A Man Called Sledge *** (1970, James Garner, Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins, John Marley, Laura Antonelli) – Classic Movie Review 10,835

‘Savage. Ornery, Beautiful! When SLEDGE hits town it stays hit!’

The actor Vic Morrow co-wrote and directed the very violent 1970 Spaghetti Western film A Man Called Sledge, starring James Garner as an outlaw man called Luther Sledge planning a big gold heist with his sidekick buddy Erwin Ward (Dennis Weaver).

Sledge connives his way into a prison as part of a plot to steal a large shipment of gold stored there. The loot is eventually nabbed from Sledge and Ward by the rest of their gang, leading to a chase and a shootout.

Though it is scarcely his best work, Garner is still good (as always) in an unlikely role for him, cast against type as a brutal gun-fighting robber, and the support cast is highly watchable. There is perhaps not enough verve to make it a real hit, but it is fast-moving, and full of action and interest.

Also in the cast are Claude Akins, John Marley, Laura Antonelli, Wayde Preston, Tony Young, Ken Clark, Allan Jones, Herman Reynoso, Steffen Zacharias, Didi Perego, Paola Barbara, Mario Valgoi and Laura Betti.

Morrow co-writes the screenplay with Frank Kowalski. The music is by Gianni Ferrio and cinematography by Luigi Kuveiller, filmed in Technicolor and Techniscope at Almeria, Andalucia (prison fort scenes), and Polopos, Almeria, Andalucia (the church and town), in Spain and in the studio for the interiors at Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Italy. Production design is by Mario Chiari. It runs 93 minutes. It is made by Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica and released by Columbia Pictures in Italy, UK and US.

A Man Called Sledge is not much of a title, and inevitably the cast nicknamed it A Man Called Sludge.

It is produced by Dino De Laurentiis, who took the editing out of Vic Morrow’s control.

Vic Morrow has an uncredited cameo as Gold Guard Scout.

Unusually, the Columbia Pictures logo does not appear on this film.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,835

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