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The ABC Drive-In in Nevelle
Island, Pennsylvania is a long way from the flats of Almeria, Spain, the
prime shooting location for hundreds of Euro-Westerns. But that's
exactly where I first saw Aldo Sambrell, slashing at Burt Reynolds, in a
faded-purple print of Navajo Joe. At the time the film was almost
10 years old and despite ragged splices, a battered screen and a dozen
or so sound drops, Sambrell made a mighty impression.
In film after film, working with the famous and the
forgotten, Aldo Sambrell's presence has enhanced more than 140 movies
and countless television episodes. He has acted, written and directed.
And he has killed. How many heroes has he ambushed and tortured, only to
be gunned down for his efforts?
Riding out of the burning hills of Spain, Aldo Sambrell
proved to be the deadliest of the deadly. The ultimate Bandido Number
One. But the brooding killer of The Texican, The Hellbenders and
the "Dollar" films was smiling wide when I told him during a
conversation one summer afternoon that he was such a fixture in these
films that he was the "Ben Johnson of Italian Westerns." Aldo laughed
and said, "Thank you! Ben Johnson is beautiful!"
Born Alfredo Sanchez Brell in Madrid in 1937, Aldo Sambrell/'s
first interest wasn't acting or film, but music. His accomplishments as
a singer and composer led the young talent to Mexico for a time; and
while under engagement there, he somehow fell right into cinema and soon
landed his first screen appearance as a peasant in Nicholas Ray's King
of Kings (1961). The following year he appeared in his first Western,
Fuera de la Ley (Billy the Kid) directed by horror-star Paul
Naschy's collaborator, Leon Klamivsky. Sambrell had no idea it would
lead to a career in the saddle. "When I was going to do my first
Western," Aldo says with a smirk, "they asked me how well I could handle
horses. Aid I said very poetically with much conviction, 'Beautiful.'
And I had never seen a horse before in my life! But being a physical
actor, I learned! I have always liked Westerns very much, even before I
ever acted in them There is much to love concerning Westerns."
These small roles led to two films back-to-back with cult
director Joaquin Merchant...................... |
