GUNS AND GUTS is a cheapjack Mexican imitation of a spaghetti western, directed by the ubiquitous Rene Cardona Jr. with his typical enthusiasm if no particular skill. What you notice immediately is just how derivative this is of previous fare, particularly American westerns. Our loner hero, as played by the taciturn Jorge Rivero, is on the hunt for gold with lots of bad guys between him and it. There are gambling scenes, fights and the usual shoot-outs, as well as a lengthy game of strip poker plonked right into the middle of it all. The best part is undoubtedly the ending, an astonishingly open rip-off of the ending of THE WILD BUNCH, done in an extremely low rent exploitative fashion.

I only watched this movie to take advantage of a rare opportunity to see the wonderful Zulma Faiad. Here she plays The prostitute girlfriend of the main character played by Jorge Rivero. It's hard to find a movie with her in it so I had to watch this. Ever since I first saw her on Spanish TV years ago I have always thought that she was possibly the most exotic and sexy women on the planet. Was it worth my time? Yes it certainly was! Oh, I almost forgot. The movie was ok.

Vipers Shed Their Skin is also known as Guns and Guts and it's not an Italian western. It's a Mexican one, directed by René Cardona Jr. (Tintorera...Tiger Shark, Night of 1000 Cats),and stars Jorge Rivero (Operation 67, Conquest) as El Pistolero, a killer who wants to finish one last job before he settles down with Chiquita (former vedette Zulma Faiad).

He's joined by Esposo Abandonado, which means abandoned husband (Pedro Armendariz Jr.) and Prisionero Escapado, which means escaped prisoner (Rogelio Guerra) to hunt down a sheriff (Quintin Bulnes) who is hiding in a monastery.

The end of this movie is totally The Wild Bunch. To get there, you get a guy getting shot in the neck and bleeding everywhere and tons of female nudity, but the movie meanders on the way.