflin in prominent supporting roles. The surprise in "The Ruthless Four" is that Heflin leaves both of those prior characterizations firmly in the dust with a strong lead role as Sam Cooper, a grizzled gold prospector who's saddled with a trio of partners when his plans called for only one man he could trust. Coming near the end of his career, Heflin pulls out all the stops to give a noteworthy performance, and I'd be hard pressed to come up with another that was any better than this.Rounding out the 'ruthless' quartet finds George Hilton portraying Cooper's adopted son Manolo, Klaus Kinski as Manolo's enigmatic former companion, and Gilbert Roland's Mason, hired on by Cooper to keep the others honest while he's trying to cover his own back. The homosexual subtext between Manolo and Brent the Blonde (Kinski) is the subject of a couple of quick teases in the story, and is never fully developed. However there's not much more explanation for Brent's intrusion into the expedition, which gives Cooper some pause as to Manolo's reliability. It's also not immediately apparent that Mason (Roland) will prove honorable by the time the film winds down, so that gives the picture another hook to keep the viewer interested. On top of all that, you've got a pair of brother bad guys hovering around on the fringe of the action hoping to cash in by the time the picture's over.However it all could have gone down hill with a puzzling opening scene when Sam Cooper's original partner in the gold dig turns on him with the idea of taking it all for himself. Those kinds of scenes always bothered me when I was growing up - here was a gun man who had the drop on his partner with the intention of killing him, and then he doesn't kill him. I mean, why leave anything to chance when you can win the whole ball of wax right there. But instead, in an attempt to what, be fair?, the guy challenges his foe to draw down. When anything can happen, and it usually does, the villain loses, and it serves him right for being such an idiot.And how about when Cooper was waylaid by the bandits who stole his horses but left the gold sacks? What movie were they watching? Come to think of it, how did one of the bandits get behind Cooper to knock him out with a rock? Cooper had his back to the river and it wasn't like he couldn't keep an eye on all of his attackers. Just a very clumsy scene that didn't make very much sense to me.But get beyond those couple of examples, and the rest of the story is pretty intriguing, with some interesting twists and turns that move the picture to a climactic showdown. This had to be the only time I ever saw a cowboy on horseback use an umbrella in the rain (Manolo), and Kinski ordering up a glass of milk in the saloon was definitely an oddity. The only sure thing, if you can call it that, would be that Van Heflin would come out pretty much as he went in, as last man standing. How each of his partners fared, well, that's for you to find out, as this wasn't called "The Ruthless Four" for nothing.

Sam Cooper (Van Heflin) is a gold prospector who discovers a mine filled with gold, but his partner tries to kill him, but before he does Sam gets him. Riding back to town his robbed of his horses, but not his gold. Too heavy to carry all of it, he dumps some in the river and hides the rest. When he arrives in town he sends a message for his adopted (possibly homosexual) son Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton) to see if he wants to be his partner and go back up to the mind. After Manolo arrives in town so does the mysterious Brent (Klaus Kinski) who gets in with the deal because of Manolo. Not trusting what has happen Sam asks Mason (Gilbert Rolanda) long time army buddy, who now has a grudge against him to tag along so his not back-stabbed and he agrees only if he gets 50% of his share. So now the conniving begins when the four head out for this mine."The Ruthless Four" is one of many spaghetti westerns that flooded the mid to late 60's, but something about this Italian/German production that stood out from the rest for me. It's not I think it's brilliant, but actually the simple story which at times felt like it came across more out of something of Hollywood is a curious piece. Its hard to put my finger on it, sure it didn't entirely blow me away, but this a sturdy spaghetti western is done with buckets of chic and grit. Though, I warn you if your looking for a abundance of wild and over-the-top violence, you'll surely be disappointed as they only come in small doses. But when they do occur that's when the flair kicked in, with well mounted shootouts and showdowns, even if they do lack some sort of sting (well, except for a certain bloody showdown between Brent and Sam). But like I typed earlier these are far and in between plenty of sequences involving a lot chat, confrontations, accusations and scheming. That's basically what happens in the first half of the film, but when the four head out to the mine that's when things "kinda" get going with a change of pace in the plot. It's more about the effects of paranoia and greed with these shifty man trying to knock each other off, or teaming up to get this gold no matter what. There's always something going on to keep you glued.What makes up for the slow going nature is the encroaching camera shots that seem to have a mind of its own! It rather was dynamic, especially amongst the upbeat moments. And also Klaus Kinski performance, his venomous persona soared above the rest and added a lot to proceedings. His sly character didn't say too much, but the his appearance and blistering stare were just unsettling. In my eyes he also makes a grand first appearance on screen. Just like in most spaghetti westerns the camera work is prominent, but so is the score and landscape. Here is no exception, but the score that flooded the film was rather bloated and bombarded some scenes without grace. But not enough to really tick me off. Now the location, well the harsh rocky terrain where most of the film took place truly helped portray the rough and cruelty of the ever changing face of the west.The well rounded characters and story builds on a remarkably persuasive script, it wasn't particularly hammy like I thought it might be. Sure there were some things left up in the air, but it didn't damage the story at all. It was more up to you to decide on certain things that were hinted. While the other three performances from Gilbert Roland, Van Heflin and George Hilton were nothing but terrific.Solid spaghetti western caper. It's something a bit different, but I would definitely recommended it, if only for Kinski's performance. Give it a chance, you might be surprised?