Per 100.000 dollari ti ammazzo (Will Kill You for 100,000 Dollars) was also released as For One Hundred Thousand Dollars for a Killing and its title in this Arrow Video set, Vengeance Is Mine.

It’s a big film in the life of star Gianni Garko, who met Czechoslovakian actress Susanna Martinkova while making it. She was married to him from 1973 to 1986, and they have a daughter named Maria Clara.

Director Giovanni Fago is billed as Sidney Lean here. Before this film, often using the name John M. Farquhar, he’d worked as an assistant director on films like Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory, The Loves of Hercules and Massacre Time. It was written by Ernesto Gastaldi, whose resume boasts some of the most essential films in Italian genre cinema, including All the Colors of the Dark, My Name Is Nobody, So Sweet… So Perverse, The Whip and the Body, and so many more. His co-writer? Sergio Martino!

John Forest (Garko) has had a rough life. Ten years in prison for a murder he was innocent of committing, a brother named Clint (Claudio Camaso) who kicked him out of the family when it turned out he was illegitimate and now working as a bounty hunter. And oh yeah, that murder? When their father tried to bring John back home, Clint gunned him down like a dog and said his brother did the deed.

John’s mother dies just as a bounty on Clint’s head is named. She has a dying request for her son: Clint is to be brought to justice but not killed. But John can’t fire the first bullet if there is a gunfight between the brothers.

As always in the Italian West, the lure of happiness — a life for John with Annie (Claudie Lange) and her son — isn’t as strong as money, blood or vengeance. She tells him that they could have a life together. He replies, “Sorrow and hate just don’t mix with happiness, Annie.”

Interestingly, this film is part of the same set as $10,000 for a Massacre, sharing leads, writer, and composer Nora Orlandi. Garko plays a bounty hunter in both, with Camaso as his bounty. The key difference is that Garko’s morals are not in question in this film. Instead, it’s a tragedy, as the rift between brothers has led to a decade in prison for one and a descent into darkness for the other. Both movies are tragic for anyone who tries to build a life with Garko’s characters, serving as a poignant reminder of the destructive power of violence and retribution in the Italian West.

When watched one after the other, they make for a fascinating study of how violence and retribution in the world of the Italian West destroy the lives of its heroes.

The Arrow Blood Money: Four Western Classics Vol. 2 set offers a treasure trove for film enthusiasts. It features 2K restorations of all four films from the original 35mm camera negatives by Arrow Films, original Italian and English front and end titles, restored lossless original Italian and English soundtracks, English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks, brand new introductions to each film by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, galleries for all four films, an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Howard Hughes, a fold-out double-sided poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring original artwork and a slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx. This meticulous restoration work ensures that these classic films are presented in the best possible quality, preserving their cinematic legacy for generations to come.

Vengeance Is Mine has brand new audio commentary by critics Adrian J. Smith and David Flint; Cain and Abel, a newly edited featurette with archival interviews with actor Gianni Garko and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi; an archival interview with composer Nora Orlandi; a new interview with producer Mino Loy and a trailer.

You can get it from MVD.