A Morte Anda a Cavalo

This is a revenge movie, a Spaghetti Western with full of thrills, shootous and follows the wake of Sergio Leone . It starts with impressive scenes , death all a beloved family by a killer gang , there only escapes a little boy. Some years later, the survivor named Bill (John Philip Law) seeks vengeance . Meanwhile , a convict (Lee Van Cleef) goes out of prison where he was for fifteen years and he also wishes revenge and reckoning. Mysterious gunman Ryan acts as protector of the young gunfighter and vice versa , Bill also saves him when Ryan is falsely accused of bank robbing. Duo starring undergoing a strange relation of comradeship and paternal-filial feeling .

¨Da Uomo a Uomo¨ that was subsequently retitled "Death Rides a Horse" is a "man to man" story; being one of the best spaghetti western of the film history in connection Sergio Leone's universe by intervention of writer Luciano Vincenzoni and musical score by Ennio Morricone, both of them are habitual Leone's collaborators , and artificers of 'Trilogy of dollars' : ¨A fistful of dollars¨ , ¨A few dollars more¨ and ¨The Good , Ugly and Bad¨; besides , other Leone flicks as ¨Duck you, sucker¨ and ¨Once upon a time in the West¨. Duo protagonists are frankly magnificent. A serious and smooth-talking Lee Van Cleef as an experienced gunman and cool John Philip Law as a brave young , though impulsive and revenger ; at the same time (1967) he starred various hits , such as : ¨Diabolik¨ by Mario Bava , ¨Barbarella¨ by Roger Vadim, ¨Red Baron¨ by Roger Corman, among others . Furthermore, there appear other usual secondaries from Spaghetti , such as Luigi Pistilli , Mario Brega , Jose Torres , Romano Puppo, Bruno Corazzari, Ignazio Leone, Guglielmo Spoletini or William Bogart and special acting by Anthony Dawson (no confusion with Italian director Anthony M. Dawson-Margheriti), famous strangler of Grace Kelly in Hitchcock's ¨Dial M for murder¨. The film displays adequate cinematography by cameraman Carlo Carlini and powerful soundtrack by the great Ennio Morricone. The motion picture whose original title was "Duel in the Wind¨ or "Da Uomo a Uomo" was well directed by Giulio Petroni, author of another excellent S. W. titled ¨Tepepa¨ (with Orson Welles and Tomas Milian) and two minor Italian Westerns, such as : ¨Night of serpent (with Luke Askew, Luigi Pistilli) ¨ and ¨A sky full of stars for a roof (with Giuliano Gemma, Mario Adorf)¨.

This is the masterpiece of a peculiar sub-genre dealing with master-disciple gunmen relationship, Spaghetti's ordinary plot, such as : ¨Day of anger (by Tonino Valeri)¨ with Van Cleef-Giuliano Gemma ; ¨Bandidos (Massimo Dallamano)¨ with Enrico Mª Salerno-Venantino Venantini , and ¨Allómbra di Colt (Giovanni Grimaldi)¨ with Conrado San Martin-Stephen Forsyth. Rating : Better than average Spaghetti, the film will appeal to Lee Van Cleef fans. It is essential and indispensable to see it for Spaghetti Western enthusiasts, being considered worldwide one of the best, usually being among the first on the lists that are usually made.

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.

It's hard not to think of Sergio Leone when watching 'Death Rides A Horse', and not just because Leone is the king of spaghetti westerns. The connections are even closer than that. Lee Van Cleef ("Angel Eyes" in 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly') co-stars, and the supporting cast includes Mario Brega and Luigi Pistilli, both familiar faces from Leone's Dollars trilogy. Plus it was written by Luciano Vincenzoni and scored by Morricone. Giulio Petroni however is the director instead of Leone. Maybe that's why it isn't as impressive as one might expect. Even so it's an underrated revenge thriller, and Van Cleef gives an excellent performance. He plays Ryan, an ex-con wanting some payback from a group of outlaws who double crossed him. John Phillip Law ('Diabolik') is Bill, a young guy obsessed with avenging the rape and murder of his mother and the slaying of his father and sister. Pretty soon Bill crosses paths with Ryan and comes to realize that they after the same men. The two form an uneasy relationship which in many ways is that of a surrogate father and son. 'Death Rides A Horse' may not be quite as great as Leone but it's still very good, and one of the better spaghetti westerns. It's particularly recommended to fans of Lee Van Cleef, who is just wonderful to watch.

When Bill (John Phillip Law) was a young child he witnesses a gang kill his father, and rape and kill his mother and sister, while he was spared. Now Bill is a young man who is now intent on exacting revenge on those who were responsible for killing his family. He also meets a gunslinger/ex-con Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) who has just been released from jail and who's out to even the score with those exact outlaws, which betrayed him. So, now the two, tussle with each other to see who'll get to them first, but with the time they spend with each other, Bill also learns some valuable tips from Ryan.

As a kid growing up I loved my Westerns, but they had to be Cowboys and Indians, if there were no Indians, I just didn't give a damn. But how have times changed. I have just started to get back into the genre (and no, I don't care if there ain't no Indians), and lately the spaghetti western sub-genre. I'm a big fan of Sergio Leone' s Dollar films, which people say are the catalyst for spaghetti westerns. I didn't know anything of this film and probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it, but since I read some positive comments about it on a thread (in the horror board, of all places), I thought it would definitely be worth a look. But, I didn't have to go out of my way to find it, as it pop up on TV a week or two later. Anyhow, I've babbled enough about my personal experience, back to the film.

What gripping stuff! It surly was better, than I expected. A lively spaghetti western that had plenty of surprises along the way and it just wasn't a shoot-'em-up story with plenty of violence, but the cleverly laid out plot, builds on the revenge tale with some mystery and panache and kept the violence within the story's limits. Everything comes together rather perfectly with such a dark and macabre opening to its fitting finale. The story did kind of reminded me off Leone's "For A Few Dollars More", which Luciano Vincenzoni who penned this film, was also co-writer in the last two Dollar films. As for the script, there is lot spite, wit, but also it was rather standard and stiff dialogue. There probably could've been a bit more flair, especially from American actor John Phillip Law who was basically dead as wood in delivery and probably the film's weakest point. But the same can't be said of legendary actor Lee Van Cleef's performance. He brought a hard-boiled character that also added some dry humour and sizzling skills that ideally fitted in the overall tone. Combination between Cleef and Law goes down quite well and adds another dimension into the film (father and son figure). The rest (especially, the villains) gave your usual mean performances. Though, throughout the film, those Mexican outlaws seem to find the funny side of things, out of really nothing. I just find it rather amusing, especially because of the irony of it all. Ennio Morricone (also from the Dollar films) came up with a standout music score, which mixed some soothing Mexican music with an uplifting and rousing western score. The camera-work isn't that potent, but it still gets some flashy treatment. With its sharp and encroaching shots. It also captured the vastly desolated landscape that sprawls on the screen. Direction by Giulio Petroni keeps the film grounded and keeps a rather brisk pace. He creates some well-designed shootouts and sequences. One being the eerie opening and another an explosive showdown amongst an empty town during a dust storm. By the way, it's a great title isn't it?

A must-see for any Western or Lee Van Cleef fan.

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.