Minor spoilers
As probably most of us, I started to learn Fulci's work "backwards", i.e., the first movies I saw of him were his gory masterpieces of the 70's and early 80's. Only afterwards, I became interested in his whole work. Although I am not a great fan of Westerns, I really like "Massacre Time" and would rate it as one of Fulci's masterpieces and one of the best Spaghetti Westerns. Knowing his later work, you will easily recognize that he employed several shots, camera tricks, and so on, already in this early stage of his career.
For instance, the opening sequence sets the tone: We see Scott's demented son and by the way he is sitting on his horse, we immediately notice that something is wrong with him. And then a man is chased to death by dogs. What follows is an atmospheric, very well shot movie which builds a more and more intense feeling of terror and madness, creating at times almost unreal settings. A highlight is Franco Nero being whipped by his half brother at a party. All this culminates in an bullet laden shoot out. The movie is also graced with an excellent musical score.
As Fulci stated himself, the story has been reduced to a minimum, namely the conflict between three half brothers: one totally demented, the other a drunkard, and only Nero is a superhero.
On the other hand, you can tell that Fulci has not yet developed full maturity. There are some clumsy cuts and Fulci often sticks to the stereotypes of a Western. For example, Franco Nero is the just a little too much the undistinguished hero.
This excellent movie deserves to be more widely known and should help everybody to reevaluate Fulci's work. With "Massacre Time", "Don't torture a duckling" and "The Beyond", he has delivered at least three outstanding movies in totally different genres.
As probably most of us, I started to learn Fulci's work "backwards", i.e., the first movies I saw of him were his gory masterpieces of the 70's and early 80's. Only afterwards, I became interested in his whole work. Although I am not a great fan of Westerns, I really like "Massacre Time" and would rate it as one of Fulci's masterpieces and one of the best Spaghetti Westerns. Knowing his later work, you will easily recognize that he employed several shots, camera tricks, and so on, already in this early stage of his career.
For instance, the opening sequence sets the tone: We see Scott's demented son and by the way he is sitting on his horse, we immediately notice that something is wrong with him. And then a man is chased to death by dogs. What follows is an atmospheric, very well shot movie which builds a more and more intense feeling of terror and madness, creating at times almost unreal settings. A highlight is Franco Nero being whipped by his half brother at a party. All this culminates in an bullet laden shoot out. The movie is also graced with an excellent musical score.
As Fulci stated himself, the story has been reduced to a minimum, namely the conflict between three half brothers: one totally demented, the other a drunkard, and only Nero is a superhero.
On the other hand, you can tell that Fulci has not yet developed full maturity. There are some clumsy cuts and Fulci often sticks to the stereotypes of a Western. For example, Franco Nero is the just a little too much the undistinguished hero.
This excellent movie deserves to be more widely known and should help everybody to reevaluate Fulci's work. With "Massacre Time", "Don't torture a duckling" and "The Beyond", he has delivered at least three outstanding movies in totally different genres.