''Minnesota Clay'' is a 1964

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

directed by

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed both very violent Spaghetti Westerns and bloodless Bud Spencer and Terence Hill action comedies. He is the older bro ...

Plot

The year is 1883. Clay, a gunfighter with health problems, is interned in Drunner Labor Camp. He's determined to prove his innocence since he was framed by Fox, the current Sheriff of Clay's former home of Mesa Encantada. Fox has subsequently been hired by the townspeople to protect them from Ortiz and his bandits. Instead, Fox now runs a

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

, extorting and terrorizing the complacent citizens, threatening them with violence if they do not pay exorbitant taxes to him. Clay rides out to meet Ortiz, who tries to hire him to kill Fox. Ortiz's mistress Estella, whom Clay saved earlier from an attack by Fox's men, lets Clay escape the Ortiz encampment. She tells him Clay stole gold from him, prompting Ortiz and his gang to seek out Clay. This enables Fox to ambush both of them. Fox kills Ortiz and captures Clay. She helps Clay escape and, despite losing his sight, manages to decimate Fox's gang one by one. Realizing he is unable to see clearly, Fox seeks him out in one of the town's stables and tries to lure him into shooting his own daughter, Nancy during the final showdown. In an epilogue in only European prints of the film, the military guards from Drunner Labor Camp pay Jonathan a large sum of money for getting rid of Fox and Oritz. As they ride away, Clay emerges and speaks with Jonathan then rides away, removes his glasses tosses them into the air and fires a single bullet through the lenses. In the English version, the film ends shortly after Clay fires on Fox and falls to the ground. He confesses to them about their relationship and instructs her to collect the $10,000 reward for his capture, then dies.

Cast

* Cameron Mitchell as Minnesota Clay *

Georges Rivière Georges Aristide Claude Félix Rivière (born 1 July 1924) is a French retired actor who worked in Argentine cinema in the 1950s. He appeared in nearly 50 films between 1948 and 1970. Selected filmography *'' The Lame Devil'' (1948) – Marqu ...

as Fox *

Ethel Rojo Ethel Rojo (née Ethel Inés Rojo Castro; December 23, 1937 in Santiago del Estero – June 24, 2012 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine actress, vedette, dancer and theater director. She was the sister of Gogó Rojo. Filmography * 1955: ''Po ...

as Estella * Diana Martín as Nancy Mulligan * Antonio Roso (as Anthony Ross) as Mudo *

Fernando Sancho Fernando Sancho Les (7 January 1916 – 31 July 1990) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during o ...

as General Domingo Ortiz *

Antonio Casas Antonio Casas (11 November 1911 – 14 February 1982) was a Spanish footballer turned film actor who appeared in film between 1941 and his death in 1982. Casas originally began as a footballer for Atlético Madrid, but entered film in 1941 and ...

as Jonathan Mulligan *

Gino Pernice Gino Pernice (6 May 1927 – 25 April 1997) was an Italian stage, television and film actor. Life and career Born in Milan, Pernice trained at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici graduating in 1952, and made his professional debut with the stage ...

as Scratchy * Joe Kamel as Millicet *

Ferdinando Poggi Ferdinando Poggi, often credited as Nando Poggi, was an Italian born actor active between 1958 and 1985. Best known for his role as Castor in the 1963 film '' Jason and the Argonauts'', he also acted in and was stunt coordinator for '' Clash of ...

as Tubbs *

Pietro Tordi Pietro Tordi (12 July 1906 – 14 December 1990) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 100 films between 1942 and 1988. He was born in Florence, Italy. Selected filmography * '' Doctor Antonio'' (1937) - L'altro conspiratore * '' Don C ...

as Barman *

Julio Peña Julio Peña (18 June 1912 - 27 July 1972) was a Spanish actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1930 to 1972. He died on July 27, 1972 aged 60 at Cortijo Blanco in Marbella, where he was resting after appearing in the film ''Horror ...

as Dr. Stevens

Production

Although ''Minnesota Clay'' has been listed as being shot in Spain, film historian

Tim Lucas Tim Lucas (born May 30, 1956) is a film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter, blogger, and publisher and editor of the video review magazine ''Video Watchdog''. Biography and early career Lucas, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the only chil ...

has stated that upon examination of the film, very little was actually shot there, with the possibility of only two scenes involving actor

and his character's crew. The bulk of the story takes place either in or outside the saloon or in/outside Jonathan's farmhouse, both of which were shot at the studios of Elios Film near Rome. Shooting took place between September and October 1964. Cameron Mitchell recalled that

Mario Bava Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Ma ...

was on set to assist Corbucci. Lucas has suggested that Bava assisted with the film's cinematography and the final shootout sequence.

Release

''Minnesota Clay'' was one of the first Spaghetti Westerns released in Rome after the surprise success of ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' ( it, Per un pugno di dollari, lit=For a Fistful of Dollars titled on-screen as ''Fistful of Dollars'') is a 1964 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, a ...

''. The film earned 400 million lire, substantially less than ''A Fistful of Dollars'', which grossed 3.182 billion lire. The film's English- dubbed version was created in Rome. Aside from looping his own performance, Mitchell provided the voices of both Georges Riviere and

. Lucas critiqued the rest of the dubbing as "fairly atrocious", noting that Diana Martin's performance suffered particularly. The film was released in the United States and the United Kingdom in 1966 and 1967 respectively. According to Lucas, the film became one of the hardest Italian Westerns to see after 1968, with the film eventually getting a Japanese DVD release on Imagica's "Macaroni Western Library".

References

Sources

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External links

* {{Sergio Corbucci 1964 films Italian Western (genre) films Spanish Western (genre) films French Western (genre) films Films directed by Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Western films 1964 Western (genre) films Films scored by Piero Piccioni 1960s Italian-language films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films