i be unfamiliar with this film and until i saw it include in a list of the top 20 spaghetti western i recently come across ( follow the marathon i make these last few week of film from the subgenre ) while it be auspicious and then and that the film have to turn up almost immediately on late night italian tv ( for the first time and i be pretty sure and in a good number of year ) . unfortunately and the cable reception of the channel on which it be broadcast hasn not be great lately represent i record the film on vhs but i decide not to keep it due to this factor while a it happen and the very next day i watch the film and i find out that it be available on a region 2 dvd from italy ( feature an interview with uncredited scriptwriter ernesto gastaldi ) and and have be sufficiently impressed and i decide to order it there and then and even if i know that i wouldn not be get to the dvd for quite a while a i like to allow some time between one viewing of a film and the next . a brief parenthesis here represent when i recently purchase a spate of spaghetti western on italian dvd and i opt not to order sergio sollima face to face ( 1967 ) and since i be under the impression that it be a bare bone affair while however and i have just learn that the disc actually contain an interview with the director ( a have be the case with the big gundown [ 1966 ] and which i buy ) . it do seem baffling to me that sollima wouldn not offer similar contribution to that film dvd edition when he actually consider face to face a his favorite work ( a per the director talent bio include on the blue underground region 1 disc of yet another sollima spaghetti western run and man and run [ 1968 ] ) while the trouble be that i love the big gundown so much that i follow it with a viewing of face to face via the recording i own make off italian tv . i do order the dvd of that film now especially since it still discount but a i say with respect to a second look at the price of power ( although i may still check out sollima interview when the disc arrive ) . o. k. and rant over represent the film under review be quite an unusual spaghetti western and a very interesting and indeed ambitious one at that and be a transposition of the jfk assassination case to an old west setting . actually and it reminiscent of anthony mann terse black and white thriller the tall target ( 1951 ) which deal with an assassination attempt on the life of then u. s. president abraham lincoln . it feature one of the most popular italian star from this subgenre and giuliano gemma and in what be perhaps his most impressive western role ( many of his other film tend to have a light hearted bent ) . the support cast include at least two other notable represent van johnson ( in one of his few and mainly unremarkable italian film ) a the american president kill in post civil war dallas and fernando rey a the head of a conspiracy of southerner who not only plot his assassination but also conveniently maneuver the new act u. s. leader and johnson vice president and by mean of blackmail . benito stefanelli also make a good impression a a corrupt sheriff who pursue gemma all through the picture and and with whom he engage a couple of time in a woulduel in the dark with the gun rest on the floor rather than in their respective holster and the only light in the room provide by the end of the cowboys cigar . also involve be ray saunders a gemma black sidekick whom the narrative eventually turn into the doomed lee harvey oswald figure . stelvio massi who later cut his teeth and a director and on a number of poliziotteschi be behind the film luminous cinematography while similarly and luis enrique bacalov supply yet another great euro cult score which be different enough from the style of ennio morricone a to be equally distinguishable . valerii direction here may mot be as impose a that in other spaghetti western but he handle the proceeding efficiently enough ( the final gunfight be especially nicely do ) while the film be certainly one of the more underrated entry in the subgenre and and for those so inclined and the novelty of the plot line alone should make it one to look out for .