A brutal and uninspired revenge Western, this was the second really bad film that Rod Taylor starred in during 1973 with its immediate predecessor being the almost - as - bad "Trader Horn". As for "The Deadly Trackers", The New York Times called it "viciously senile" and warned that it contained nothing more than "fireworks and gore". Even Leonard Maltin, a frequent advocate for the versatile Australian actor, has dismissed it as being just plain "dreadful". And, sadly, I would have to agree. Indeed, it turned out to be the final bomb that flattened Taylor's movie career.By the mid-'70s he'd become trapped on a runaway train to cinematic oblivion. With his stay at the top seemingly over, he would be increasingly called upon to do nothing more substantial than lend his name to a string of low budget obscurities.Some were fair. But most were unworthy of his talent. Still, he continued to work regularly and better chances came his way on television via guest shots and support roles.

This is a violent and gory western packed with thrills , noisy action , riding pursuits , shootouts and a real vendetta . It deals with a sheriff , Sean Kilpatrick (Richard Harris) , who heads Southwest of the border to get his pound of flesh from the bandits led by Brand (Rod Taylor , when Sam Fuller was going to direct, he wanted Terence Stamp for the role) and hoodlums (Neville Brand , William Smith , Paul Benjamin) , all of them slew his family in a bank robbery . Across his chase into Mexico , Sean is challenged by an upright Mexican Sheriff (Al Lettieri) and things go wrong . Exciting western that displays an extreme battle of wits and strong story about a merciless vengeance among some spiteful characters . Being based on a story written by the great Samuel Fuller titled ¨Riata¨ and with an interesting screenplay by the prestigious Lukas Heller who also wrote ¨Dirty Dozen¨, ¨Monty Walsh¨ , ¨Too late the hero¨ , ¨What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?¨ and ¨Flight of the Phoenix¨ . Duo protagonist is frankly well , as Richard Harris and Rod Taylor , both of whom give excellent acting . Support cast is awesome such as Neville Brand , William Smith , Al Lettieri , Isela Vega , Paul Benjamin , William Bryant , Pedro Armendariz , among others . The picture is pretty well but it might have been more bearable if Samuel Fuller had not been bumped from the director chair as it is , he and other contributors refused to be listed in the credits . Furthermore , it is full of atmospheric musical score by Fred Steiner . And an evocative and colorful cinematography by Gabriel Torres . The motion picture was professionally directed by Barry Shear , though it has some flaws and gaps . Barry took the filmmaking from uncredited Sam Fuller who was replaced as director at an early stage . Shear directed some nice films , such as ¨Across 110th Street¨ and ¨Wild in the streets¨ and a lot of TV episodes . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable western

Peace-loving Irish sheriff in a small town on the Texas-Mexico border single-handedly goes after a pack of scurrilous bank robbers whose leader is responsible for the death of the sheriff's wife and child. The western genre of late-'60s/early-'70s cinema took a sour turn once the production code was abolished and the ratings system established, allowing films to push the boundaries of their violence and language. By the time "The Deadly Trackers" has dispensed with its godawful credits sequence (which is nothing more than dialogue from the film dubbed over grainy stills from the shoot), we've already heard enough expletives and racial slurs than any number of films from John Wayne's heyday. Two of the picture's principle sequences involve holding loaded guns to the heads of children, while the talents of Richard Harris and Rod Taylor are thoroughly trashed. Buffs may find some tension here, but the direction (by Barry Shear, filling in for the fired Samuel Fuller) is weak, and the production is depressingly cheapjack. A foul-mouthed, mercilessly elongated bore. * from ****

The big surprise in The Deadly Trackers is Rod Taylor's emergence as one mean and nasty villain here. Although he had played a bad guy early in his career in Hell on Frisco Bay as a contract killer, the public was used to Rod as the civilized fellow bringing a sense of order to a future world in The Time Machine. He's anything, but civilized in The Deadly Trackers.Richard Harris is a sheriff with some rather strange notions about capture instead of killing in a lawless land. Rod Taylor and his gang rob the bank in Harris's town and kill the bank manager on a whim. Then when Harris tries to capture and use reason with Taylor, Harris's wife and son become dead also.That gives our sheriff a whole new outlook and he hunts the gang into Mexico where he teams up with a federale played by Al Lettieri who has all the ideas Harris used to have. This was the farewell performance of Al Lettieri and interesting that he went out as a good guy here. He created a great group of villains in The Godfather, McQ, Mr. Majestyk, and The Getaway. He was a great talent.Some attention was paid to the fact that Harris is an Irish sheriff and for that matter Rod Taylor is Australian. But America is in fact a nation of immigrants and this should be no stranger than Errol Flynn's emergence as a western star in the heyday of the studio.