Lucio Fulci's White Fang must have been a hit, because Tonino Ricci made an unofficial sequel to it, casting Franco Nero lookalike (if you squint a bit) Maurizio Merli as the hero. This was Maurizio's break-out role and he would go on to punch 96% of the male population of Italy in the face in various Euro-crime films. Good call, Tonino!
Maurizio was just minding his business up in the mountains when his faithful dog/wolf (just a dog really) White Fang alerts him to the fact that his best mate, who has just struck gold, has been murdered and robbed by bandits Donald O'rien and Luciano Rossi (who is dubbed by a Peter Lorre soundalike for good measure). These two head off to the local town where evil businessman Henry Silva learns that there might be a gold seam out there, hooks up with the bad guys, and starts scheming against Maurizio, who has assumed his mate's identity and come to town looking for revenge. On reflection the only reason I can think of him stealing the identity is to set up a couple of sub-plots.
You see, a kid who has just lost his mother has wandered into town looking for his dad, and guess who that now is? Maurizio has to pretend to be this kid's father, is hitting on a local woman who was taking care of the kid, and is also trying to keep a low profile from local Mountie Renzo Palmer, who is deeply suspicious of everything that's going on.
Tonino Ricci is a bit of an erratic director. For everyone good one like Night of The Sharks we get a never ending snore-fest like his Close Encounters rip-off Encounters in the Deep. He does good here though, and seems to realise that everyone was going to get bored with the stolen identity thing, so he switches to a cross-country trace when Maurizio's son is kidnapped, with the Mounties chasing Maurizio. For those thinking 'wasn't this about a dog/wolf' there's plenty of dog action, mostly (thankfully) not involving other animals. This dog can lead horses around, untie knots, bark an awful lot and turn into a dummy dog when falling off a cliff!
Maurizio was just minding his business up in the mountains when his faithful dog/wolf (just a dog really) White Fang alerts him to the fact that his best mate, who has just struck gold, has been murdered and robbed by bandits Donald O'rien and Luciano Rossi (who is dubbed by a Peter Lorre soundalike for good measure). These two head off to the local town where evil businessman Henry Silva learns that there might be a gold seam out there, hooks up with the bad guys, and starts scheming against Maurizio, who has assumed his mate's identity and come to town looking for revenge. On reflection the only reason I can think of him stealing the identity is to set up a couple of sub-plots.
You see, a kid who has just lost his mother has wandered into town looking for his dad, and guess who that now is? Maurizio has to pretend to be this kid's father, is hitting on a local woman who was taking care of the kid, and is also trying to keep a low profile from local Mountie Renzo Palmer, who is deeply suspicious of everything that's going on.
Tonino Ricci is a bit of an erratic director. For everyone good one like Night of The Sharks we get a never ending snore-fest like his Close Encounters rip-off Encounters in the Deep. He does good here though, and seems to realise that everyone was going to get bored with the stolen identity thing, so he switches to a cross-country trace when Maurizio's son is kidnapped, with the Mounties chasing Maurizio. For those thinking 'wasn't this about a dog/wolf' there's plenty of dog action, mostly (thankfully) not involving other animals. This dog can lead horses around, untie knots, bark an awful lot and turn into a dummy dog when falling off a cliff!