The premise of writer & director Lorenzo Gicca Palli's "The Price of Death" is that a man, a dirty, low down skunk named Chester Conway (Klaus Kinski), universally reviled by the townspeople, is guilty of killing a prostitute and her customer in cold blood during a high stakes hold-up in a smoke laden casino. The trio of masked robbers managed to get out the door, but two of them are gunned down. The third escapes while his cohorts bite the dust. Presumably, Sheriff Tom Stanton (Luciano Catenacci of "Halleluja for Django") dropped them. As it turns out, the sheriff didn't drill these dastards with his crack shooting. Instead, somebody else did in this predictable but entertaining Spaghetti western that unfolds in the corrupt town of Appleby. Chester is not only thrown in jail, but also Judge Atwell (Alfredo Rizzo of "Blood for a Silver Dollar") sentences him to swing. The evil judge throws out all of Chester's attorney's objections, so attorney
Jeff Plummer (Franco Abbina of "The Sisters") hires Silver (Gianni Garko of "Five For Hell") to exonerate his client. Mind you, Klaus Kinski spends most of his time behind bars in the local calaboose. Polly Winters (Mimma Biscardi of "China Is Near") doesn't believe in Chester's guilt, so she gives Plummer three thousand dollars to hire Silver. Everybody talks about morality and justice in "The Price of Death," and Palli--who runs the casino--convinces Silver against his better judgment that Chester is innocent.
Apart from a moment or two devoted to Mr. Silver riding across the tree clad terrain, "The Price of Death" confines itself to the city limits of Applebee. The law rides herd on anybody who enters the casino and firearms must be surrendered. Early on in the beginning, we see a murder scene much like a Giallo since it is presented from the perspective of the murderer as he forces his way into a Mexican woman's house and stabs her to death. The focus in "The Price of Death" is on resolving the mystery of who killed the two people in the saloon. We are given a gallery of despicable characters who could have done it and this western is more of a whodunit than a shoot'em up. Make no mistake there is an adequate amount of gunplay and one totally surprising death. Gianni Garko plays on his Sartana image, but he only has one hideout gun.
Apart from a moment or two devoted to Mr. Silver riding across the tree clad terrain, "The Price of Death" confines itself to the city limits of Applebee. The law rides herd on anybody who enters the casino and firearms must be surrendered. Early on in the beginning, we see a murder scene much like a Giallo since it is presented from the perspective of the murderer as he forces his way into a Mexican woman's house and stabs her to death. The focus in "The Price of Death" is on resolving the mystery of who killed the two people in the saloon. We are given a gallery of despicable characters who could have done it and this western is more of a whodunit than a shoot'em up. Make no mistake there is an adequate amount of gunplay and one totally surprising death. Gianni Garko plays on his Sartana image, but he only has one hideout gun.