Go For Broke(Tutto Per Tutto)1968

Tags

John Ireland, Mark Damon, spaghetti western

GO FOR BROKE, also ALL OUT in some releases, is the story of a treasure hunt. The prize: $200,000 in gold bars stolen, then re-stolen.

John Ireland and Mark Damon, Owl and Johnny Sweet respectively, are the main stars. But the film is loaded with veterans of the genre: Fernando Sancho(Carrancha), Eduardo Fajardo (Paco Nunez), Mónica Randall(Maria), José Torres (Copper Face), and Armando Calvo (Jose Gomez).

Owl and Johnny’s first meeting doesn’t get off to a good start. Johnny steals Owl’s horse after he graciously gave the young fellow a lift(Johnny’s horse had broke a leg and been shot). Their next meeting Owl spots Johnny being cheated in a card game and helps him get his revenge, clearing his name.

In the shootout with the cheater, at the man’s ranch, Johnny saves two Mexicans about to be killed. Paco Nunez and Jose Gomez then offer Johnny a cut of a fortune if he and his gun throw in with them. The gold had been stolen by bandit arrancha and his gang, then stolen by an Indian named Copper Face from him. They had no idea what Copper Face looked like. Maria, Carrancha’s girl friend pops up and offers to help them find the Indian. She’s in on it with Carrancha and plans to use them to find Copper Face.

The three learn the truth when they capture the Indian. He stole the gold because Maria was his wife and had left him for Carrancha. He offers to take them to the gold for an equal share. And Maria. The others were only to happy to agree.

Late that night, when all are asleep, Maria frees Copper Face and they take off. Johnny and the Mexicans scramble the next morning when they find the couple gone. And all the horses as well. Right away, they find the couple being guarded by Owl, who cuts him in for a share. The pieces of the pie are getting smaller.

And once the gold is found, well you know what greed can do, betrayals and shifting alliances follow and the pieces begin to swell again. And there’s always Carrancha in the background lurking.

We learn at the end why Owl kept hanging on the fringes and why he wants all the gold.

An entertaining if not great western. The director of the film was Umberto Lenzi who later made a name for himself with violent cannibal films.