Vengeance (1976) User Reviews

An average western vendetta with a nasty villain well featured by Lee Van Cleef

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 15 March 2006]

After witnessing the savage massacre of his family , a boy (Leif Garret) sets out a personal vendetta and rescue his sister (Glynnis O'Connor) against an outlaw band ( Lee Van Cleef, John Marley , among others ) . He carries the revenge in his heart after seeing his family butchered . Former rules of the code of west are dated and nowadays is guided for revenge . He embarks on his vengeance and during his quest teams up with a prospector (Jim Brown ) who has been robbed by the nasties . Together form an alliance going after those who murdered his parents and trying to retrieve the money the bandits robbed him . They are a dynamic duo combining untamed youth and toughness . They travel the southwestern territories and cross paths concerning similar foes they hunt .

This average Western/revenge flick is plenty of violence , shootouts and packs loads of action though the director is uninspired and the final is pretty predictable . This mediocre Western vengeance tale is set with Francesco De Massi's good musical score . Features an appearance by stalwart Spaghetti Western Lee Van Cleef as an ugly , brutal, dirty and downright villain with big earring.

James Brown as two fisted hero is fine , he starred four Westerns in similar style , three of them along with Van Cleef ( exception is ¨100 rifles¨ ) , they are : ¨Take a hard ride¨ ( directed by Antonio Margheritti ), ¨The Condor¨ ( by John Guillermin ) and ¨Kid Vengeance¨ . Leif Garret as obstinate and impetuous young is nice , he starred two Westerns both of them with Van Cleef , thus was with ¨ A bullet from God ¨ ( by Frank Kramer or Gianfranco Parolini ) and this one .The motion picture is regularly directed by Joseph Manduke .

What a difference a year makes.

[mharah · 6/10 · 24 December 2016]

Leif Garrett did this film a year after God's Gun (aka Diamante Lobo). In the previous film, Garrett was quite good in a challenging (for several reasons) role, but his performance felt a bit tentative (also for several reasons). In this film, just one year later and for the same infamous producers, he was confident, sure-footed and turned in a very fine performance. The film was his to carry, and he did so quite well. Garrett was one of Hollywood's most promising young actors at the time, when too many child actors were, at best, barely adequate. True, it was a low budget, cranked out film, but Leif was a class act. Lee Van Cleef had played similar roles before - many times. He could have phoned this one in, and sometimes it looked as though he did. Jim Brown, following up a legendary professional football career with a number of turns as a film actor, handled his assignment competently. The only other actors with anything significant to do were Glynnis O'Connor, who sometimes overacted and wasn't as good as in some of her later roles; John Marley, good as always in the sort of role he has played many times; and David Menachem, an Israeli child actor who did several other American films but somehow didn't catch on. He should have; he was quite good. The production values were much better than God's Gun. The script was much more coherent, the dialogue more speakable, the direction more fluid. At least part of it was shot in New Mexico (the rest in Israel). Being in the US meant that the production was controlled by a SAG contract, always an advantage. Kid Vengeance (also available at one time or another under several other titles: Vengeance, Vendetta, Take Another Hard Ride) gave Garrett the chance to launch a serious career as an actor. He demonstrated that he was up to the challenge. But then the music producers came along. Too bad.

Surprisingly original, almost unknown.........

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 7 July 2008]

Seek this one out if you are looking for a different kind of Lee Van Cleef "spaghetti-type western". Definitely on a par with his lesser westerns like "Death Rides a Horse", but inferior to "The Big Gundown", this revenge story has quite a few unusual aspects. The surviving massacred family member is a young boy, who proves quite resourceful in his vendetta against Van Cleef and his gang. Lee is definitely not a sympathetic character, and his evil presence is perhaps only surpassed by "Angel Eyes" in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". The quality of the DVD is inferior, with the sound badly out of sync. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this unique "pseudo-spaghetti western". - MERK

Engagingly surreal.

