La mort était au rendez-vous

Fifteen years after the brutal massacre of his family by vicious outlaws, Bill (John Phillip Law) is finally ready for revenge, having perfected his gun-slinging skills; however, the young man finds himself facing competition from recently released criminal Ryan (Lee Van Cleef), who is also gunning for the murderous gang.

Death Rides a Horse marks my very first foray into the spaghetti western genre outside of the relative safety of Sergio Leone's better known movies, and while it's not quite on a par with the Leone classics, the film is still a solidly entertaining adventure that certainly can't be accused of not trying…

Between the film's brutal, rain-lashed opening massacre and its wind-swept gun-fight finalé, Death Rides A Horse delivers almost all the elements one might reasonably expect from the genre: a dashing, gun-slinging hero hell-bent on revenge, a grizzled ex-convict with a score to settle, loathsome villains, wonderful widescreen cinematography, a jail-break, a lynch-mob, fist fights, whisky drinking, poker playing, lots of rapid-zoom close-ups of eyes, a cool Ennio Morricone score, a village of scared Mexicans, and just a little gallows humour.

Where the film suffers somewhat is with its rather pedestrian plot, that offers too few genuine surprises, and which, at almost two hours, resorts to padding out the action by having the lead characters take it in turns to put themselves in mortal danger, only for one to be saved by the other. This nonsense takes some swallowing, but director Giulio Petroni's stylish handling, some gritty violence, and a fine performance from Van Cleef ensure that the film never drags.

While this might not be a top-tier spaghetti western, it's impressed me enough to make me want to check out further non-Leone movies.

On a remote Firebase in Vietnam, we received a 16mm movie each day by helicopter. We typically watched about 3:00AM in our small fire direction center (FDC). "Death Rides a Horse" was delivered at least 15 times in 10 months. We were moved by the expressive eyes and dramatic stares throughout the movie. After several viewings, we'd decided to leave the sound off and provide our own dialog. This movie was a great tension buster in the middle of undesired action. Thank you Lee VanCleef!

Death Rides a Horse is one that Spaghetti Western fans (and fans of Lee Van Cleef) would thoroughly enjoy. The FILM is most watchable (read below about the DVD and possible hopes for a Region 1 letterbox DVD release), and Van Cleef is at his best in this one, playing a thug who is betrayed by his com padres. We usually see him playing the ultimate bad guy in most of his films, with his knife-deep stare filling the screen. At times, though, Van Cleef exposes his compassionate side for just a tease, and then just as quickly masks his inner humanity behind The Stare, as he plays Ryan, who arm-wrestles throughout the movie with stubborn youngster Bill (John Phillip Law), who has forsaken his lady and his life by embracing only revenge - and a single spur - after watching his father murdered, only to then bear witness to his mother and older sister brutalized at the hands of an out-of-control gang, greedy for gold.

The match-up between Ryan and Bill is one that plays itself out quite well, as Ryan acts as surrogate father, dishing out advice through some memorable quotes, teaching young Bill with his words and actions. Bill's anger is worn heavily on his sleeve, while Ryan steadily and calmly works out his own dishes of revenge, suppressing his anger even better than his empathy for Bill, which he touches on even as the pair first meet. Phillip Law was okay, but not thoroughly convincing as a bitter young man who witnessed his family's killing. Every once in a while, he might could have done just another take or two, but it's an easy pill to swallow since Van Cleef balances him out.

I wouldn't want to go deeper into reviewing the movie, except that there's a nice plot twist somewhere inside the film. Many of the actors seen in this 1968 film have been in films by the great Sergio Leone. It seems that there was a core of actors who performed in a number of Italian Westerns, and for good reason: the chemistry was there. Add a good dose of Ennio Morricone film scores, and you have the potential for a quite watchable film. Most spaghetti's would be overcooked and unpalatable if not for Morricone music, which acts as an unseen, yet incredibly talented main character.

Once in a while, the dialog (like Bill's off-balance delivery: "I'll find out who he is. If he is who I think he is...get ready to get mad") detracts from the slow and steady pace of Death Rides a Horse (that line makes me want to Kill Bill, myself), but the overall storyline works well enough to entertain Spaghetti Western fans. There are very few plot holes to pick at in the film, which has an air of dread or darkness throughout much of its length. A lighter moment always seems to pop in just when the viewer might like to come up for air (like a character who offers Bill a kiss).

For those concerned about bad or unbelievable endings, Death Rides delivers without disappointment.

