Hate Thy Neighbor (1968)

Inventory

• George Eastman
• Horst Frank
• Robert Rice
• Nicoletta Machivelli
• Paolo Magalotti

Inventory

• A map
• A squeezebox
• A barrel of "WHISEY"
• Steel tiger claws
• Shields the size of an iPad Mini
• A pit of snakes
• A cage of rats
• Hair pulling
• Flying dynamite

Summary

Our story begins with Bill Dakota driving a wagon carrying his wife and young son into town, hell bent for leather. Moments later, after the warm and caring townspeople run for cover, Bill's son is an orphan, but not before Bill has been forced to hand over a map. At the cemetery, a handsome stranger rides up and admits to being Bill's brother, Ken.

Ken, of course, does the only honorable thing and has his girlfriend babysit the boy, so that justice can be administered. After roughing up the sheriff and a couple of deputies, Dakota enlists the help of a garrulous funeral director to head of the border to continue his crusade.

We then cut to Mexico to where Chris Malone, played by always brilliant Horst Frank, has a pair of minions fight it out, octagon style, with steel claws. Of course Malone is in cahoots with Gary Stevens, the new rightful owner of the map, which provides pre-Google directions to a gold mine. Malone directs Stevens to rob the local bank, which he (Malone) happens to own, to generate funds for the mining operation. Of course, Malone double crosses Stevens.

In the fine tradition of movie villains, Malone leaves Stevens in a deadly torture intended to inspire Stevens to tell where the other half of the map is hidden. Rather than wait for results, Malone departs with Stevens in the good hands of four incompetent yahoos, who are quickly dispatched by Dakota, allowing him to return Stevens to justice whereupon he is hung the next morning.

Okay, not really. He has the rope around his neck when Malone's men rescue him. A healthy mix of the usual double crosses ensue when Jose, the least Hispanic looking member of the cast, demonstrates the loyalty that can be generally expected from henchmen. Malone returns the favor as he demonstrates how he earned "Boss of the Year" honors from the local Chamber of Commerce for three years running.

The ending moves terrifically, until it collapses into a comical gunfight, a green-screen wagon chase, and an utterly unsatisfying conclusion.

The opening credits are displayed using the device of a newspaper. Strangely, while the some of the credits are in Italian, the title is in German: "Hasse Deinen Nächsten". There are a few English language credits mixed in, as well. This marks the first movie that I can recall in which the script girl got credited before the movie. I suspect that this may have been copied from a print originally dubbed and shown in Germany. It was then redubbed, which is a bit of a shame, as most of the actors were clearly speaking English and the dubbing has the reverb of a soundstage in many scenes.

Dialogue

"Order. Order in the court. Now let's make this fast. I intend to back on that stage ten minutes from now."

Story

You've seen it all before: murder, revenge, "They took the little boy." And, as I mentioned, so many double crossings that it looked like a Los Angeles street map. Still, credit must be given to a movie that can steal twists from so many other sources. At least you'll never lose track of the plot (assuming that you've seen a few dozen of these) and the number of gaping holes was kept to a minimum.

Music

Great incidental music, on occasion being played by one of the characters. Unfortunately, the overall effect is ruined by the opening and closing themes, which sound remarkably like the theme to "The Love Boat", with the exception of the references to revenge.

Acting

Horst Frank does a great job. He basically plays the role that Leonardo DiCaprio does in "Django Unchained", but with just a hint of Christoph Waltz mixed in. Frankly, it's as good a job as you'll see in one of these movies and you can understand why he was such a busy actor.

Roberto Risso played the undertaker with style. He was clearly a fine character actor and it's odd that this was his last film. In his early days, he was dashingly handsome and usually played the boyfriend role. Apparently, he moved into fashion design when he left acting.

None of the other actors added much, although George Eastman, whom we have met before under his birth name, Luigi Montefiori, in "The Unholy Four", spends a lot of time without his shirt.