[madsagittarian · 30 September 2002]

I may be the only person in the universe that actually likes this movie. Of course the last time I saw this, I was 16, and not yet force-fed twaddle like Resnais, and being conditioned as to what to appreciate in cinema. Even so, this film was enough to make the great Lee Van Cleef hang up his six-guns forever, with the exception of riffing his cowboy image for Cheetos and Midas Muffler commercials. He is superbly slimy in this one, nonetheless-- with a big earring, bandana and goatee, his character McLain is outlandish, but in a good way. Despite the exploitative nature of the material, much of the film is otherworldly- the violence and the characters. Shot in orange hues and dreamy soft focus, Leif Garrett (yes... Leif Garrett) rides the trail of vengeance after Van Cleef's gang of slimeballs after they murder his family. He gets an ally in Jim Brown, who shares his thirst for revenge after Lee rips off his mine. The fact that some of the violence is ludicrous actually works- take for instance the scene with the scorpion, or when an outlaw has rocks dropped on his head in slow motion. The last half of this revenge western has a dream-like quality; perhaps it was meant to accentuate the state of mind of Garrett's character, and of a child at that. Dealing with such a loss and seeking retribution for it puts one in a strange state of consciousness-- how often have we felt after the death of a loved one that we are dreaming. or hoping that we will wake up soon? But at least, because this film is so bizarre, it is not your average revenge oater. It at least makes you think about you are watching. Isn't that what cinema art is supposed to do?

Don't kid yourself: yes you're watching a movie that has Leif Garrett VS Lee Van Cleef in a Matzoh Ball Western. It was pretty average cheaply made film

[ironhorse_iv · 5/10 · 30 July 2013]

A lot of critics will probably hate this movie because of the fact, that it has teen pop star Leif Garrett seeking vengeance of Spaghetti-Western legend actor Lee Van Cleef. Think of it, in modern terms. It's like watching Justin Bieber VS Javier Bardem in a violent revenge western movie. In my opinion, it didn't bug me so much, because I didn't realize who Leif Garrett was, before watching this movie and didn't care. He wasn't that famous and annoying. One thing that is annoying about this film is how nobody can remember what the title of this movie directed by Joseph Manduke was. Some people think the movie is call Vengeance; while others think it calls Bad Azz Muthaz: Kid Vengeance. Its call Kid Vengeance, most of the time. Plus, some people got this 1977 movie mixed up with another movie from 1975. 'Take on Hard Ride' is another Western movie that Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef was involved. I don't know how America got confused with the title translations. It didn't help that the film is sometimes call 'Take another Hard Ride' in some theater. Some people think this is a prequel or sequel to it, and it's not. It only has a little bit of similarities to that older film. Other people say it's relate to 1975's God's Gun, because it was shot in Israel. There was a brief flourishing during the 1970s that used the Negev desert in Israel as location for the filming of westerns. The film was produced by the cousins Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan known for leaving their crew for days in the harsh environment. It was a miracle that the film was even shot, because some people refused to return to the location after God's Gun. Lee Van Cleef is reunited with then 15-year old Leif Garrett, who also appeared in God's Gun, but this time around, Garrett is not his apprentice, but his sworn adversary. Don't be fooled in whatever this movie is call: the vengeance in this movie might be exacted by a kid, but it's by no means a kiddie movie. This is your typical dark late-era Spaghetti Western, violent and pretty unrelenting, with a fairly high body count. Lee Van Cleef stars as an evil Willy Nelson look alike, headband wearing evil bandit, name McClain who kills the boy's father and rape his mother. He then kidnaps his sister (Glynnis O'Connor) to be sold later as a sex slave. I don't know he know what McClain's gang was supposed to be; it felt like a bunch of white guys trying to act Hispanic or something. Politically correctness was tossed out of the window in this film indeed. Well, Tom (Leif Garrett) starts following the gang through the desert, picking off the bandits one by one, killing them in gruesome fashion, using bow and arrow, rocks, scorpions and snakes. In other words: everything the desert has to offer, can and will be used against them. Still, how the kid gets a snake into the saddlebags or put a scorpion in a guy boot is left to the imagination. The scene where the rocks dropped on his head in slow motion is laughable. On the way, Tom meets a prospector name Isaac (play by ex-football player Jim Brown) who teams up with Tom after his gold has been stolen by the bandits. I really don't know why he was in this film with his limited screen time. It was better, just to cut him from the film. I didn't even think he needed the help of Jim Brown most of the time. It felt like I was watching a weird version of Huckleberry Finn or something. Jim Brown seems so out of place. Van Cleef, Brown and Garrett do their best, but eventually the film looks as cheap as it probably was. It was full of one shot kills, bad dubbing that was out of sync, dead people blinking, scenes that you can't tell if it's night or day, and gunsmoke appears about 5 seconds before you hear a gunshot. The actors look tired. As working conditions must have been very difficult due to the heat of the desert, and in some scenes Van Cleef is visibly suffering from the atrocious heat. The quality of the DVD isn't good. It looks like a bad VHS copy with scratches, and discoloring. There are some good things about the film. I love that the film deals with Tom's coming to age revenge story. There is a pretty good scene in the beginning where Tom's father teach the boy, the different between hunting and killing. I do have to say the rabbit, they hunt do look like it was killed on film. I don't know if it's animal cruelty or not. I have a feeling, somebody probably indeed ate it. I do like Francesco Masi's fine musical score, it fits the cold tale of revenge. I do like the poster to the film with Garrett arching an arrow. Badass. Overall: if you like 1970's western, then you're probably like this. If you just happen to see it on TV or somewhere. You might think it's awful or average. In my opinion, it's rare to see a kid killing evil outlaws in film nowadays, so this movie might be a treat because that taboo.

