Deadlock, 1970 - ★★★½

Deadlock, 1970 - ★★★½

REVIEWED



“Sometimes you kill butterflies with an hammer Sunshine” - The Kid (Marquard Bohm)



Entertaining sun drenched euro acid-western, that unapologetically riffs on Sergio Leone's 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly'. The Kids trying to run & hideout from his mentor Mr Sunshine, because hes doubled crossed him on money they've stolen. The Kid crosses paths with Charles Dump while waiting for a train transfer in a god forsaken dust bowl, opportunist Dump sees his chance to get rich quick so tries to take the loot for himself. The three men end up in a deadlocked situation, neither is willing to part or share the cash.


My first foray into Roland Klick's movies, and it was a real treat. So I'm more than eager to track down more of his filmography, but finding his films is proving tough, and finding them subbed even tougher. Klick impressively captures the rugged desert town, and equally rugged characters. The actings solid enough Marquard Bohm plays the antihero The Kid (clearly the Good character), then you've got Anthony Dawson as Sunshine (the Bad) and finally you've got the very Jason Robards like Mario Adorf as Dump (whose the Ugly). Plus Dumps adopted mute daughter played by femme fatale Mascha Rabben. The soundtrack by Can is sublime, a sort of Ennio Morricone meets Pink Floyd.


[Personal Reasons For Remembering]

I loved the character of Dump, even when he seems to have the upper hand, he never seems in control. For an older guy he does hell of a lot of running throughout the movie, like when hes chasing the freight train, or fleeing from Sunshine trying to run him over in his own beatup old truck.






Originally taken from Letterboxd

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