Massacre Time

Massacre Time
US film poster with the title The Brute and the Beast
Directed by	Lucio Fulci
Produced by	Oreste Coltellacci
Screenplay by	Fernando Di Leo
Starring	Franco Nero George Hilton Nino Castelnuovo
Music by	Lallo Gori
Cinematography	Riccardo Pallottini
Edited by	Ornella Micheli
Production company	Mega Film Colt I.F. Produzioni Cinematografiche
Distributed by	Panta Cinematografica (Italy) American International Pictures (USA)
Release date	10 August 1966
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Box office	(ITL) 365,000,000

Massacre Time (Italian: Le colt cantarono la morte e fu... tempo di massacro, lit. "The Colt sang death and it was... Massacre Time"), is a 1966 Italian Spaghetti Western film starring Franco Nero and George Hilton. It was theatrically distributed in the United States in 1968 as The Brute and the Beast. It is noteworthy as the first of a very few Westerns directed by horror icon Lucio Fulci.

The film was released on the heels of Nero's hit Django; for this reason it was marketed in some areas as a Django film.

In New Mexico, Tom Corbett is a prospector who receives a message from a family friend named Carradine, telling him to return immediately to the home where he lived with his wealthy widowed mother. Years earlier upon her death, she left the house and land to Tom's brother Jeff, and insisted that Tom be sent away. Money was dispatched to him to support him, but her dying wish was that Tom stay away from Laramie Town. Neverless, Tom says goodbye to his foreman, Murray, and rides off.

Upon arrival in Laramie Town, Tom finds the house where he grew up in derelict. Tom is told by two rough-looking thugs to leave because the land belongs to a man called Mr. Scott and warned to beware when he sees the Scott sign which is a big letter 'S' stamped onto a big letter 'J'.

Riding back into town, Tom sees that the Scott sign is all over town, on the bank, the saloon, everywhere, and soon sees why the owners are afraid. Jason Scott, a wealthy businessman, rides into the town square with his sadistic son Junior Scott with a large posse of thugs surrounding them. The Scotts apprehend a family moving out of the town because of the low wages the Scotts pay them. Junior suddenly kills the elderly couple's teenage son in cold blood and laughs mechanically.

Asking around where Jeff Corbett is, Tom is led to an elderly Chinese blacksmith, named Sonko, where Jeff works. Sonko directs Tom to the residence of his employee. Tom finds Jeff living in a run-down shack on the outskirts of town along with their old Indian housemaid Mercedes. Jeff is revealed to be a drunkard, having never gotten over the loss of his mother, as well as the farm. Both Jeff and Mercedes insist that Tom leave immediately and they refuse to discuss why Tom has been summoned. They are also anxious that Tom shouldn't be seen by anyone else in town who might recognize him. Determined to find out what is going on, Tom rides back into town, observed by a few of Scott's men.