Desolate Israeli Western with Lee Van Cleef, Jim Brown, Leif Garrett & Glynnis O'Connor

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 14 September 2016]

Released in 1977 and directed by Joseph Manduke, "Kid Vengeance" (retitled simply "Vengeance") is a Matzo Ball oater starring Leif Garrett as an adolescent who witnesses his mother's raping followed by his parent's murder at the hands of a bandit gang in the Southwest desert. He teams up with a miner (Jim Brown) to enact vengeance and get his sister back (Glynnis O'Connor). Lee Van Cleef plays the outlaw leader.

This was shot before another Hebraic Western with Van Cleef and Garrett, 1976's "God's Gun," but released afterward. These turned out to be the last two Westerns for Van Cleef. "Kid Vengeance" is better than "God's Gun" simply because it's gritty realistic whereas the latter has an uneven semi-camp/parody tone. In any case, Garrett was about 14 during filming and O'Connor was 20-21 whereas Van Cleef looks like he wandered off the set of "Woodstock" with his headband, although they were no doubt used in the Old West. The plot may be hackneyed, but the cast is great. Unfortunately, the movie's strictly one-dimensional in tone and utterly desolate in location; and therefore a mite tedious. Still, it's worth checking out if you like the cast and 60s-70's Westerns.

The film runs 90 minutes and was shot in Israel.

GRADE: C+

Lee Van Cleef Versus... Leif Garrett?????

[hokeybutt · 4/10 · 27 December 2004]

KID VENGEANCE (2 outta 5 stars) Cheaply-made and poorly-directed piece of western fluff starring Lee Van Cleef as one of the most vile villains he's ever played. This was during his later years when he was getting a bit long in the tooth to believably play those nasty, tough guy parts... but he is still the most interesting thing in this movie. He leads a bunch of bandits who rape and kill the mom and dad of young Leif Garrett and then kidnap his sister. Leif goes after them with "vengeance" on his mind. He begins to pick off the bandits one by one, using some pretty unconventional means (bow and arrow, rocks, scorpions, the old snake-in-the-saddlebag trick). He eventually teams up with a gold prospector (Jim Brown) whose life savings have been stolen by these men as well. The film starts off looking like a bad TV-movie... but once the raping and killing starts it becomes obvious that this was no "Movie Of The Week". You might be interested enough to sit through it once but this is no classic by any means.

Nicely done late seventies grimness

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 17 October 2012]

I know nothing of Lief Garrett's modern day goings on, but I'll tell you this: he can sure pick a grim film to star in! Not only was he great in Devil Times Five (aka Peopletoys), he's also good in this, as a kid out to get revenge on the low down scum who killed his parents! The leader of this gang? Lee Van Cleef, all bald and knife-brandishing.

Garrett fairly works his way through the evil gang, using snakes, scorpions, nooses, rocks and arrows in what amounts to almost a slasher-like Western. I didn't even think he needed the help of Jim Brown, but when Big Jim starts throwing dynamite at everyone, you're kind of signing up a winner right there! Big Jim also brings along his band of brothers he's been fighting with, just to complicate things up a bit.

This is your typical dark late-era Spaghetti Western, violent and pretty unrelenting, with a fairly high body count. Made in Isreal so I guess the term 'Spaghetti' might not be appropriate.

Formula Western.

[gridoon · 4/10 · 12 February 2002]

I admit that I was drawn to this film by Maltin's (negative) review ("bloody, gory Western"), wondering if it could be so explicit. Well, there are many killings here, but you barely get to see any blood. Mainly, this is just an improbable, formula Western tale of revenge. Lee Van Cleef is the sadistic villain, and perhaps he had played a few too many sadistic villains by that point; he has no flair here. Early on, there is a scene so laughably bad, involving an obvious stock shot of a scorpion, that it destroys the film's credibility, and the film never regains it. (*1/2)

Not bad, fairly interesting Western.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 19 January 2012]

