Known in the UK as High Plains Killer and in Germany as Hallelujah, The Devil Sends His Regards, Face to Face is the second of three Italian Westerns by Sergio Sollima. He also made Violent City and Devil in the Brain. It was written by two Sergios, Sollima and Donati, who also scripted Orca, Almost Blue and Holocaust 2000.
In the time after the Civil War, Civil War, Brad Fletcher (Gian Maria Volonté, who was in A Bullet for the General, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More) quits his job teaching history at Boston University. His tuberculosis would do better in Texas, he thinks, and he makes his way out West. As the movie begins, he's a liberal - Volonté was an extreme left wing activist - who thinks violence has no meaning. Then he meets the criminal Solomon "Beauregard" Bennet (Tomas Milian). When he tries to give the man a drink, he's captured and taken into a hideout in the middle of nowhere.
There, he learns how to shoot a gun as Bennett recovers from his injuries. Instead of finally going back to Boston, he soon is part of the gang, along with Charley Siringo (William Berger), Aaron Chase (José Torres), Jason (Frank Baña) and Vance (Nello Pazzafini). He even kills a man to save Bennet.
They're joined by Maximillian de Winton (Ángel del Pozo) and stay in Puerto de Fuego, a world of no laws, criminals and outsiders. As the gang leaves for a train robbery, Fletcher stays behind and has an affair with Vance's woman Maria (Jolanda Modio). When the gang comes back, Fletcher kills Vance in self-defense.
Fletcher also starts to take over the gang, setting up a robbery dressed as everyday folks that gets spoiled when a kid recognizes Bennett. At that point, Charley reveals that he's a lawman and kills Jason, Maximillian and Aaron. He also captures Bennett and only Fletcher and Maria escape. She dies and he goes mad due to all the death - Maria and the kid who fingered Bennett - and betrayal. He transforms the somewhat oasis of Puerto del Fuego into a wretched hive of scum and villainy that has a posse led by Zachary Shawn (Aldo Sanbrell) coming to town to kill everyone. Bennett gets there too late to stop them.
By the final scene, the good man has become a criminal and the gunfighter has started to atone for his past. That said, they have to get through an entire posse if either of them is going to survive, as well as deal with Charley. I love that Bennett is around violence all the time and it's become a habit while Fletcher comes to learn that his brains, when combined with a willingness to do horrible things, can make him stronger and wealthier than he was back East. The West changes them both.
That's beyond obvious when Fletcher kills another turncoat, tying him to a cross and putting a gun to his head, blasting his brains out without a thought. Obviously, his illness is no longer bothering him.
Sollima used his experiences in fighting with the anti-fascist resistance in World War II to make this movie, remembering how he saw children be brave and adult men be cowards. He also pushed his actors by using their real-life differences. Volontè was a Communist and Milian left Cuba when Castro took control. He also made them box one another before shooting.
In the time after the Civil War, Civil War, Brad Fletcher (Gian Maria Volonté, who was in A Bullet for the General, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More) quits his job teaching history at Boston University. His tuberculosis would do better in Texas, he thinks, and he makes his way out West. As the movie begins, he's a liberal - Volonté was an extreme left wing activist - who thinks violence has no meaning. Then he meets the criminal Solomon "Beauregard" Bennet (Tomas Milian). When he tries to give the man a drink, he's captured and taken into a hideout in the middle of nowhere.
There, he learns how to shoot a gun as Bennett recovers from his injuries. Instead of finally going back to Boston, he soon is part of the gang, along with Charley Siringo (William Berger), Aaron Chase (José Torres), Jason (Frank Baña) and Vance (Nello Pazzafini). He even kills a man to save Bennet.
They're joined by Maximillian de Winton (Ángel del Pozo) and stay in Puerto de Fuego, a world of no laws, criminals and outsiders. As the gang leaves for a train robbery, Fletcher stays behind and has an affair with Vance's woman Maria (Jolanda Modio). When the gang comes back, Fletcher kills Vance in self-defense.
Fletcher also starts to take over the gang, setting up a robbery dressed as everyday folks that gets spoiled when a kid recognizes Bennett. At that point, Charley reveals that he's a lawman and kills Jason, Maximillian and Aaron. He also captures Bennett and only Fletcher and Maria escape. She dies and he goes mad due to all the death - Maria and the kid who fingered Bennett - and betrayal. He transforms the somewhat oasis of Puerto del Fuego into a wretched hive of scum and villainy that has a posse led by Zachary Shawn (Aldo Sanbrell) coming to town to kill everyone. Bennett gets there too late to stop them.
By the final scene, the good man has become a criminal and the gunfighter has started to atone for his past. That said, they have to get through an entire posse if either of them is going to survive, as well as deal with Charley. I love that Bennett is around violence all the time and it's become a habit while Fletcher comes to learn that his brains, when combined with a willingness to do horrible things, can make him stronger and wealthier than he was back East. The West changes them both.
That's beyond obvious when Fletcher kills another turncoat, tying him to a cross and putting a gun to his head, blasting his brains out without a thought. Obviously, his illness is no longer bothering him.
Sollima used his experiences in fighting with the anti-fascist resistance in World War II to make this movie, remembering how he saw children be brave and adult men be cowards. He also pushed his actors by using their real-life differences. Volontè was a Communist and Milian left Cuba when Castro took control. He also made them box one another before shooting.