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One of the the last significant spaghetti westerns, China 9, Liberty 37, directed by Monte Hellman, from a screenplay written by Jerry Harvey, Douglas Venturelli, Ennio de Concini and Don Vicente Escriva, premieres in Rome. A smouldering Fabio Testi mangles the English language as an about-to-be-hanged gunfighter whom the town's railroad brass reprieve on condition he kill a local rancher (Warren Oates) whose land the railroad covets. When he reneges on the deal and heads for the hills with the rancher's smitten wife (Jenny Agutter), both his betrayed employer and the cuckolded rancher set out in hot pursuit. An uncharacteristically contemplative, character driven genre swan-song, burnished by veteran Oates' grizzled presence, Pino Donaggio's score, and Giuseppe Rotunno's wide-screen lensing. Featuring a brief cameo from the great Sam Peckinpah.