The story of vengeance here is pretty standard stuff, as a stubborn protagonist determines to get back at the scummy outlaws who raped / murdered his mom, murdered his dad, and made off with his sister. The twist here is that the protagonist is a young teen, Tom Thurston (Leif Garrett). Tom actually does a pretty good, and needless to say, very amusing job on his own, but ultimately he will team up with a gunslinger named Isaac (Jim Brown), a man with a highly coveted stash of gold, in order to save his sibling. Not only do they have to contend with the main outlaws, led by a truly devilish Lee Van Cleef, playing McClain (and sporting a bandanna instead of a hat), but a bumbling secondary group, including characters like Grover (Matt Clark) and Ned (Timothy Scott). Reasonably enjoyable but also forgettable, "Kid Vengeance" is just offbeat and surreal - and humorous - enough to give it entertainment value, in addition to the solid cast. Confusing at times, as if there might be a scene or two missing, and it also plods a little too much. An early production for Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, before they formed the Cannon Group that cranked out many great genre movies of the 1980's, it's not as exploitative as one might think, and in fact it has some good moments where the feisty sister, Lisa (Glynnis O'Connor) tries to stand up to McClain. Van Cleef clearly has fun with his part, and John Marley is likewise a total hoot as his accomplice Jesus. Brown plays a role of quiet strength and does it well, and Garrett isn't bad as the kid. Clark and Scott are funny in the comedy roles. However, the tone of this movie is mostly serious (the opening scene actually looks believable), with a rather dark ending, and Garrett's Tom, who's been taught the difference between hunting and killing by his dad, figures out which of the two he's doing by following and eliminating the villains. The movie is mainly worth watching to see the commanding performances by Van Cleef and Brown, who'd also done "Take a Hard Ride" and "The Condor" together. They give it an extra point, along with the typically fine music by Francesco De Masi. While not without interest, it's not likely to stick in the mind for long after it's over. Six out of 10.

Nonsense On The Negev

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 17 February 2009]

There was a brief flourishing during the Seventies of using the Negev desert in Israel as location for the filming of westerns. I imagine that now with those rockets flowing from the Gaza, no film company wants to go there. In any event I suppose you could call these things bagel westerns.

Quality wise they're not all that different from some of the mediocre European spaghetti westerns being churned out on that continent, even with American players like Lee Van Cleef, John Marley, and Jim Brown starring in them.

Kid Vengeance stars a kid, Leif Garrett in the days right before he became a pop bubblegum teen idol. Van Cleef and Marley and their gang kill his father and kill and rape his mother and sister Glynis O'Connor stows away on their outlaw wagon. Talk about not too much smarts.

Anyway young Leif is out for blood, but the most androgynous teen idol until Michael Jackson never really makes you feel he's all that bloodthirsty. Garrett also meets Jim Brown, a miner who the outlaws have robbed and left tied up and stretched out to die. Garrett comes him free and the two of them join forces to get the gang that did them dirt.

The climax which I can't reveal is hokey beyond belief, the most unbelievable western showdown ever filmed. This film just might have killed the Israeli western business more than the Arabs.

my yiddisher western

[froberts73 · 8/10 · 21 April 2011]

I have to grit my teeth (grit-grit) when I read the putdown of this movie. Sure, it is another vengeance adventure and, sure, there are goings-on that have gone on before, but the sum total is - it is some picture, and I mean that in a positive way.

The opening scene with the Easter bunny - well, I saw this on Maundy Thursday - was too realistic, as was the rape of the mother, viewed by the audience at a distance, but by her son as a close-up. He also witnessed the killing of his father, a combination that demanded, yes, demanded, retribution.

Said youngster was ex-heartthrob Leif Garrett who was excellent in a role that put him on screen most of the time. Lee Van Cleef was on the screen for a short period of time and was his usual brooding s.o.b. self. He was an expert.

His gang of heartless bad guys, and there was a gang of them, were, as they were supposed to be, totally obnoxious.

The other star, of course, was ex-footballer, Jim Brown (no stranger to westerns) doing a very fine job as the mad, brooding hero of the piece.

"Kid Vengeance" - no kidding - is a western - an Israeli western yet -- oy vay - that will keep your attention from beginning to end. Don't - er - passover (yuk-yuk) this one. And, fie (ancient Roman for foo, or fooey) to those who dismiss this item.

Lee Van Cleef's Final Western

[FightingWesterner · 6/10 · 21 September 2009]

Young Leif Garrett watches helplessly while his parents are murdered and his sister taken by a savage band of grimy cutthroats led by Van Cleef, who looks like a hippie with full facial growth, earring, long hair, and headband (probably holding the hair extensions in place), and Robert Morley. (best remembered for waking up next to a horse head in The Godfather)

Garrett tracks the bandits and begins to slay them one by one before teaming up with gold miner Jim Brown to finish them off.

