Themes: Sheriffs and Outlaws, On the Run, Bounty Hunters
Main Cast: Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef, Fred Williamson, Catherine Spaak, Jim Kelly
Release Year: 1974
Country: US/IT
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Jim Brown and Fred Williamson team up for this violent western, directed by Antonio Marghetti under the name of Anthony M. Dawson. Brown plays Pike, a stonefaced cowboy who meets up Tyree (Fred Williamson), a jocular and dishonest gambler. Together with a mute Indian scout Kashtok (Jim Kelly), the trio attempts to transport $86,000 across hundreds of miles of Western wasteland to deliver it to the widow of Pike's former employer. Along the way, they are pursued by bounty hunter Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef) and corrupt sheriff Kane (Barry Sullivan). Dana Andrews also appears in a cameo role as Pike's boss Morgan. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Julio Molina - Art Director, Scott Maitland - First Assistant Director, Anthony M. Dawson - Director, Hal Needham - Second Unit Director, Stanford C. Allen - Editor, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Carmen Martin - Makeup, Riccardo Pallottini - Cinematographer, Leon Chooluck - Producer, Harry Bernsen - Producer, Antonio Molina - Special Effects, Theodore Soderberg - Sound/Sound Designer, Jim Willis - Sound/Sound Designer, Juan Majan - Stunts, Hal Needham - Stunts, Eric Bercovici - Screenwriter, Jerry Ludwig - Screenwriter
Take A Hard Ride is a 1975 Western directed by Antonio Margheriti, starring Lee Van Cleef, Fred Williamson and Jim Brown. Pike, a stonefaced cowboy who meets up Tyree, a dishonest gambler. Together with a mute Indian scout Kashtok, the trio attempts to transport $86,000 across hundreds of miles of Western wasteland to deliver it to the widow of Pike's former employer.[1]
The film is notable among seventiesB cinema for being both a Blaxploitation film (one of a number teaming Brown and Williamson) and a Spaghetti Western, co-financed by Italian producers and filmed on location in the Canary Islands. Director Margheriti had attempted a similarly ambitious genre hybrid the previous year with El kárate, el Colt y el impostor, a Spaghetti Western Kung Fu adventure, also starring Van Cleef.
Pike (Jim Brown), the right-hand man of cattle rancher Bob Morgan (Dana Andrews), is entrusted with a mission to deliver $86,000 across the border to the Morgan Ranch in Senora, Mexico after his boss dies. Pike teams up with dishonest gambler Tyree (Fred Williamson) and are forced to trust each other while being pursued by various outlaws and gunmen trying to possess the money, including the ruthless bounty hunter Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef) and a corrupt sheriff (Barry Sullivan).
Along the way the duo comes across a prostitute (Catherine Spaak) in need of rescuing and a mute Indian scout skilled in martial arts (Jim Kelly) who help them on their journey. After numerous gun battles and chase sequences, Pike and Tyree reach the end of the line at an abandoned mine, where they duke it out over the money, yet finally settle and work together after getting word of the approaching gunmen. They devise a plan to escape by using explosives to blow up the mind shaft behind them, killing all their pursuers except for Kiefer, who decides to forgo his bounty and let the men continue their quest to reach the ranch.
