The movie doesn't have the star power of the original but it's refreshing to see Lee Van Cleef in a Western leading role for a change. His character is Chris Adams, a role portrayed by Yul Brynner in 1960's "The Magnificent Seven". The character is played with some ambiguity, since even though Chris is a town marshal, he's not above shooting a couple of bullies who rode off with a young man he freed from prison at his wife's (Mariette Hartley) request. Events conspire to propel Chris and pulp tabloid writer Noah Forbes (Michael Callan) to form an alliance with five hardened criminals who are granted amnesty provided they accompany Chris to rescue the Mexican town of Magdalena against a marauding bandit named De Toro.
Though the film plays out largely as a made for TV Western, I was intrigued by the preparations for battle made by Chris with the help of one of the convict cohort, Captain Andy Hayes (James Sikking). In charge of the mandatory explosive devices was Luke Askew as Skinner, while the widowed women of Magdalena pitched in to help defend their small town against the outlaw gang. The expected confrontation held it's fair share of surprises and violence against the Mexican outlaws, though it came to a rather abrupt end with the death of De Toro (Ron Stein), who for all the build up of the character, had almost no screen time and very little in the way of presence considering the way the part was written.
With virtually no time spent grieving for his murdered wife, Chris forms an amiable alliance with Stefanie Powers' character, Laurie Gunn and they close out the picture as one of the couples to survive the gunfight. Considering his options, I was left a little puzzled by Chris's decision to remain behind in Magdalena as the new village marshal, wondering to myself what the citizens of his former town would have thought about that.
Though the film plays out largely as a made for TV Western, I was intrigued by the preparations for battle made by Chris with the help of one of the convict cohort, Captain Andy Hayes (James Sikking). In charge of the mandatory explosive devices was Luke Askew as Skinner, while the widowed women of Magdalena pitched in to help defend their small town against the outlaw gang. The expected confrontation held it's fair share of surprises and violence against the Mexican outlaws, though it came to a rather abrupt end with the death of De Toro (Ron Stein), who for all the build up of the character, had almost no screen time and very little in the way of presence considering the way the part was written.
With virtually no time spent grieving for his murdered wife, Chris forms an amiable alliance with Stefanie Powers' character, Laurie Gunn and they close out the picture as one of the couples to survive the gunfight. Considering his options, I was left a little puzzled by Chris's decision to remain behind in Magdalena as the new village marshal, wondering to myself what the citizens of his former town would have thought about that.