"Duel at Diable" director Ralph Nelson pulls out all stops in this turn of the century shoot'em up Mexico. Ostensibly based on a Jack Higgins' novel, "The Wrath of God" was one of those many adventure epics produced during the early 1970s that featured an Irish gunman on the run in a foreign country. This story about a motley collection of soldiers-of-fortune is strong during the first half when we are introduced to them and eventually the predicament that prompts them to accept a mission to kill the chief villain. Robert Mitchum had been typecast as a flawed man of the cloth who travels through Mexico in a touring car with a giant suitcase stuffed with $53-thousand dollars and a Thompson submachine gun that he brandishes in time of telling trouble. Ken Hutchinson co-stars as the youthful hero who becomes involved with an Indian princess. Victor Buono has one of his better roles as a nefarious villain turned hero. Our 'unholy trinity' as Mexican officer John Colicos calls them are sent into the wilderness to kill a landowner named Thomas De La Plata (Frank Langella of "Dracula") who likes to kill Catholic priests. Writer & director Nelson peppers this 111-minute melodrama with witty dialogue that are in turn punctuated by gunfire galore. Although it is a little overwrought, "The Wrath of God" is still a lot of fun.
Review of The Wrath of God
