Although Austrian-born director Nathan Juran made a name for himself with his science fiction themed films, such as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "The Deadly Mantis" and "First Men in the Moon," he was no stranger to westerns. He helmed three Audie Murphy frontier fracases, "Drums Across the River," "Gunsmoke," and "Tumbleweeds" as well as the Fred MacMurray western "A Good Day for a Hanging." Nathan Juran's last western, the Columbia Pictures' release "Land Raiders" is an average but uneven horse opera about a materialistic, amoral Arizona rancher who will stop at nothing to steal land so he can build himself an empire. "Land Raiders" is a 1950s style western with 1960s sensibilities. In other words, the villains make life extremely tragic for the Apaches in the first two-thirds of this movie, but the Indians has the last word. Lensed on location in Spain and Hungary and graced with an exhilarating score by Ennio Morricone's orchestrator Bruno Nicolai, this dusty sagebrusher deals with deceit and racism on a widespread basis.

Ultimately, Telly Savalas plays the villainous brother and Maharis is cast as the heroic sibling. A major criticism of this western is the suspension of disbelief required to accept these two actors as kind. Although the story is pretty formulaic, "Land Raiders" contains many examples of great editing, especially the shifts from one story to an entirely different one. This outdoor adventure has no shortage of action with rampaging Apaches on the warpath and whites who are willing to kill them to collect the bounty on their scalps. The major problem with "Land Raiders" is the Ken Pettus screenplay that focuses on the sibling rivalry between the Mexican brothers Vincent Carden (Telly Savalas of "Kelly's Heroes") and Paul Cardenas (George Maharis of "The Satan Bug") who hate each other's guts with a passion. The ugly secret that has made them sworn enemies looks like something out of a 1950s movies. Furthermore, Vince forsakes his Mexican heritage because he wants to assimilate and become an American, while Paul refuses to turn his back on his Hispanic origins. Between them is the mysterious death of Paul's fiancé, Luis Rojas (Jocelyn Lane of "The Angry Hills"),who died from a broken neck after her horse threw her. Nevertheless, everybody in the town of Forge River holds Paul responsible for her death, but the local town sheriff, John Mayfield (Phil Brown of "Star Wars"),could not assemble enough evidence to arrest him, so Paul has roamed the southwest with the memory of Luis plaguing him.

Meanwhile, the Army wants to make peace with the Apaches and they dispatch Major Tanner (Guy Rolfe of "King of the Khyber Rifles") to persuade Carden in the name of peace to stop offering a reward on Apache scalps. Vincent pays his gunmen $10 for male Apaches, $5 for female Apaches, and $2.50 for their children and he has no plans to stop this unsavory practice. Paul is riding in the opposite direction when he encounters a wagon train, warns them about Apaches on the warpath, and saves one wagon. He saves the Sheriff Mayfield's gorgeous daughter, Kate (Janet Landgard of "The Swimmer") and decides to hang around town. When Vince learns from Colonel Tanner that an Indian agent from Washington,D.C., plans to sit down with the Apaches and smoke the peace pipe, Vincent figures out that prosperity will do his business no good so he sends his gunmen out to kill the Indian agent and frame the Indians for his death.

Eventually, all of Vince's evil catches up with him in the form of three arrows in his chest after the Apaches storm Forge River and kill just about everybody in sight. The major flaw in this western is that Telly Savalas overshadows George Maharis with his dynamic screen presence and Maharis' hero comes off looking pretty useless. Talk about a lopsided yarn! One of the aspects of this western that makes it rewarding for film buffs is the solid editing. Juran does a good job with scene shifts by having one character perform an action that inconspicuously leads to a different scene but does so very smoothly. For example, a child toss a rifle to somebody off camera, but Juran lets the action of the flying rifle bridge the scene change and the rifle winds up in different hands and the scene has changed.

1969 was pretty late in the game to have a Western with a title that didn't have much to do with the story. It was done quite routinely from the Thirties through the Fifties, and back then it was more the norm than the exception. If there are any land raiders here, it would be the villainous Vicente Carden (Telly Savalas),and he operated pretty much solo, so even 'Land Raider' would have made more sense. Maybe I'm just being picky.

Give Telly Savalas some credit here, he imbues his character with so much hate that you just can't wait for the finale to see that he gets his. Personally, I would have preferred it if brother Paul (George Maharis) had done the honors, but it was still pretty satisfying. I will say though, Savalas went out honorably considering what an absolute maniac he was for the entire story. No cowering in the corner or trying to make a run for it. Defiant till the end, his character virtually taunts the Apaches to turn him into a pin cushion.

One thing the picture does well are those transition scenes when a character does something in one scene, and the result of his action moves the story to a different time and place. This was done more than once, and was the principal device used to tell the story of a rift between two brothers that has remained something of a mystery to the citizens of Forge River. Through gradual exposition, the viewer is brought full circle to an understanding that Vince Carden is a rat in more ways than one.

In terms of revisionism, this tale is a pretty one sided affair. The whites, led by Savalas, are all bad guys pretty much, including Major Tanner (Guy Rolfe),sent by the Army to rebuild Fort Harmony in preparation for a truce with the Apaches. The massacre at the Apache camp with only women and children present was reminiscent of the raid at Washita Creek in Dustin Hoffman's "Little Big Man" that came out the following year. It's difficult to comprehend that kind of inhumanity, and not a comfortable subject to view in any genre.

The single element that was definitely unique for this picture was that tease of a rape scene between Paul Cardenas and his brother's wife Martha (Arlene Dahl). It really went nowhere when you come right down to it, but with a bit of work, could have been the impetus for a final confrontation between the brothers. Either way, you know that the Savalas character would eventually get what was coming to him.

Wealthy Spanish landowner Telly Savalas pays mercenaries to kill Apaches and then benefits when their reprisal killings against whites create cheap vacant properties for him to add to his empire. Meanwhile, his younger brother comes home and opposes him, opening up old wounds involving Telly's past misdeeds.

An American film shot in Europe (Spain?),Land Raiders is an obvious attempt to imitate the look and style of the Italian westerns popular at the time. Still, it's a pretty good movie with hard-boiled characters, splashes of blood, and a little bit of nudity thrown in, not to mention the score by Ennio Morricone's frequent arranger Bruno Nicolai.

Telly Savalas is smooth and sinister, appearing to have a lot of fun, while George Maharis gives a likable, noble performance as his brother.

Impressive looking stock footage pads out the action sequences nicely, but it's too easily distinguishable from the bulk of the film.