The Hellhounds
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Hellhounds |
| Original title | La spina dorsale del diavolo |
| Country of production | Italy , Yugoslavia |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1970 |
| length | 105 (German verse: 99) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Burt Kennedy |
| script | Clair Huffaker |
| production |
Dino De Laurentiis Norman Baer Ralph Serpe for De Laurentiis Film and Jadran Film |
| music | Piero Piccioni |
| camera | Aldo Tonti |
| cut | Frank Santillo |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Höllenhunde (original title: La spina dorsale del diavolo ) is an international spaghetti western from 1970, staged by Burt Kennedy . The international title of the film is The deserter ; the German premiere took place on March 25, 1971 in a version shortened by five minutes.
action
In 1886, Apaches raid a mission station in the southwestern United States, killing Captain Victor Caleb's wife. He cannot cope with their death and attacks his superior Colonel Brown, whom he considers incapable, physically and with a weapon. Excluded from the army, he moved to the forests and deserts and from then on fought against the Apaches with Indian means.
As General Miles wants to bring about a decisive turning point in the fight with the Indians, he hires Caleb against the promise to pardon him in order to defeat the chief Mangus Durango. Caleb puts together a group of a few men whom he trains the Indian way. The job is carried out with inhuman efforts, many dangers and numerous losses, as the men cannot always trust each other: Mangus Durango is killed in a duel with Caleb, the Indians are defeated.
On his return he receives a message from General Miles that his pardon has been rejected. Colonel Brown declares Caleb dead so that he can go on living unmolested.
criticism
The reviews were divided. Joe Hembus considers the film to be “an effective large-scale film, which, like many large-scale films that have been created from the planned addition of tried and tested names and elements, lacks a bit of vitality; it is carried out more out of calculation than it is conceived and created with an impetus ”.
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt analyzes three ways to see the film: "Vision model I: war training for Vietnam", "Vision model II: an Italian costume film from the middle of the last century. An operetta "and" Sehmodell III: a new super color western ", and summarized:" This Italian western: inedible. "
The lexicon of the international film sums up: “A technically solidly staged and well-played spaghetti western that ends in a bloodbath in which the entire Indian tribe is exterminated. A film of very vulnerable cruelty, marked by an unbroken hatred. "
Remarks
The film was shot under the unnamed co-director of Niksa Fulgosi in Italy, Yugoslavia, Almería in Spain and the Torcal de Antequera National Park . The (in the original) eponymous "backbone of the devil" refers to the refuge of the Apaches in the film.
The soundtrack was released on CD (Legend CD 32).
Web links
- Hellcats in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The film at comingsoon (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ registered October 15, 1970; First performance in Italy on December 4, 1970 - data from Archivio del Cinema italiano
- ^ Hembus: Das Western-Lexikon, Munich 1995, p. 317
- ↑ in: Filmkritik 05, 1971
- ↑ The Hellhounds. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .