Sugar Colt is a 1966 Italian and Spanish Spaghetti Western directed by Franco Giraldi, starring Jack Betts as Tom Cooper, also known as Sugar Colt (Rocco in the Italian audio), a famous government agent now retired, who upon being visited by famous detective Pinkerton about a case involving the disappearance and possible kidnapping of an entire batallion, winds up takng over the case after Pinkerton is gunned down in the street, leading him to Snake Valley where, disguised as a doctor, he seeks to find the kidnapped soldiers as well as uncover the ones responsible for their disappearance.
The movie was the second Western by Giraldi, who first directed the successful Seven Guns For the MacGregors the same year, and the cinematographical debut for Jack Betts, here credited as Hunt Powers.
Although it's primarily a Western movie, it seems to be heavily inspired by espionage movies, with a main character who uses gadgets and deductive skills to investigate and face his enemies, as well as infiltrate the villain base.
The film features examples of:
- Bad Boss: Colonel Harbrook couldn't care less if some of his men die, and during the climax, when two of them refuse to give him their horses, he shoots the dead and takes one of them.
- Cooked to Death: Sugar Colt has a fight against a goon in the kitchen where they bake bread to (barely) feed the prisoners, and at one point his opponent tries to shove his head inside the stove, and later jumps at him, only to fall inside the stove, which Sugar Colt promptly shuts down and lets him burn to death.
- Damsel in Distress: Josephine is taken by Harbrook to attract Sugar Colt and assure her aunt Bess' complicity. Becomes something of a Damsel out of Distress during the climax as, during the battle between Harbrook's goons and the kidnapped soldiers, she knocks the henchman watching off the window with a chair before escaping to the parapet and being rescued from there offscreen.
- The Dog Bites Back: Upon being released from their captivity, the soldiers who'd been kept hostage, malnourished and dehydrated are quick to engage in battle against their captors and, after Sugar Colt chases Harbrook back into town, they surround him and seem about to lynch him before he enters Bess' saloon and the latters guns him down herself.
- Hands-On Approach: Before taking the case, Colt was running a self-defense business where he teaches women to shoot, and is seen adjusting the hands of beautiful students during his class.
- Historical Domain Character: Real-life detective and spy Allan Pinkerton
approaches Sugar Colt at the beggining of the film to discuss the case of the disappeared soldiers, only to be gunned down and the investigation passes on to Colt, who'd initially declined. - No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Sugar Colt is captured at one point by Harbrook's goons, who proceed to beat the living soul out of him.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Snake Valley seems a typical isolated town, but it's actually under control of Colonel Haberbrook, the one responsible for the soldiers being kidnapped for hostage. Those who don't work for him are civilians who live in fear to warn anyone about his shenanigans.
