THE TASTE OF VIOLENCE is a cheap-looking black and white western that might have worked better had it been made a decade later when the genre was in full bloom. Here, it seems a bit like an anachronism, a film before its time; the version I watched was fuzzy looking which didn't help. The story seems cheaply-staged without much in the way of action or incident to propel it along.

The main characters are guerrillas fighting back against a cruel dictator. They manage to capture the dictator's daughter in an opening train ambush which isn't even shown given the film's lack of budget. What follows is a plodding journey narrative of sorts as the characters bicker among themselves and occasionally die. Mario Adorf, a star of Italian cinema in the 1970s, is one of the protagonists. The script attempts depth and explores moral courage at times, but it's all so routinely staged by Rober Hossein - who definitely bit off more than he could chew in directing/writing/starring in the film - that it's a chore to watch.