Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

thinker1691 Henry Silva has been a long time favorite actor for years. I first saw him in an exceptional film called 'Johnny Cool.' In this western, originally called " Five Savage Men ", now entitled " The Animals " offering he plays Chatto a well known Apache warrior who comes across a motley group of bandits who have robbed a stage, murdered it's passengers and kidnapped a schoolteacher. Having had their way with the hapless school ma-rm, the gang splits up and go their separate way. Helped to recover by our Hero (Its nice to see Silva as the good guy), Alice McAndrew(Michele Carey) sets out to exact revenge against the five men. With an experienced Lawman Allan Pierce (John Anderson) and posse hot on their trail, the gang led by Pudge Elliott (Keenan Wynn) each take different trails. This movie plot is not unique as later mirrored by the succeeding film Hannie Caulder. What is unusual is that despite his commanding presence, Silva as Chato is seen as restrained in his role and the movie is hampered by the snail pace directing of Ron Joy. Still, it's a rather dramatic change to see a gun-toting female seeking violent revenge on her attackers. In addition, the formula of Whites against Indians does put a damper on the outcome and experienced audiences will guess the ending. ***

John Seal It's silly, unbelievable, and morally reprehensible, but I nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed this low budget western. Michele Carey plays Alice, a virginal schoolteacher whose stage coach is seized by a gang of five thugs (including Keenan Wynn and Joe Turkel) who proceed to stake her to the ground, rape her, and ride off in search of fresher pickings. She's rescued by Apache loner Chatto (ethnic everyman Henry Silva), who nurses her back to health and helps track down and kill the scumbags who deflowered her. Meanwhile, a posse of hapless lawmen under the command of Sheriff Pierce (John Anderson, who's very good and has a bit of the William S. Hart about him) are also on her trail, but are always two or three steps behind our hero and heroine. Dick Bakalyan's screenplay has holes large enough to ride a rodeo bull through, but Keith Smith's cinematography is quite handsome and probably would look even better in its original aspect ratio. And let's not overlook Rupert Holmes ballad, There's So Little Time, as performed by the fabulous harmony group Year 2000! A downbeat ending actually improves the proceedings: if you think I Spit On Your Grave could have been improved with some Old West flavor, here's your film.

MARIO GAUCI This would-be "with-it" revenge story in Western garb is notable only for having a female protagonist thus anticipating the cult item HANNIE CAULDER (1971). Still, Michele Carey's terrible central performance and her squeaky voice basically sink the film entirely as she projects little emotional scars from her ordeal; in fact, she seems to get back into a happy mood way too soon after her rape! The sadistic cast of characters are led by notorious bandit Keenan Wynn and Henry Silva is surprisingly cast as the Apache good guy who helps Carey carry out her retribution (interestingly, he had previously appeared in a similar - and much superior - tale, THE BRAVADOS [1958]). Another nail in the film's coffin is the sheer poverty of the direction which generates no suspense whatsoever as Silva and Carey are merely seen to effortlessly stumble upon each of the rapists' new hideout, kill them off without much ado and exit the scene; add to that the puerile fast-cutting technique employed intermittently which grows tiresome before too long. The trebly ironic ending, then, is a valiant attempt at resurrecting the movie but by then it is too late and only a fairly decent score saves the whole thing from a BOMB rating.

JHC3 Schoolteacher Alice McAndew (Carey) has the misfortune of sharing a stagecoach with prisoner Pudge Elliott (Wynn). When Pudge's friends arrive to rescue him, they don't stop at simply robbing the stage. All aboard are killed except Alice. Her intended fate is far worse. She is hauled into the desert to be repeatedly and brutally raped and left for dead.The outlaws' plan goes awry when an Apache (Silva) saves Alice from a cruel death from shock and dehydration. He nurses the young woman back to health. Before long, the two start hunting down the killers.By 1970 standards, this is a fairly extreme western. The rape scene is not lingered on, but is filmed in such a way as to instill shock in the viewer. The film has a few rare humorous elements, but is otherwise a deadly serious tale of revenge. Henry Silva's character has little dialogue and virtually no knowledge of English. The filmmakers rely instead on imagery and expressions to tell the story more than the spoken language.For me, the film was passable. I personally couldn't find much to fault in the approach taken. Some plot elements are strong, but cannot be stated here without becoming spoilers. The cast is good and consists largely of veterans of the western genre. The minimal dialogue was a good choice. The rape scene is not exploitative. Perhaps it is because this vengeance theme has been done so much that I couldn't really get into the film. For western traditionalists, this might be one to avoid.