Not a spaghetti western, this was an Isreali production made in Isreal by Golan-Globus, who did a better job (Van Cleef too) with God's Gun.

Most people agree that Lee Van Cleef's career in westerns ended with a whimper, but I thought it was okay. Too bad that in the following twelve years nobody got him back in the saddle with a six-shooter. It would have been great having seen Lee Van Cleef on a horse in the action packed eighties.

Tween Revenge!

[spookyrat1 · 5/10 · 4 January 2022]

Cheap Israeli made oater from the Globus and Golan production company that is notable for a few reasons. The most obvious is seeing eternal Spaghetti western villain Lee Van Clef, this time playing the leader of a large renegade band of Mexican desperadoes, face off against a baby - faced Leif Garrett. He plays the surviving son of a family murdered by the gang and he's out for revenge. There's no doubt that those with a mordant sense of humour, will get some amusement, as the unlikely brat picks of the members of the gang, in wickedly inventive ways, a la Charles Bronson in Chato's Land. Director Joe Mandrake (I hear many whispering, "Joe Who?") even pays a rattlesnake homage to that earlier, much better Michael Winner film. I should also add that Jim Brown is on hand to aid the young fella, in the latter stages of his mission from God.

Mention must be made of the terrible sound mixing in this film, that consistently sees guns firing, smoke curling from various barrels, to be then followed the sound of gun shots. The same follows for a series of later dynamite explosions. Laughable stuff! Even if it's not produced all that well, there is a pretty high action quota.

There was another bonus for me personally. First time I've seen a film have a name change (Kid Vengeance) from the opening credits to the final credits (Vendetta) - The End. Just goes to show anything is possible in the movies.

Oh No, Not In the Negev Again!

[bebop63-1 · 6 November 2011]

Another matzoh ball-topped spag western featuring Lee Van Cleef and a very young Leif Garrett (before he became a teenage heart throb), who also "teamed" up in God's Gun which I have given a low rating, but this one rates even lower for worse acting, action and production. Tom Thurston (Leif Garrett) witnesses the brutal murder of his parents and the abduction of his elder sister by a mostly Mexican band of outlaws led by white man McClain (Van Cleef) who is the most un-western looking villain in a Western movie; with his greasy long hair, ornate headband and single earring, he looks like he wandered out of Woodstock Festival into a movie set by mistake and decided to stay there. On the spur of the moment, Tom is hellbent on revenge, pursuing the gang surreptitiously and surprisingly manages to whittle down their numbers in various ways, without being caught. And that's just the beginning of a long list of errors I can spot, in continuity and logic and others. And that's not even mentioning the passel of no-account lowlifes that try to rob the gold prospector Isaac (Jim Brown) of his hard-gained treasure, who are in my opinion the most moronic and incompetent bad guys I've ever come across in film. The climax and ending are simply unbelievable they're almost surreal. Watch the film and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Nothing Short of Wretched

[Steve_Nyland · 2/10 · 4 October 2005]

This movie sucks. I hated it, every last minute that I allowed to waste my time. It's sorta nice to see that movies can still inspire sheer, honest dislike even after being taught to be accommodating about art. But I think that this is where we draw the line, at least with Westerns. This one was filmed in Isreal by Italians and with American/Isreali money, and is a fantastic example of a movie that probably never needed to be made. It is lame, formulaic, predictable, writes itself, contains zero surprises or charisma, works as "anti-fun" in that you could potentially have more fun staring at a blank TV screen, and it sucked the will to live out of my eyeballs. With about four minutes to go I shut the DVD player off and went for a walk.

Hell, I like low budget, foreign made Westerns, especially when they are made by Italians and starring someone like Lee Van Cleef. I even like the "look" of The Holy Land standing in as the wild west, which looks like the moon at times. But I have my limits. This time out Van Cleef gets to play the bad guy, a rapist and leader of a gang of thugs who exist merely to inhabit a very unimaginative Israeli made Western until being killed by the needs of the plot. The main problem is that Van Cleef doesn't make a very evil villain here, which is surprising considering his truly vile Angel Eyes from THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Angel Eyes is the archetype for the Western Gringo Villain. This time out, his character apparently had either plenty of white shirts to change into, or his own laundry delivery out in the middle of the Gobi Desert. He is spotless, suave, well groomed and has the same dry Lee Van Cleef sense of humor -- other than his being a dirtbag and a rapist, I actually kind of liked the guy.

