A violent spaghetti western, A Bullet For Sandoval (1970) is the grim tale of a Confederate army soldier (George Hilton) who deserts when he learns that his Mexican lover is dying of cholera. The woman's wealthy, ruthless father (Ernest Borgnine, hot off The Wild Bunch [1969]) had earlier refused to let them marry. Hilton finds his lover dead and their baby barely alive, and Borgnine harshly sends Hilton and baby both away. But Hilton keeps finding things tough going; one farmer even smashes a bottle of milk on the ground rather than give it to the starving baby. Eventually, Hilton assembles a band of cutthroats and sets back for revenge -- first against the farmer, then against Borgnine and his gang, leading to a memorable climax in a bullfighting ring.

A Spanish-Italian co-production, the movie was shot in Almeria, Spain, and director Julio Buchs imbued it with a sweaty, dusty atmosphere typical of such westerns. It was made under the working title Vengeance is Mine, and was released as such in some countries. In Italy, it was titled Those Desperate Men Who Smell of Dirt and Death.

In a 2007 interview with Roger A. Fratter, George Hilton characterized himself as "a sunny kind of person" and called his role in this movie unusually "serious and dramatic." A Uruguayan actor, Hilton had already established himself as a spaghetti western star in such films as Any Gun Can Play (1967). A year after A Bullet For Sandoval, he'd star in I am Sartana, Trade Your Guns for a Coffin (1970).

Variety criticized this picture for its badly dubbed dialogue ("Silence, you dog!" Borgnine spits) and slow pace, but noted that "Julio Bruchs's graphically interesting staging, Francisco Sempere's photography, and the story line, a sort of sagebrush vendetta, are the elements of a much better picture." The climactic bullring sequence, Variety added, was "stunningly staged and photographed."

By Jeremy Arnold