This brooding Spaghetti western is all about redemption. Despite several recognizable filmmakers behind and in front of the camera, "Nest of Vipers" is not a ride' em, cowboy, shoot'em up, sagebrusher, with a double-digit corpse count. Riz Ortolani provides a signature orchestral soundtrack that more than adequately serves its purpose. "Tepepa" director Giulio Petroni spends his time cultivating atmosphere in this western set in Mexico about a group of relatives. They want to kill a child, Manuel (Luciano Casamonica of "Tepepa") so they to steal a fortune from him. Spaghetti western stalwart Luigi Pistilli plays a greedy Mexican army lieutenant named Hernandez, while American actor Luke Askew of "The Magnificent Seven Ride" is cast as a drunken gunslinger with a tragic past. Aside from a flashback of his character shooting rowels off spurs and six-guns out of hands, Luke wallows in drunkenness during the first half hour, recovers during the second half and then in a night-time shoot-out before evil Lieutenant Hernandez captures and tortures him. Hernandez uses a metal ring around the top of Luke's head to squeeze the information out of him. The last quarter hour is reminiscent of "Death Rides A Horse." Hernandez and his troops ride off and leave Luke locked up in jail. He manages to escape by blasting the jail locking mechanism. When Hernandez and his men return, Luke has prepared a reception for them similar to what Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law arranged for Walcott and his desperados on their return to the village in "Death Rides A Horse." Peplum heroine Chelo Alonso of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is cast as a colorful prostitute who doesn't get to live happily ever after. Another Spaghetti western regular, Benito Stefanelli, doesn't look like his usual self. Askew kills him and leaves his body in a water trough. Everything boils down to Luke confronting Hernandez who wields Manuel as a shield in the middle of the desert. On the other hand, this Italian western differs from your typical revenge drama, and the action doesn't really warm up until the final half-hour. Petroni and co-scenarists Fulvio Gicca Palli and Lorenzo Gicca Palli don't reveal the reason for Luke's drunken stupor until the last five minutes. Luke's six-gun is neat looking with elaborate designs on the panels of the handle. Of course, Luke guns down nefarious old Hernandez. The production values are solid, and Mario Vulpiani's cinematography looks fantastic. The sun-baked Spanish landscape resembles a surreal work of art, especially when seen in the background with the mountains marching off into the distance.
Review of Night of the Serpent
