A gang of murderous cattle rustlers, with their stock,are stranded in the mountains by severe snowy conditions.Led by the sadistic Skaife(Bruno Corazzari),the gang seek refuge in a nearby town inhabited by peaceful farmers.Sheriff Ransom(Raymond Pellegrin) rightly suspects that this gang mean trouble and despite (initial)firm opposition from his adopted son Tony(Andrea Giordana),takes it upon himself to drive out the troublemakers.It transpires that one of the gang Dan El(John Ireland) just happens to be Tony's real father and following the swift death of the Sheriff teams up with his son(under the pretense of being Tony's fathers friend) to free the town from Skaife's tyranny.
Heavily influenced by GREAT SILENCE this enjoyable snowbound western has a similar apocalyptic tone to Corbucci's masterpiece.In this film the "bandits" are for real,they are there to bleed the town dry,and Skaife acting like a Nazi commandant proclaims the townsfolk to be "no longer men,they are my hostages" and forces them to fell trees etc in order to build a coral for his cattle.As Tony,sporting a look similar to Silence with furry collared overcoat,picks off Skaifes men one by one,in reprisal Skaife organises mass hostage executions.
Amongst this doom and gloom there is light relief provided by Ireland and Giordana (displaying great chemistry ) as the fatherly Ireland character teaches his son gun play including shooting a snowman to pieces.With an excellent musical score from Francesco De Masi i rate this one 8 out of 10.
