The Valdez Horses (region-B blu-ray)

One of several impressive westerns Charles Bronson made during his 1970s heyday, The Valdez Horses reunites the rugged star with celebrated director John Sturges, who he had previously collaborated with on the perennial classics The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. A surprisingly thoughtful film, The Valdez Horses sees Bronson play a half-breed rancher whose solitary life taming wild horses is upended when three people enter his life: a young runaway (Vincent Van Patten), a corrupt land owner (Marcel Bozzuffi, The French Connection), and his beautiful sister (Jill Ireland, Breakout, The Valachi Papers). Beautifully filmed in mountains of Almería, Spain, a quintessential Spaghetti Western location, Sturges’ film contrasts fist fights and shootouts with considered characterisation and an unexpectedly melancholy tone.