A Town Called Hell

Year releasted: 1971

by Keith Phipps
November 7th, 2001

"Location, location, location," the old real-estate adage goes, but the name of said location must also play a role. For example, few would willingly choose to live in a town called Hell, especially one lorded over by a sadistic Telly Savalas. The residents of one small Revolution-era Mexican city--apparently located in a region of Mexico dense with blue-eyed, modestly salaried character actors--seem to have no choice in the matter. Taking great delight in lounging in the sun and hanging those who defy him, Savalas behaves with little regard for his subjects, much less local property values. But two new arrivals seem destined to challenge his authority: a sad-eyed woman (Stella Stevens) looking for a husband reportedly killed by a revolutionary leader named Aguila, and a mysterious priest (Robert Shaw) prone to speaking in clipped, cryptic phrases. But before the expected match-up can take place, yet another visitor, a character known only as The Colonel (Martin Landau), puts a decisive end to the Savalas regime by hanging the bare-pated overlord out to bake in the desert sun. Landau, who also seeks Aguila, thinks his quest is near its end when he discovers that his old friend Shaw might know the revolutionary's whereabouts. When Shaw refuses to divulge the information, their friendship quickly turns bitter: "I will hang them in order to break you," Landau promises. "Men and women, young and old, and you will watch me from your little window. And you will be broken." Little window and all, Shaw continues to resist Landau, until a blind informant recognizes that Shaw himself is Aguila, in a revelation that cues a flashback inexplicably set to Johnny Horton's "Battle Of New Orleans." Before Landau can mete out his sadistic brand of frontier justice, the forces of the Revolution begin to fight within the city limits. In a quiet moment, Landau and Shaw trade deep thoughts. "Shall we be punished for our sins?" Landau asks. "By them," Shaw replies. "Shall we repent them?" Landau continues. "They say it's as easy to repent of those sins you've already committed as those you intend to commit," Shaw concludes. Landau has scant time to consider those words before the blind man, in an apparent change of heart, turns him over to the government, pegging him as Aguila and presumably sending him from a town called Hell to the place itself.