I just picked up a 3 DVD/9 Movie set of Spaghetti Westerns put out by St. Clair Entertainment and am getting an introduction to some neat Eurowest films. My only familiarity with the genre has been the Clint Eastwood movies, so these are proving to be a treat. "Minnesota Clay" is one of the entries, with a unique twist involving the main character - he's going blind. Cameron Mitchell portrays protagonist Clay, a gunslinger who escapes from a labor camp while waiting to be hanged for murder. The man who can clear him is now in control of Clay's home town, proclaiming himself sheriff and chief desperado. 'Five Aces' Fox (Georges Riviere) and his band of five henchmen carries on a running feud with Mexican bandit Ortiz (Fernando Sancho), while the town suffers in silence.
If things weren't hot enough, the presence of Ethel Rojo as Estella turns up the action a few degrees. In turn, she manages to set up Clay and Ortiz for villain Fox, but when a townsman fingers her for Clay's escape, Fox makes her swear on a Bible without giving her a chance to say her prayers.
The gradual loss of Clay's vision is handled cleverly, when he fires his weapon he relies more on hearing than sight to find his victim. This will come in handy for the final showdown when his daughter Nancy signals her own presence while Fox waits in ambush. Nancy (Diana Martin) only knew her father as Mr. Clay, having met him for the first time in the course of the film. However that seems at odds with the history of the town, since virtually everyone knew of Clay and his reputation as a fabled gunslinger.
The town where the story takes place is never mentioned by name, which I found odd. Besides Fox's saloon, there were only a few other buildings and people in town that we ever see, which made me wonder about one thing. As his gang of outlaws begins to bear down on Clay, Fox demands that a handful of citizens pony up a tribute of a hundred thousand dollars in addition to their regular payment of protection money. Fox never mentioned any plans for leaving town, so what exactly would he have done with all that money?
If things weren't hot enough, the presence of Ethel Rojo as Estella turns up the action a few degrees. In turn, she manages to set up Clay and Ortiz for villain Fox, but when a townsman fingers her for Clay's escape, Fox makes her swear on a Bible without giving her a chance to say her prayers.
The gradual loss of Clay's vision is handled cleverly, when he fires his weapon he relies more on hearing than sight to find his victim. This will come in handy for the final showdown when his daughter Nancy signals her own presence while Fox waits in ambush. Nancy (Diana Martin) only knew her father as Mr. Clay, having met him for the first time in the course of the film. However that seems at odds with the history of the town, since virtually everyone knew of Clay and his reputation as a fabled gunslinger.
The town where the story takes place is never mentioned by name, which I found odd. Besides Fox's saloon, there were only a few other buildings and people in town that we ever see, which made me wonder about one thing. As his gang of outlaws begins to bear down on Clay, Fox demands that a handful of citizens pony up a tribute of a hundred thousand dollars in addition to their regular payment of protection money. Fox never mentioned any plans for leaving town, so what exactly would he have done with all that money?