Apocalypse Joe (1970)
"Un uomo chiamato Apocalisse Joe" (original title)

Spanish/Italian co-production dealing with a traveling actor with his roulette and gunslinger named Joe Clifford (Anthony Steffen) , kills enemies exclaiming : ¨To be or not to be¨ . At the beginning he is imprisoned , when is freed by his aunt , Joe aware that has inherited a gold mine from his uncle . Returning to claim the mine , he finds town boss named Berg (Eduardo Fajardo) , his uncle's killer , controls it instead . Clifford sets out in pursuit the murderers . At the end takes place a long shootout at the little town in which Clifford is only helped by the barber . Then Clifford tells he goes to London for a meeting with Shakespeare .

This Paella/Spaghetti Western is filled with action , thrills , horse ridding , brawls at the Saloon and crossfire . This is an acceptable Spaghetti starred by Antonio De Teffe , under pseudonym Anthony Steffen ; he steals the show as a gunman relishing his secret identity dressed in Shakesperean actor , or disguising as a priest or posing as a woman ; executing thespian skills , bounds and leaps , twists and climbs and throughly enjoys himself . Anthony Steffen in his ordinary role as a gunfighter who seeks vengeance against his eternal enemy , Eduardo Fajardo , and his hoodlums as the bouncing Fernando Bilbao . As Steffen freeing the town from nasties led by Eduardo Fajardo , using both gunning down and shrewdness . Both of whom starred as deadly contenders a lot of Western .

The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others. He was still enjoyable in other genres, specially Giallos as the successful The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave¨, ¨Death in Haiti¨ or The ¨Crimes of the Black Cat¨, a good example of Giallo where he played a blind pianist - one of his roles he most liked- , and ¨Killer Fish¨ . Being a Spanish/Italian co-production in the movie appears usual support actors such as : Mary Paz Pondal , Miguel Del Castillo and Fernando Bilbao as a bearded hunk , among others .

This Western takes elements about ¨Hamlet¨and ¨Macbeth¨ . Other Spaghetti freely based on famous novel by Shakespeare is ¨The Fury of Johnny Kid¨ by Gianni Puccini with Peter Lee Lawrence and Cristina Galbo from ¨Romeo and Giuletta¨ . Other Spaghetti based on known and classic novels , are the following : ¨Johnny Hamlet¨(1968) by Enzo G Castellari ; ¨The return of Ringo¨ by Duccio Tessari inspired on the ¨Odyssey¨, ¨John Il Bastardo¨(1967) based on books from Zorrilla and Moliere ; and ¨Anche Nel West Céra Una Volta Dio ¨ (1968)by Marino Girolami¨based on ¨Island of treasure¨ by Robert Stevenson.

The motion picture is produced by Eduardo Manzanos Brochero who started producing ¨Il Coyote¨ and ¨The Jiusticia De Coyote¨ by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin . After that , he produced with his company Copercines ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Marchent with Frank Latimore . Eduardo Manzanos built a Western town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today sadly disappeared , called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as Welcome Padre Murray , Brandy , various Zorros and this one . He produced various films for Marchent brothers as Joaquin Romero Marchent : ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨; and Rafael Marchent : ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨ ; and for Italian directors as ¨Sabor Odio¨ by Umberto Lenzi¨and ¨Winchester 1 between 1000¨ by Primo Zeglio .