A Town Called Bastard
A Town Called Bastard is a 1971 international co-production spaghetti Western. It was shot in Madrid with Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Stella Stevens and Martin Landau.
It was released on blu-ray on 18 August 2015. The film was retitled A Town Called Hell for US release as the word "bastard" was thought offensive.
Plot
In 1905 Mexico, a small town is presided over by a tyrant who commands a grizzled outlaw and his men. Also in town is a priest with a violent past, who has abandoned his clerical duties.A widow arrives with her faithful servant promising to pay $20,000 in gold if the man who killed her husband is found and delivered to her. Further violence erupts when a brutal army colonel arrives on the scene searching for an elusive rebel leader. The colonel and the priest knew each other years before.
Production
The film was financed by Benmar, a wholly owned filmmaking subsidiary of Scotia Investments, the leisure activities group. Benmar was headed by Benjamin Fisz in association with Boris Marmor. They had just invested in Royal Hunt of the Sun. Scotia purchased Benmar and a number of other companies from Marmor in June 1969.Benmar teamed with writer-producer Philip Yordan who had made several films in Spain. Fisz, Marmour and Yordan built a Western street in Spain that was to be used for the film. Fisz hired Robert Adrey to write the script and, according to Bernard Gordon, who often worked for Yordan, "Yordan was supposed to rewrite and cure its problems."
Filming began in Spain in July 1970. Howard Brandy was Fisz's assistant. Production partly took place at a Mexican fortress set built at Madrid 70 Studios near Daganzo created by Yordan. This street would be later used by Captain Apache, Bad Man's River, Pancho Villa, and Horror Express.
Bernard Gordon says when he saw the first cut of the film "We all agreed it didn't make sense and that production would have to be reopened. Again, I realized this was a commonplace with Yordan. Finish a film inadequately, then worry about making changes when it was, in effect, too late. Strangle a production with too little money, then spend a great deal more than was saved on fixing up." Gordon wrote additional scenes which were shot by Irving Lerner.
The film was not a box office success. In October 1970 Benmar announced they would follow Bastard with ten projects, but only Captain Apache was made.
In April 1972 Scotia sold off the rights to five of its pictures, including Bastard, Psychomania, Captain Apache and Bad Man's River.