THE PLOT: Leif Garrett plays a 12 year old kid who gets to witness his parents being raped and murdered by Van Cleef's motley bunch of misfits and then spends 40 days and 40 nights in the wild taunting and killing them by such tactics as the poisonous snake in the old saddlebag trick (it's not a rattler but some kind of middle eastern Adder variety, and how the kid gets it into the saddlebags is left to the imagination), the old scorpion in the cowboy boots trick, and other imaginative methods of execution that don't really involve having the kid kill anyone. Eventually he meets up with Jim Brown, who doesn't seem to be very interested in being in the film at all. He plays a prospector and there is an annoying subplot about a group of inbred brothers who try to steal his claim which goes nowhere. I think they were supposed to be funny too, which only adds insult to injury for having to watch their on screen "antics". The only thing more disturbing is the way that Garrett's character reacts to having KILLED people, or at least directly causing their deaths, which is about the same way that he might have reacted to falling off his skateboard. It's not his fault though, because the movie just doesn't care how he might have felt about it.

Eventually there is a big showdown, and if you've ever seen one Western before you'll be able to predict how it ends up, except that by then we have established a sympathy bond with Van Cleef, who never allows himself to really be as scummy as his gang and insists on being protective + helpful to Garrett's kidnapped, jailbaitish sister, and doesn't jump her pretty bones because he has a little bambino back at home who loves his poppa. Like, yeah right. The most annoying aspect of the film is that as you sit there witnessing it's length you can successfully predict what will happen next right up until the moment when I decided I'd had enough of this crap. Maybe something does happen in the final 4 minutes or so that redeems the rest of the movie, but I rather doubt it and am willing to risk the loss, because like the movie itself, I just don't care.

2/10: Check out GOD'S GUN with Van Cleef instead for a better taste of Matzoh Ball Western. Made by the same people in the same place with the same money, and has the distinction of actually being "fun".

Leif Garrett Goes Hunting

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 31 December 2011]

In the American west, long-haired young Leif Garrett (as Tom Thurston) learns the difference between hunting and killing from his father. Later, while the lad is off communing with nature, a gang of cutthroats led by sleazy Lee Van Cleef (as McClain) attacks Garrett's peace-loving family. The kid arrives to witness his mother raped, parents murdered, and big sister Glynnis O'Connor (as Lisa) kidnapped. Garrett keeps his distance, then trails Mr. Van Cleef's outlaw gang, administering "Kid Vengeance" along the way. After being robbed and left to die, noble Jim Brown (as Isaac) joins forces with Garrett. The highlight is watching Matt Clark (as Grover) and Timothy Scott (as Ned) have some fun with their roles.

*** Kid Vengeance (5/13/77) Joseph Manduke ~ Leif Garrett, Lee Van Cleef, Jim Brown, Glynnis O'Connor

Made of tv spaghetti western...yuck

[jordondave-28085 · 3/10 · 4 May 2023]

(1977) Kid Vengeance WESTERN

Starring one time heartthrob Leif Garret playing 12 year old Tom Thurston whose just witnessed his father shot in cold blood and his mother getting killed after she was being raped who the family at first appear to look like a group of settlers/ farmers. They were massacred by a group of outlaws headed by McClain (Lee Van Cleef) unknowing that a sister had been hiding with the supplies of the wagon train the outlaws had decided to take along with them. Anyways, Tom has no horse but he's still able to catch up with them arming himself with just a bow and arrow. The outlaws then come across an African American man gathering a couple of bags gold, and they leave him alive for this purpose who eventually coincide with young Tom to get back at McClain and to save Tom's little sister who the outlaws kept alive for a reason of selling her to the highest bidder. Again, the movie plays like a made for TV movie with a lousy ending.

Surprisingly thoughtful and gritty!

[cwbellor · 6/10 · 30 December 2022]

Before Leif Garrett became a Soc in The Outsiders, he played an angelic orphan on a crusade of revenge in Vengeance ...or Kid Vengeance ...or Vendetta if we go by what the credits tell us. If you're not super familiar with Garrett, then you're probably like me ...not a teenage girl in the 80s.

