Spaghetti with Chorizo Western filmed in Spanish location as La Pedriza ,Manzanares Del Real and Colmenar Viejo and interior scenes shot in usual Italian scenarios called Elios studios. It deals with an inmate wrongfully imprisoned for twenty years for a crime he didn't commit and escaping from jail . As Minnesota Clay (Cameron Michell) takes prisoner a lieutenant (Julio Peña) and seeks revenge on the man who withheld evidence at his trial and arrives in a town ravaged by a sheriff and bandits . The gunfighter enemy is Fox (Georges Riviere),who nowadays results to be the Sheriff of a little town who himself terrorises the villagers . At the beginning Clay rescues a woman from bandits , she is named Stella (Ethel Rojo) a gorgeous but devious woman . Later on , Clay is imprisoned by outlaw Ortiz ( Fernando Sancho) and also townsfolk is living in terror of his band . In the middle of these two waring parties is Clay's daughter named Nancy (Diana Martin) who thinks her father is dead . The gunslinger enters the town caught between two feuding factions, a nasty sheriff and a gang of Mexican bandits, and is caught up in a struggle against them. But here is a problem however, Clay is going blind.

The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the starring Cameron Mitchell and his enemies , Geoges Riviere and Fernando Sancho . The movie contains gun-play, action Western , thrills and bloody spectacle . This interesting theme about a blind gunslinger is also treated in other films such as ¨The blind man¨ by Ferdinando Baldi , ¨An eye for eye¨ by Michael Moore with Robert Lansing and ¨Blind Justice¨ by Richard Spence with Armando Assante . In ¨Minessota Clay¨ appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Jose Luis Martin , Simon Arriga , Alfonso Rojas , Antonio Casas ,Alvaro De Luna and Guido Pernice , many of them usual in Corbucci films . Special mention to Fernando Sancho in his ordinary role as fatty Mexican bandit and in a cruelly baddie role , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar characters . The movie gets the ordinary Western issues, such as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , quick scenes and exaggerated baddies . It's an improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining. An interesting casting full of usual Spaghetti make this oater well worth the watching . Mediocre cinematography by Jose Aguayo , Luis Buñuel's customary , but is necessary a perfect remastering , being the copy washed-out .

Screenplay with interesting premise about a 'blind gunfighter' is written by Corbucci and Jose G . Maesso , also producer ( he produced several Western as ¨The ugly ones , Minnesota Clay , Django , A train to Durango , Hellbenders¨) . Sergio Corbucci's direction is acceptable , he made numerous Spaghetti classics . Direction is well crafted, here Corbucci is more cynical and violent and less inclined toward humor and packs too much action , but especially this moving Western contains broad violence specially on the character played by Georges Riviere . The other Sergio made several Western classics as ¨ Django¨, ¨The great silence¨, ¨The specialist¨ , ¨The Hellbenders¨ , ¨Navajo Joe¨ , and Zapata Western as ¨The Mercenary¨, ¨The Compañeros¨ and ¨What am I doing in middle of the revolution¨ . In addition Sergio directed other inferior S.W. as ¨Far West story¨ ,¨Johnny Oro¨, ¨The white the yellow an the black¨ , ¨Massacre at Great Canyon (his first Spaghetti) ¨ and ¨Minnesota Clay (his second Western)¨. Corbucci makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , moving shootouts and bemusing scenes . It's an offbeat , surprising and uneven Western but will appeal to Corbucci aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and enough excitement .

Now Minnesota Clay is one fast guy with a gun. Possibly the fastest in the world. Unfortunately he is also slowly losing his eyesight, with his vision now so impaired that one more punch could cause complete loss of sight.

The movie begins with Clay (Cameron Mitchell) escaping from imprisonment, and intent on getting revenge on the man who set him up. The man in question is Fox (George Riviere),who has appointed himself as the Sheriff of Clay's hometown and abuses this power, with the townsfolk living in terror of his gang. They had initially paid Fox to protect them from bandit Ortiz (played by the ever excellent Fernando Sancho),who himself terrorises the town. In the middle of these two waring parties is Clay's daughter, Nancy, who believes her father is dead, and thinks Clay is merely a local hero. They are reunited, but caught in the crossfire between the two gangs, co-ordinated mischievously by Estella (Ethel Rojo) who is as devious as she is beautiful (and my is she beautiful!).

Minnesota Clay is one of the earliest Spaghetti Westerns, directed by a pre-Django Sergio Corbucci. Whilst it is not as captivating or as dark as the films he directed during the Spaghetti boom of 1966-1970, it is still a very enjoyable movie, with the usual sprinkling of injustice that we have come to expect within his films.

Mitchell, Sancho and Riviere are captivating throughout, and Rojo could win the heart of any man with her portrayal of Estella (no wonder her character is so able to use those around her so ably). My only complaint would be the vocal overdub on the English soundtrack for the characters of Nancy (drippy) and Andy (who comes over as a Frank Spencer type character - apologies to any non-English readers that may not understand this comparison!). Once you get used to these minor grumbles about the overdub (which, honestly, does not take too long),you can really start to enjoy Minnesota Clay for the highly watchable film that it is.

Sergio Corbucci is one of the spaghetti western's greatest directors – he was responsible for two classics, DJANGO and THE GREAT SILENCE, among many others. This is an earlier offering, made before he got his groove on, and it doesn't have the same kind of 'vibe' to it as all the Leone-influenced westerns that came out during and after 1967. This one feels more like a set-bound American western; it has that clean-cut style to it rather than the dark and gritty atmosphere that epitomised the 'spaghettis'.

Saying that, it's still a great little film, really well paced for a western and with some intriguing characters. Much of the film's success is down to Cameron Mitchell, who appeared in some of the best genre films Italy had to offer during the '60s; most of these were directed by the great Mario Bava (I'm thinking LAST OF THE VIKINGS, BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, KNIVES OF THE AVENGER, the list goes on). Mitchell was a great actor in my opinion and he's perfectly cast as the hero here. He gives Clay a raw humanity that makes you sympathise with him from the outset and the fact that he's handicapped – as the film progresses he gradually loses his sight – only adds to the pathos. Clay's dire situation makes for a truly nail-biting extended climax as a group of killers prowl after him through deserted streets and stables.

Elsewhere, genre conventions abound. There are some brutal Mexicans, led by ever-present character actor Fernando Sancho, and a wonderfully staged shoot-out in which Clay seems to kill about two hundred of the enemy by shooting them off their horses. There's a tough femme fatale, played by the beautiful Argentinian actress Ethel Rojo, who easily holds her own against the macho guys surrounding her. Georges Riviere, who starred in a couple of Italian gothics like CASTLE OF BLOOD before appearing in this, is an unusual villain in that he doesn't actually do much that's villainous in the film: he just stands in Clay's way, and that's enough. The action scenes are well handled and the location work impressive. This is a film where even the horses seem to have their own individuality. The dubbing is pretty bad but this is par for the course for any Italian genre film, really. It's a good looking film, well handled by Corbucci, technically perfect and with enough atmosphere to make it a success.