Cameron Mitchell followed several other American actors to Europe in the 1960s and starred in several films, including westerns and sword & sandal sagas. "Django" director Sergio Corbucci cast him as a veteran gunslinger in "Minnesota Clay" who is losing his sight. Nevertheless, Mitchell's Clay remains as fast on the draw and as accurate ever with his six-gun. For the record, "Minnesota Clay" represented Corbucci's first oater to helm after sharing directorial credit with Albert Band on "Grand Canyon Massacre," starring virile Jim Mitchum. Unlike Corbucci's later westerns for which he is better known, including "Django," "Navajo Joe," "The Great Silence," "The Mercenary," and "Companeros," "Minnesota Clay" qualifies as a more conventional sagebrusher in the mold of traditional American model with few of the sudden, nimble reversals of a Spaghetti western. One trope that "Minnesota Clay" adheres to in the Spaghetti western formula is its high body count. Corbucci co-wrote the screenplay with sometime collaborator Adriano Bolzoni. As it turns out, Bolzoni supplied the story for Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars." Interestingly, when you compare the plots of both "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Minnesota Clay," the similarities are noticeable. The two films resemble Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's vintage samurai saga "Yojimbo." An outsider rides into a town that two separate fractions are warring to dominate. The chief difference between the two films is that Kurosawa sued Leone for copyright infringement but ignored Corbucci's western.
"Minnesota Clay," for the most part, resembles a standard-issue American horse opera about a gunfighter searching for redemption. Mitchell is dutifully straight-forward as the quick-draw protagonist who wants to change his life. Clay escapes from a brutal prison camp after he takes the camp's doctor hostage at gunpoint. He rides back to his hometown of Mesa Encantada to find a man, Fox (Georges Rivière of "The Longest Day"), who can clear him of the crime that landed him in the hell-hole of Drunner Prison.
When our hero arrives in town, he learns that two rival factions are tangling over the town. First, a villainous American named Fox rules Mesa Encantada like a racketeer and forces the town's merchants into paying astronomical protection fees. Were this not enough, Fox serves as the town's marshal so he controls the law in Mesa Encantade with an iron fist. Nobody in town likes Fox, and everybody would love to see him deposed. Second, a slimy stereotypical Mexican bandit General Domingo Ortiz (Fernando Sancho of "Gunfight at High Noon"), who is as dimwitted as he is gullible, wants to see Fox bite the dirt. He hopes Clay will join him. In the middle of all, two women pursue different aims. First, sweet young Nancy Mulligan (Diana Martín of "Revenge of the Black Knight") who lives just outside of town. She has been told that her father died years ago. One of the movie's revelations is that her father is none other than Minnesota Clay. Corbucci stages a typical American western scene where Nancy struggles to halt a runaway team and Clay rides heroically to her rescue. Second, the treacherous Estella (Ethel Rojo of "Doomed Fort") learns that her treachery doesn't endear her to anybody. She facilitates Clay's escape from Ortiz's camp. Estella informs Ortiz that Clay not only has fled, but he also has stolen Ortiz's box of gold. Surprisingly, Estella has aligned herself with Fox and tells him that Ortiz is heading toward the Mulligan Ranch. Fox assembles his men and rides to the ranch. Meantime, Clay and company knock off high numbers of Ortiz's riders out of their saddles. Ortiz sets fire to the building that our heroes have sought as refuge.
The above-average "Minnesota Clay" ranks far down on the list of Corbucci's westerns. But it was a beginning for the gifted Italian. The blind gunfighter premise is novel. Incidentally, the Mesa Encantade town set is the same location that Leone used for San Miguel in "A Fistful of Dollars." Altogether, this Corbucci western contains seeds that foreshadow some of his ideas and techniques in his later westerns.
"Minnesota Clay," for the most part, resembles a standard-issue American horse opera about a gunfighter searching for redemption. Mitchell is dutifully straight-forward as the quick-draw protagonist who wants to change his life. Clay escapes from a brutal prison camp after he takes the camp's doctor hostage at gunpoint. He rides back to his hometown of Mesa Encantada to find a man, Fox (Georges Rivière of "The Longest Day"), who can clear him of the crime that landed him in the hell-hole of Drunner Prison.
When our hero arrives in town, he learns that two rival factions are tangling over the town. First, a villainous American named Fox rules Mesa Encantada like a racketeer and forces the town's merchants into paying astronomical protection fees. Were this not enough, Fox serves as the town's marshal so he controls the law in Mesa Encantade with an iron fist. Nobody in town likes Fox, and everybody would love to see him deposed. Second, a slimy stereotypical Mexican bandit General Domingo Ortiz (Fernando Sancho of "Gunfight at High Noon"), who is as dimwitted as he is gullible, wants to see Fox bite the dirt. He hopes Clay will join him. In the middle of all, two women pursue different aims. First, sweet young Nancy Mulligan (Diana Martín of "Revenge of the Black Knight") who lives just outside of town. She has been told that her father died years ago. One of the movie's revelations is that her father is none other than Minnesota Clay. Corbucci stages a typical American western scene where Nancy struggles to halt a runaway team and Clay rides heroically to her rescue. Second, the treacherous Estella (Ethel Rojo of "Doomed Fort") learns that her treachery doesn't endear her to anybody. She facilitates Clay's escape from Ortiz's camp. Estella informs Ortiz that Clay not only has fled, but he also has stolen Ortiz's box of gold. Surprisingly, Estella has aligned herself with Fox and tells him that Ortiz is heading toward the Mulligan Ranch. Fox assembles his men and rides to the ranch. Meantime, Clay and company knock off high numbers of Ortiz's riders out of their saddles. Ortiz sets fire to the building that our heroes have sought as refuge.
The above-average "Minnesota Clay" ranks far down on the list of Corbucci's westerns. But it was a beginning for the gifted Italian. The blind gunfighter premise is novel. Incidentally, the Mesa Encantade town set is the same location that Leone used for San Miguel in "A Fistful of Dollars." Altogether, this Corbucci western contains seeds that foreshadow some of his ideas and techniques in his later westerns.