Leif plays Tom, the son of wagon-wheeling simple folk. His life turns tragic when his family's camp is visited by Lee Van Cleef's McClain and his bandits. What starts as cow killing and arm wrestling becomes sadistic when McClain takes the mother out of sight to rape her. If you're familiar with the genre and era, it would be naive to be shocked. It is still nauseating to watch though. Things get even worse when the parents are killed as Tom watches and remains helpless as the thugs kidnap his sister. Now that we are emotionally engaged, the film proceeds to be more entertaining than I anticipated. A clever Tom stalks the gang and picks them off one by one without a single gun. The ingenuity on display would impress both Rambo and Crocodile Dundee. One of the bad guys gets a slithering surprise when Tom leaves a venomous snake in his saddlebag. There's plenty of sting in store for the rest of the roving scumbags as it turns out this preteen force is a scorpion whisperer as well. He's like a rugged Kevin McCallister type and honestly, the antics are not like anything I've seen in another movie, let alone a western.

Jim Brown plays a loner named Isaac who eventually partners with Tom to help him save his sister. Brown's film career wasn't extensive but he has an undeniable stoic charm and a contoured face that befits a bonafide star. He's contrasted well with Van Cleef, who had a face tailor-made for celluloid villainy and he was more than a little seasoned when it came to playing this kind of role. If there was a Mount Rushmore of western heavies, Van Cleef's likeness would no doubt be chiseled into the rock next to Jack Palance and Eli Wallach. Unfortunately, the costumer designer did him dirtier than a yella-bellied sodbuster here. He looks less like a cowboy and more like a biker on vacation with a pirate earing and an underwhelming bandana.

While not overtly grindhouse, the film shows it's age with wear and literal tear. It would appear that what we're watching was recorded off of a projector screen that was actually torn. I suppose it adds to the retro charm. There's plenty of ping pang bullets, goofy hats and the one-liners are laid on thick.

"It'll take a whole lotta doin' gettin' in there." "I weren't no officer but that don't mean I know nothin' 'bout milituree ways." There's even a "lickity-split" thrown in.

Good Performance by Lee Van Cleef

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 12 January 2022]

This film begins with a family in a covered wagon stopping to camp in the wilderness for the day. The scene then shifts to a prospector by the name of "Isaac" (Jim Brown) riding into a small town and carrying with him some gold nuggets he has recently mined. Naturally, this discovery doesn't go unnoticed and almost immediately four lowlifes enter the bank and attempt to steal the money he had just received. Within minutes one of the them is dead and the other three are disarmed-just long enough for Isaac to ride out of town. Not long afterward, this news is reported to the leader of some nearby Mexican bandits and they immediately ride off in pursuit. It's during this time that they happen to stumble upon the family in the covered wagon and that's when real tragedy occurs as the mother is brutally raped but then killed alongside her husband in the process. Additionally, their young teenage daughter "Lisa" (Glynnis O'Connor) is taken by force to be sold as a sex slave in Mexico. What these bandits don't realize, however, is that the family's teenage son "Tom" (Leif Garrett) has witnessed this horrific incident from a distance and he is determined to not only kill every one of these bandits but to rescue his sister in the process as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly entertaining Western which, surprisingly enough, had both Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef (as the bandit leader "McClain") in subordinate roles to Leif Garrett. And even though the young actor performed reasonably well, it was Lee Van Cleef's performance that gave this film the credibility it needed-especially considering some of the implausible action scenes that followed. That being said, while this certainly wasn't a great Western by any means, it managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Teen boy avenges the death of his parents

[wrxsti54 · 6/10 · 27 November 2022]

Vengeance, or Kid Vengeance as it was originally called, is a Western telling the tale of how a young early teen boy called Tom (Leif Garrett) witnesses the brutal rape of his mother and then murder of both her and his father at the hands of an outlaw gang leader called McClain (Lee van Cleef). The members of his mostly Hispanic gang also rob a large haul of gold off a hulking but quiet black miner called Isaac (former NFL player Jim Brown). Tom has been well taught desert survival and hunting skills by his father and he extracts revenge on the gang incrementally through use of poisonous snakes, scorpions and various methods to lure individuals into traps were he kills by stealth. With the help of Isaac, he rescues his older sister Lisa (famous '70's teen actor Glynnis O'Connor), Isaac retrieves his stolen gold and McLain and most of his gang are killed.

This movie involves a fascinating confluence of people and places. First off it was filmed in 1976 in Israel along with a spaghetti western called God's Gun. These were van Cleef's last movies thus ending the career of one of the great cowboy actors. Putting then 14 year old Leif Garrett in the lead role hunting van Cleef alongside a former NFL player Jim Brown made for intriguing chemistry. Garrett was actually a decent actor long before he became a massively famous heartthrob pop singer and played well the role of this energetic and feistily independent teenager. He demonstrates that he was very handy on a horse but somehow Leif comes across, even this early in his career, as a teen idol pinup with perfect blond hair and flawless tanned features no matter how rugged the setting or how violent his actions. The whole thing comes together pretty well, nothing earth shattering but nonetheless a cool story of right prevailing over wrong.

