Night of the Serpent
Night of the Serpent, also known as Nest of Vipers, is a 1969 Italian spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Giulio Petroni and starring Luke Askew, Luigi Pistilli, Magda Konopka, Giancarlo Badessi and Chelo Alonso.
Plot
In a remote Mexican villa, during the country's Revolution, a group of townsmen conspire to rob child orphan Manuel of his inheritance, since they are all Manuel's relatives and his estranged father, who was living in USA, recently died and left a lot of money to his son, with the group keeping the information a secret after accidentally killing the mailman who was carrying the documents.After he finds out about the "nest of vipers" and their scheme to get Manuel's inheritance, Hernandez, the corrupt Lieutenant of the Mexican army's garrison in the villa, joins the group of conspirators as their leader and devises a new plan with the intention of framing an innocent man for the future murder of the boy. Meanwhile the American Luke, an alcoholic ex-gunslinger who is living in Mexico and suffering from a traumatic and unspoken past, is chosen by the revolutionary and small-time bandit General Pancaldo, who is a friend of Hernandez, to be an unwitting pawn in the conspirators' plan. However, after befriending Manuel and finding out about the vipers' intention of killing both the boy and his adoptive mother María, Luke decides to get back into shape leaving alcohol and facing the conspirators and the Mexican army head on.
Cast
- Luke Askew as Luke
- Luigi Pistilli as Lt. 'The Snake' Hernandez
- Magda Konopka as Maria
- Chelo Alonso as Dolores
- Guglielmo Spoletini as General Pancaldo
- Franco Balducci as Luciano
- Giancarlo Badessi as Ignacio
- Luciano Casamonica as Manuel
- Mónica Miguel as Ignacio's wife
- Franco Valobra as Jesus Maria
- Benito Stefanelli as Pancho
- Clara Colosimo as Mercedes