Captain Apache (1971)

Director: Alexander Singer

Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Carroll Baker, Stuart Whitman, Percy Herbert, Elisa Montes, Tony Vogel, Charles Stalmaker, Charly Bravo, Faith Clift

More info: IMDb

Tagline: They Trailed Him...Tailed Him...Tried to Nail Him...NO WAY!!!

Plot: Lee Van Cleef as a Native American born US Army officer, Captain Apache, investigating a murder, uncovers a presidential assassination plot. Captain Apache wears a funky coat, trips on psychedelics, beats up twin gay gunslingers and constantly gets called red ass, all while trying to find out what the words "april morning" mean, a dying agent's last words. With very few leads, he starts a tense alliance with a corrupt gun-runner named Griffin (Stuart Whitman), but finds he'll have to work quicker if he's to find out information as his contacts have a rather annoying habit of dying - and just before they tell him as well.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

#11 on A FISTFUL OF TRAILERS (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

I'm a HUGE Lee Van Cleef fan so I was primed and ready to like this one only...I didn't really.  Sure, it's strange seeing LVC with a full head of hair and no mustache and it's a little odd that he's playing an Indian but that's not where I have a problem with the picture.  The characters spend the entire movie trying to find out what the hell the dying words of a man, "April Morning", meant.  LVC gets into scrapes and there are some kills from time to time but we don't really get closer to knowing until the final few minutes of the picture.  What we discover is pretty damn cool and then once that's over it's really cynical (which I liked).  There's not much that's interesting enough to pull me back in for another viewing.  There are way too many Spaghetti Westerns to watch (and re-watch) before I'd ever be convinced to come back to this one.  Another reason to stay away is LVC sings not one but two songs!  The first one over the opening credits isn't so bad but the one that accompanies the end credits is just awful.  I'm glad he didn't give up acting for a singing career.  I'm sure he was, too.