Mexican Outlaw

[StrictlyConfidential · 4/10 · 30 December 2021]

"Kid Vengeance" was originally released back in 1977.

Anyway - As the story goes - Tom is a young man who witnesses the brutal murder of his parents and the kidnapping of his sister by a vicious gang lead by McCain. Tom sets out after the gang in hopes of avenging his parents and rescuing his sister from their clutches. Along the way, Tom partners up with Isaac a prospector and gunfighter who's after the gang for stealing his mine.

Leif was excellent

[mharrison-17627 · 10/10 · 4 January 2019]

Leif Garrett was excellent in this entertaining western made in 1976, the year before he began recording music at Atlantic Records. Unfortunately Lee Van Cleef was looking too old and fat to play an outlaw convincingly.

Good, if not particularly riveting or special

[I_Ailurophile · 6/10 · 19 November 2022]

Compared to other westerns of the 60s and 70s I don't think it's unfair to say that the production values here are, strangely, a little deficient. The image quality is especially grainy; the sound design is imbalanced, and often a bit grating on the ears. In other regards 'Vengeance,' also known as 'Kid Vengeance,' is pretty well par for the course - desolate but beautiful filming locations, swell costume design, fun stunts and action sequences, solid production design. This also maybe lacks the particular vibrancy, high notes of tension and suspense, that would truly help the picture to stand out. None of this is to say that the film is bad, or even mediocre, but only that it's not unreasonable to reflect that it's not for nothing that this isn't especially well known. It remains enjoyable on its own merits, however, so if you're looking for a western with which to spend some time, why, this is a suitably worthy one.

A large abundance of genre flicks have been made about revenge, of course. Of anything, I suppose the establishment of a juvenile as a protagonist is an aspect to help this make its mark. Relatively few are those westerns that center women or young people amidst tales of violence. With that said, the visualization of blood and death is notably more restrained than is true of many of this title's brethren, yet the writing is sufficiently strong that we don't need to be spoon-fed every last burst of excitement. The dialogue and characters are perhaps nothing extraordinary, mind you, and even the narrative at large is rather typical. It's in the scene writing, in this case, that 'Vengeance' finds its best spark, for there are dashes of cleverness in young Tom's pursuit of villains, and unexpected variety in those moments when the camera focuses on the gang. This may not be an especially remarkable picture, but it's a capably entertaining one with just enough to keep the viewer engaged.

It's always a pleasure to see Lee Van Cleef in a movie, though here he's almost unrecognizable in the design his character is given. This is the earliest I've seen of any of Leif Garrett's works, only 16 at the time this was released, and he does a fine job in the lead role. I'm much less familiar with anyone else on hand, but Jim Brown, John Marley, and the rest of the supporting cast is swell in bringing the story to life. I know Glynnis O'Connor only from her starring role in 1982's 'Melanie,' which I loved, and I'm pleased to see her here as well. Honestly, more so than not 'Vengeance' is well made in most regards. Its most notable weakness is simply the absence of any major strength, or a sense of dynamics to make the most harsh moments really leap out. For example, if young Tom were given a more significant character arc, tracing his path from struggling with death to embracing its administration - well, that would have been some hearty substance to bite into, also making the end of that journey much more impactful.

Ultimately this may not be essential in any way, but it serves its purpose. Most recommendable for diehard fans of someone that's involved, or of westerns generally, this is still worthwhile enough that a general audience might well like it. There's no need to go out of your way for 'Vengeance,' but it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes if you come across it.

Cheap but effective western

[Wizard-8 · 10 December 2012]

When the spaghetti western genre died in Italy, spaghetti western star Lee Van Cleef went to Israel and made a couple of westerns there, "God's Gun" and "Kid Vengeance", which I just watched. It's a pretty cheap-looking affair - producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were pinching pennies even back then. But despite the low budget, the movie is surprisingly involving. It's surprisingly grim, with Van Cleef making a great villain. Surprisingly, a lot of the grimness comes from Leif Garrett, who you may not believe is quite good as an innocent youth who is so traumatized by the murder of his parents that he starts to hunt down and kill (in sometimes brutal ways) the gang members responsible. Jim Brown is also good in a sympathetic role, one that refreshingly doesn't make his race an issue. Maybe this isn't a fabulous western, but if you are a fan of European westerns, chances are you'll find this kosher western very entertaining.