La mort était au rendez-vous

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!

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.

They came in the window. It wasn't to wish me pleasant dreams After thieves steal $200,000 awkwardly expositioned by one of the keepers, they attack a home, kill the husband and... I don't know, it may be inferred that there is suggested rape of the wife and daughter, but if so, they're the fastest guns in the state(see what I did there?), so more likely, they're just messing up their clothes some. Anyway, fifteen years later, the surviving boy wants revenge, and so does the bad-ass Lee Van Cleef who was framed and has been in jail for stealing the cash. Other than that the subtitles are hilarious(they write *everything* - including almost the entirety of the credits, as they're on the screen - and the punctuation is lazy), this is a pretty dependable 114 minutes of spaghetti Western. Gunslinging, card games, a saloon with doors that swing open, a sense of honor and even hot chicks. In best Leone style we have close-ups(and the great faces that make these work), build-up, genuine tension and a nice climax. The coolness is also very much present, and the dialog is good and well-delivered, and some of it clever. This is filmed and edited well, with occasional odd framing. The humor has strong moments. This has really solid acting for all involved. The DVD comes with a trailer for other works from the period. I recommend this to fans of the genre. 7/10

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.

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.