Death at Owell Rock

While it lacks the opera-like style and sweep of the best Italian westerns, this minor entry in the cycle has its compensations. By concentrating on a limited number of characters playing out most of their story in the confines of a small town in the Arizona Territory, "Owell Rock" achieves a bit more depth than is often found in movies of this sort. This, however, requires the viewer to pay a greater-than-average degree of attention since the plot has its convolutions and the choppy editing in the English-dubbed print appears to have left out some bits and pieces which might have made the narrative play more smoothly. In short, if you're simply in the market for a mindless shoot-'em-up which places no strain on the intellect, better look elsewhere.

Mark Damon, who graduated from sword-and-sandal movies, makes a passable hero, though his English-dubbed voice doesn't quite seem to fit him. Alas, he has no "beefcake" scenes, and though there's a whipping in the movie, he is not the victim. Luciana Gilli and Pamela Tudor provide a bit of feminine pulchritude but have little else to do.

For the record, the title in the English-dubbed tape has a comma in it: "Death, at Owell Rock." And "Owell" is pronounced "Owl."