The Story : Sgt. Brown (Robert Hundar) is assigned to escort seven thieves through the rough mountains, in the midst of winter, some 400 miles to their destination, Ft. Greene. He is a widower and reluctantly takes his daughter, Cathy (Emma Cohen ) with him. The chain gang of degenerate, condemned prisoners consist of Patterson (murder), Dandy Tom (blackmail, gambling, murder), Ferrel (murder, ran with Indians, a scalper), Slim (traitor), Weasel McFarlane (insane, rapist), Brewster (arsonist), and the mysterious Marlow. They are ambushed by a group of bandits, losing their cavalry escorts and left on their own. But, Sgt. Brown insists they continue their journey. One of the convicts, Slim, breaks his leg, and resentful of carrying him, the others murder him while Brown takes a catnap. Brown still insists they carry the body, so the next chance they get, they throw Slim's corpse on the fire, forcing Brown to cut him loose form the gang. As if the journey wasn't perilous enough, Brown having to protect himself and his daughter from the bloodthirsty men and survive the harsh winter landscape, the convicts discover that the chain binding them is made of gold... Seven against one, with their lives, their freedom, and a fortune linking them together.

The Film : Spaghetti Westerns, pretty much, can all be boiled down into three themes- survival, greed, and revenge... So-and-so and Blank both go after a bunch of loot. So-and-so stabs Blank in the back. Blank goes after him to get revenge, and so forth... Sure, every now and then you would get a Spaghetti with some subtext, like the political-revolutionary plot in The Mercenary, but at their core, they are about survival, greed, and revenge. Cut-Throats Nine (aka Bronson's Revenge, 1972) is a very interesting Spanish produced Spaghetti, exploring those themes in a unique way. Describing its story, a chain gang of criminals crossing the wilderness with a chain made of gold, is unlike any other, a standout idea in the genre. And, its idea leaves room to touch on the three main Spaghetti themes, survival, greed, and even a little dollop of revenge.

Cut-Throats Nine is probably most notorious as being "the most violent/gory western ever made". The film was marketed with certain theaters having "Terror Masks" in the lobby that you could cover your face with when a shocking scene popped up. And, yes, its has some blatant gore, a couple of stabbings, shots to the head, burning bodies, and some disembowelings, but its actually pretty run of the mill for a early 70's Italian/Spanish genre/exploitation film. Its selling point is definitely more the western elements than the gore, which is just sort of an extra if you are into that sort of thing. What really impressed me was, after years of hearing about the film and being unable to get a copy, it didn't turnout like I thought it would. Sure, there is some predictability (Sgt. Brown believes on of the men killed his wife and its pretty easy to guess who), but I always figured it would be a Spaghetti Western version of the Donner party, a group of low life thieves and their guard, stranded in the wilderness, greedily wanting the fortune in gold, struggling against the elements as they try to outwit and kill each other. But, the film takes a turn, and strays from that assumption (a little), so it was a really enjoyable good, b-grade fare.

Director Joaquín Luis Marchent spent the late sixties and early seventies directing westerns, none of which I've seen, with titles like Seven Guns from Texas, Three Ruthless Ones, and I Do Not Forgive... I Kill!. Aside from the stark, moody winter setting of the film (as opposed to the normal barren wastelands and hot deserts in Spaghetti Westerns), Marchent uses a flashbacks quite often and in a very neat way. At various points, Marchent freeze frames on all the characters (usually when they are about to die) and then shows a brief clip of some importance in their life- Patterson, for instance, sees himself the time he survived being hung, and Ferrel has a vision of himself in his savage days attacking an Indian. Marchent also has a scene that is very much like a image from Lost Highway, so similar in fact, I bet Lynch used it as direct inspiration... Now for the actors- Robert Hundar (aka Robedrto Undari) was in some great (and not-so-great) sixties and seventies exploitation films like The Cynic, the Rat & the Fist, Mean Frank and Crazy Tony and My Name Is Shanghai Joe as well as having previous worked with Marchent in the 1966 western One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Lassiter. Emma Cohen was in Cannibal Man, Jess Franco's The Obscene Mirror, and Castellari's Spaghetti farce Cry, Onion! to name a few. The guy who played Marlow used the pseudonym "Roy Hill" and I couldn't find his actual name. I recognize the actors playing Brewster and Dandy Tom from other Spaghetti's, but don't recall ever noting their names.

The DVD : Eurovista Digital Entertainment. Uncut, in pretty fair shape, with a very nice price for a cult film from a low key cult film distributor. Picture - The film is widescreen, 1.85.1, and shows some usual flaws apparent in most low budget Spaghetti's, the typical grain and other blemishes. They transfer shows some pretty fair color and sharpness, especially for an older genre notorious for bad prints. The print does have specks and dirt, and contrast flickers on the left side of the screen, but, for a cult film, its pretty acceptable. I highly doubt there are many companies desperate to remaster a release a title like this. Sound - 2.0 Mono English dub. Like most Spaghetti Westerns, the dubbing presents some bad voice acting, and a less than dynamic soundtrack with some minor audio hiss pops, but I found it acceptable, no inaudible parts. Extras - 8 Chapters--- Talent Files (Filmographies) for Emma Cohen and Robert Hundar--- Nice Publicity Gallery with 17 lobby cards and posters for the film.--- Trailers, both the neat, psychotronic American one and a German one, which was taken from a bad video source (you even see PLAY pop up on the screen at the beginning)--- There is also a poster card insert of the films original US theatrical poster.