Cannon for Cordoba began life with one foot in another franchise. Quentin Tarantino has said the project was originally conceived as a follow-up to Guns of the Magnificent Seven before George Peppard pushed for a standalone story. Tarantino remains one of the movie’s loudest modern admirers, although even he has argued that Peppard was not the ideal choice for the lead.

Mexican rebel leader Héctor Cordoba (Raf Vallone, The Italian Job) steals six cannons from the U.S. Army, sending Captain Rod Douglas (Peppard, How the West Was Won) 200 miles south to destroy them inside Cordoba’s mountain fortress. His handpicked group includes Andy Rice (Pete Duel, Alias Smith and Jones), while Giovanna Ralli plays a local woman whose agenda makes the mission even less predictable. Trust is in short supply long before anyone reaches the fortress.

Director Paul Wendkos and cinematographer Antonio Macasoli had just made Guns of the Magnificent Seven together, and the connection is easy to see. Hills outside Madrid double for Mexico, Emilio Ruiz del Río’s matte paintings extend the scale, and Elmer Bernstein’s score keeps trying to push the movie forward even when the script slows down. The setup is clean: six cannons, one fortress, and a captain nobody on his own team fully trusts.

Critics were not especially generous in 1970. Variety found the direction uneven and the script muddled, while the Los Angeles Times considered the film sloppy and slow. Even United Artists executive Arthur Krim reportedly questioned whether a western like this made financial sense at its budget. Time has been somewhat kinder. The action remains sturdy, the location work gives the production size, and the movie has the unfussy appeal of a B western that knows exactly what shelf it belongs on. The characters are thin, though, and the ending arrives in a hurry.

Tarantino’s affection eventually gave Cannon for Cordoba an odd second life. In his novelization of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, fictional TV cowboy Rick Dalton even lands a role in it. That may be more cultural afterlife than anyone involved expected in 1970.