Left Handed Johnny West

Johnny West is a stoic gunman whose quiet life is interrupted when he and his dog Gypsy run afoul of a pair of scheming twins who want control of a local gold mine. After a violent encounter leaves Johnny with a ruined shooting hand, he refuses to bow out. Instead he allies with two bickering ex-boxers and their volatile explosives man, an odd squad that mixes grudges with practicality. Together they set out to restore the mine to its rightful owner and outwit the twins, who try an unusual coffin trick to outsmart them. The tone mixes rough-and-tumble action, slapstick tension between allies, and inventive set pieces rather than sentimental melodrama.

Released in 1965, Left Handed Johnny West was directed by Gianfranco Parolini and credited to creators José Luis Jerez, Gianfranco Simonelli, and Robert de Nesle. The cast includes Mimmo Palmara as Johnny West, Adriano Micantoni, Mara Cruz, Roger Delaporte, and André Bollet.

Box office records for this title are scarce and not widely reported. It did not achieve the mainstream visibility of major Spaghetti Western hits and mostly circulated within regional European markets, where it found modest audiences at the time.

Among genre collectors and fans of 1960s European westerns the film has a modest cult interest. Its mix of oddball supporting characters, a dog sidekick, and the memorable coffin trick give it quirky appeal, and it’s sometimes cited when discussing Parolini’s early genre work and offbeat entries in the western boom.

Critical reception has been mixed, reflected in limited contemporary notice and a small number of modern ratings, including a 6.0/10 user score on one platform. The film leans on themes of resourcefulness, loyalty, and rough justice, using physical setbacks and unlikely teamwork to turn a personal injury into a tale of stubborn resistance. It’s more about contrived set pieces and character interplay than meditative moralizing.