Now, for the DVD: Sadly, there seems to be no Region 1 release that does this nice yet overlooked film, justice. Mine, which is a 2-4-1 DVD with "God's Gun" on the same side, and "Quality" as the title logo, is horribly lacking in everything but bad quality, perhaps one of the worst DVD productions I have EVER seen. The letterboxed original, cropped to pan/scan, suffers from multi-generational degradation of image quality.

One particular scene that makes the argument to respect the director's intent by preserving a film's original screen aspect ratio is the card game between Bill and Burt Cavanaugh (Anthony Dawson). Watch as the camera pans the players. Terrible cuts were placed into the scene at the card table as the camera panned the players, in order to preserve timing since the film transfer is a TV format crop from letterbox. It's an unforgivable way to present such a scene, which can lead the viewer to believe that it was the fault of a lazy film editor, or an incompetent director . I can't wait to see the film in its original format.

There is not one frame in my DVD that has any kind of decent image quality with respect to color, tone, or saturation. Its terribly washed out and either too contrasty and bright, or too muddy and dark, and neither extreme results in any texture. And in some scenes, the image degrades to a pixelated mess, which you'll see in the opening scene, and it returns of and on throughout the presentation. The only reason I watch it again and again is to enjoy the Morricone tracks and view an entertaining film. MGM has released a PAL-Region 2 DVD, and subsequent DVD reviews suggest that they finally did "Death Rides a Horse" justice. It has the original letterbox (2.35:1) and infinitely better video quality. Search online for some businesses in the UK as I will, and once I get it, I'll burn my copy and play it in my region-free DVD player.

From the stark opening, director Giulio Petroni lets us know that he is going to take us on an interesting ride. The sequence for which we watch through Bill's eyes as his family is brutalized and murdered is one of the most disturbing ten minutes ever put on film.

Even more stunning is the sequence for which there is jump cut from Bill as a child after the carnage to Bill as an adult, as a living killing machine. It plays like a version of THE TERMINATOR if it was set in the 19th Century American West.

What progresses from there is a very interesting revenge film, loosely patterned like POINT BLANK (1967) where Bill is the wild card in the middle of Ryan's quest for vengeance.(Watch both films....Van Cleef and Marvin's characters function the same way...."All I want is $15,000...nothing more, nothing less...)

What I found the most interesting is the way Petroni chose to photograph the three sections of the film. They are all visually distinct and this change seems to map the character's journey through out the film, that being Bill's progression from a traumatized child to a hate-filled adult on the road to hell.

My only complaint is the quality of the prints.

I hope MGM manages to track down a decent negative and have this film restored.

It deserves it.

This is one of the most legendary Spaghetti Western titles (also because, until recently, it was so difficult to watch in decent form having fallen into the Public Domain), a fine revenge drama well handled by former documentarist Petroni (this was his first genre effort) - though it's somewhat overlong and slowly-paced to boot!

Once again, we have the tension-filled relationship between two unlikely characters - one the experienced and betrayed ex-con Lee Van Cleef and the other the brash and hate-filled youth John Philip Law - both gunning after the same gang seeking revenge. They're not exactly allies but when one hasn't preceded the other and their paths cross, they tend to help each other out (though it's more often Van Cleef who has to watch over the still-green Law); in one memorable and oft re-used scene, the latter is interred up to his neck and left to the mercy of insects, vultures and the scorching desert sun! The villains include Euro-Cult favorite Luigi Pistilli (his role here was basically replicated for Sergio Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE [1968]) and veteran British actor Anthony Dawson.

The twist at the end - also one which has seen much service, particularly in recent thrillers - is very effective, threatening to dissolve the growing friendship between the two men (Van Cleef has actually come to consider Law as the son he never had!) and which compels them to a face-off (with surprising results). Ennio Morricone's odd and mostly vocal score was actually utilized by Quentin Tarantino for his KILL BILL (2003/4) saga.

I had first watched this via a PD-release and this re-acquaintance came by way of a VHS recording off Cable TV, still in an English-dubbed (though, at least, featuring the leads' own voices) pan-and-scan version; I was aware that the film had been issued on R2 DVD by MGM, though I wasn't sure if the Italian track was included. Still, in spite of the lowly price, the utter lack of extras has dissuaded me from a purchase - given that it's yet to receive an official release on R1 and it may very well turn up in a SE from Italy (the director's subsequent film, TEPEPA [1968; reviewed below], received the deluxe 2-Disc treatment, with Petroni himself contributing an intermittent Audio Commentary!)...