The Proud and Damned (1972)

THE PROUD AND THE DAMNED is an odd, zero-budget western that was filmed in Colombia. That novelty value is about the only thing this has going for it as otherwise it's a completely routine oater that feels like a low-budget, low-effort riff on THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. The storyline involves a group of rather dull mercenary types who hole up in a small village during a revolution and soon find themselves getting involved in the action.Although there's plentiful action in this movie, none of it is very good. It doesn't help matters much that the quality of the print I saw was absolutely pitiful, one of the worst-looking westerns ever. The Colombian locations are effective but the direction is very poor and this feels like an old 1930s-era film rather than a '70s movie. Chuck Connors and Cesar Romero co-star.

Chuck Conners (who's always great) leads his group of good old rebels all the way to South America, into a nameless country where they're paid by a tyrannical general (and Charles Manson lookalike) to go to a rival town and report back whether or not the place will roll over easily if invaded.Once there, they realize the place is quite peaceful and defenseless, tempting some of Conner's men to stay.This is low-budget but well made with good locations, though it's soon hijacked by a silly subplot involving one of Chuck's nitwit boys becoming lovesick (after a minute or so) over a local girl, despite the fact that neither of them speak each other's languages!To further ruin things, Chuck Conner's is then banished from the town by mayor Caesar Romero due to a second silly subplot involving a gypsy girl and then promptly hung by the evil general! Did his contract run out before shooting ended?!This is well directed throughout but the final battle between the towns is poorly staged and not worth seeing since Chuck got killed!

Chuck Connors and Cesar Romero head an otherwise unknown cast in this tale set in South America in 1870, as Will Hansen (Connors) leads a group of four ex-Confederate soldiers now plying their trade as mercenaries. Hansen is the only member of the band that seems to have any hint of a hard edge, the rest are just a bunch of good old boys with no drive or direction of their own. The South American setting could be just about anywhere since no country is ever named, but it might just as well have been Mexico for the portrayal offered by the two opposing forces. On one side, General Alehandro Martinez offers Hansen and his comrades pay in exchange for information on the opposition in the valley town of San Carlos. Cesar Romero is the mayor there, determined to protect his town, but one wonders from what. The conflict between Martinez and Romero is never made known, maybe that's why Hansen and his men have no emotional involvement in the proceedings.It would be difficult to describe the action in the film - there is none. There are two romantic angles involving Hansen and a gypsy woman, while one of his men named Ike (Aron Kincaid) tries to woo a senorita from the local convent. If the film's pace wasn't slow enough as it was, it's accentuated by the doleful strumming of a guitar from time to time, bringing one's attention to the fact that nothing is going on.All doesn't go well for Hansen though, since he missed his appointment with General Martinez, he'll have to pay for that indiscretion. That prompts his men to think for themselves for the first time, and they take a stand with the citizens of San Carlos. You'll have to watch the film to see how far that goes, but even amidst the flying cannonballs, it's kind of anti climactic. One never feels any empathy for this bunch, and that's what makes the movie largely forgettable.If you're a Chuck Connors fan, you'll be better served by any single episode of his "Rifleman", which will have more story and excitement to it in twenty six minutes than this hour and a half sleeper. The only thing I found interesting in the film was how much Connors appeared to have aged in the decade since the Rifleman series ended. Oh wait, maybe it happened during the filming!

Chuck Connors is featured in this western about a group of American civil war veterans traveling in South America. After being run out of one country they wind up as the "guests" of a Columbian General intent on conquest. In a situation where they don't have a lot of choice, they agree to go to the town of San Carlos to spy out the city and report back to the General. While in San Carlos they wind up being the "guests" of the mayor played by Cesar Romero. Two subplots unfold involving women and the group, leading to predictable conflict and violence, with a surprising twist for the group's leader, played by Connors. Ultimately battle breaks out with elements of treachery and surprise. Marred by some dumb dialog, this film is recommended only for die-hard western lovers.