Robert Woods, billed occasionally as Robert Wood was born in 1936 in Colorado. He starred in fifty spaghetti westerns, forty-two with top billing, but more familiar films he appeared in were The Battle of The Bulge and an uncredited bit as a guitar player in Where The Boys Are.
In the pre-credit scene, we see a man trudging across the desert, saddle slung over one shoulder, approaching a farm house. A gunman out front confronts him, offers him a drink of water, then mentions that he doesn’t seem to be armed, asking then if he has any money. A twenty appears and the fellow draws a gun, unloading it, saying, “I’ll give you a pistol, you give me the twenty.” Surprisingly meekly, the man complies, only to slip a bullet from his hat band as the man asks his name.
One dead gunman later, he says, “My name is Pecos,” and the credits roll..
The town of Houston is in trouble. An outlaw leader has been terrorizing the village, his gang having hung
eight Marshals in five months, the telegraph wires have been cut, and the citizens keep hoping the Rangers will ride into town.
It’s this scenario in which our hero rides.
First stop is the cemetery where he visits a grave with a crude cross with names of four people scratched onto a plaque attached. All Martinez.
Joe Kline and his gang had chased a wagon into town, with Eddie the bar owner, claiming one barrel before the gang can get arrive, and hide it as a shootout erupts. The wagon driver had been a trusted member of the gang that he double-crossed them after a bank job, making off with the money entrusted to him He’s killed before he reveals where he hid the money.
Kline and Pecos have a past we don’t learn about until near the end of the
film, concerning the Martinez family and the curious scar around Kline’s neck that goes back several years.
Some of the characters in the film are Morton(Umberto Raho), an undertaker/preacher fond of quoting the Bible literally or made up words that sound good. He has a love of money and tries to get some to talk. “I’ll do anything for money, even good!”
The town doctor, Berton(Giuliano Raffaelli) who can’t do much because years ago Kline smashed all his fingers for not being able to save one of his dying men. Berton has a blond daughter, Mary(Lucia Modugno), who receives too much attention from the outlaws.
Eddie is the slightly crooked bar owner. He has an idealistic young brother, Ned, who loves the Mexican bar maid, Ester(Cristina Josani).
Another spaghetti veteran, George Eastman(billed as Gigi Montefiori), early in his career, has a small role as Kline’s lieutenant and the only gang member with more than a line or two.
One thing that set this film apart from most other westerns, whether spaghetti or American, is the hero is an out-and-out Mexican seeking revenge for the death of the family. The gang members are all white and a nasty bunch. Written by Adriano Bolzoni and directed by Maurizi Lucidi, MY NAME IS PECOS was an entertaining film, the first of two featuring the Mexican hero.
