The Savage Guns (1961)

[julian_craster]

Is this Hammer's only 'western' ?

[darrenburnfan]

I don't know of any Hammer connection to The Savage Guns, but it was filmed in Spain in CinemaScope and colour for MGM release and went out on the ABC circuit as the lower half of a double-bill with the Steve Reeves Italian version of The Thief of Bagdad.

[will.15]

Hammer people were involved, but it wasn't produced directly by them.

[m35541]

It was produced by Michael Carreras.



He had been trying to get the project off the ground at Hammer for a while but was unable to get Columbia (or anyone else) to put up the cash whilst he was there. He left hammer temporarily and had the film produced independently. I haven't seen it myself so I've no idea whether it is any good.

[darrenburnfan]

It was produced by Michael Carreras.



He had been trying to get the project off the ground at Hammer for a while but was unable to get Columbia (or anyone else) to put up the cash whilst he was there. He left hammer temporarily and had the film produced independently. I haven't seen it myself so I've no idea whether it is any good.

Although I haven't seen The Savage Guns since I ran it in 1963, I do have the original set of eight colour Front-of-House stills for it and you're right. On the stills, it says: Executive Producer Michael Carreras and Co-Producers Jimmy Sangster and Jose G. Maesso.

[m35541]

I do have the original set of eight colour Front-of-House stills for it and you're right. On the stills, it says: Executive Producer Michael Carreras and Co-Producers Jimmy Sangster and Jose G. Maesso.

I would guess that Maesso was a local Spanish producer required for local quota reasons and that Sangster had day-to-day authority on the ground but that in any major decisions he had to defer to Carreras (who would have sorted out the financing). There was a similar arrangment on Taste of Fear where Sangster (credited as producer) says in his book words to the effect that Columbia would only let him be producer as long as Carreras was standing behind him in case things went wrong.

[darrenburnfan]

The Savage Guns. Original British Front-of-House set from 1963.

[will.15]

This has better and more complete info that the wiki entry. Sangster wrote the script.



http://www.spaghetti-western.net/ind...ge_Guns_Review

[will.15]

It has a British producer and director (the same):

• 1961
• Dir: Michael Carreras
• Cast: Richard Basehart, Don Taylor, Alex Nicol, José Nieto, Paquita Rico, Fernando Rey, Maria Granada, José Manuel Martin

...But, surprisingly, it was not an Italian or American production company that pitched its tents in Southern Spain, but a British one, Capricorn Productions, founded by Hammer executive producer (and occasional director) Michael Carreras. Was it after all a Brit who brought the western to Almeria and invented the spaghetti western? Apart from the fact that 'paella western' would be a more appropriate term, since there was no Italian involvement, there's no denying that this is a crucial production in the history of the European western.

[markrgv]

Yes i've certainly seen a clip of Michael Carreras talking about this film and saying that it was the first western ever filmed in Almeria; and then adding - with a laugh - that 'we' the (unofficial) Hammer team invented the Spaghetti Western.

[billy bentley]

Beware of a DVD release titled "Outlaws Volume 1" released by Brentwood Home Video. The packaging claims that the DVD contains two flicks "The Proud Rebel" and "Savage Guns". Well Savage Guns turns out to be a very poor quality black and white copy of the spaghetti western "His Name Was Sam Walbash, But They Call Him Amen" which I believe was released in colour. Unless it was for pennies I would avoid anything released by Brentwood Home Video, even the packaging liner notes' plot description are false.