Despite a few dodgy moments when one really fears for Valdez' co-optability by Ireland's well-kept fragility, the film maintains its contradictory stance right through to a bitter-sweet ending. Overall, he is the mustang, caught in a wild West which is being tamed and fenced in by white settlers. Time Out magazine said of the film, 'Bronson suffers from galloping symbolism as Valdez, a wild horse-taming Mexican halfbreed representing different things to different people. His name is listed as director on some European prints as a result. With Sturges no longer available, veteran Italian director Duilio Coletti was hired to complete the work.
Six months after finishing the movie, Producer Dino De Laurentiis gathered the actors and crew to return for re-shoots and inserts. Director John Sturges was unhappy with the finished film and considered the casting of Jill Ireland a fatal mistake.
