Bill Meceita, a boy whose family was murdered in front of him by a gang, sets out 15 years later to exact revenge. On his journey, he finds himself continually sparring and occasionally cooperating with Ryan, a gunfighter on his own quest for vengeance, who knows more than he says about Bill's tragedy.
Lee Van Cleef John Phillip Law Mario Brega Luigi Pistilli José Torres Anthony Dawson Franco Balducci Guglielmo Spoletini Bruno Corazzari Angelo Susani Felicita Fanny Giuseppe Castellano Ignazio Leone Romano Puppo Richard Watson Archie Savage José Terrón Vivienne Bocca Elena Hall Carla Cassola Carlo Pisacane Walter Giulangeli Mario Mandalari Nazzareno Natale Ennio Pagliani Giovanni Petrucci Luigi Baldoni Jeff Cameron Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni Show All…
De hombre a hombre, La mort etait au rendez-vous, Die Rechnung wird mit Blei bezahlt, D'homme à homme, La muerte viaja a caballo, De Dood Kwam op Tijd, 석양의 결투, Οι 5 Σημαδεμένοι του Ελ Βιέντο, Ο Καβαλλάρης του Θανάτου, Για Μια Χούφτα Χρυσάφι, Shin Yûhi no Ganman: Fukushû no Tabi, 新・夕陽のガンマン 復讐の旅, As Man to Man, Von Mann zu Mann, Ölüm Atlısı, La mort était au rendez-vous, 死神骑马来, Férfi a férfihoz, Смерть скачет на коне, A Morte Vem a Cavalo, Muž proti muži, מוות רוכב על הסוס, Смерть їздить верхи, A Morte Anda a Cavalo, Смъртта язди на кон, 석양의 복수, Śmierć Jeździ Konno, La Muerte Viaja a Caballo, Kosto odottaa, 新・夕陽のガンマン/復讐の旅, Tử Thần Cưỡi Ngựa, مرده سوار بر اسب, Døden til hest, 死神騎馬來, Hämndens timme, เสือเฒ่า สิงห์หนุ่ม
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Was hoping for a little bit more with this one, you sort of get the best and worst parts of the genre. Morricone’s score lighting the film reel aflame and Lee Van Cleef looking like a badass by cleverly covering up his terrible head of hair with a giant hat are no doubt iconic Spaghetti Westerns tropes, but unfortunately so are having corny ass soap-opera-level reveals and hammy overdramatic editing. Luckily we’re still treated to an excellent villain in Luigi Pistilli, plus the final showdown takes place in a roaring sandstorm (righteous!), so it’s definitely more than watchable to say the least. Not overly impressed with the writing though, I guess I expected something stellar after seeing it was a…
Revenge like ripples in a pond. Lee Van Cleef always a badass but maybe never this cool, (almost) always one step ahead of everyone else. I love that the men who were thieves, rapists, and murderers become business owners and politicians (viva l'Italia!). I love the shocking burst of non-diegetic music when the piano player hits the key to signal the start of the first showdown. I love the nondescript settings that take on a supernatural quality when a dust storm starts up right at the climactic gun battle. I love this movie. Bumped up a half star from last year for finally getting to see it on a big screen. Even bowdlerized, the wordless opening section that ends with a stylized montage of John Phillip Law firing guns remains a powerful and economic set-up for the very tight, clever revenge arc that follows.
I regret that I have but one life to lose to revenge.
Nathan Hale said something like that, right? No? Maybe it’s better to let the original trailer tag line of “Death Rides a Horse” speak for itself:
“When you’ve waited 15 years to find a man, it’s a shame you can only kill him once.”
Giulio Petroni’s oft-overlooked spaghetti Western was serving up revenge cold long before Quentin Tarantino appropriated many of its plot and style beats in “Kill Bill.”
“Death” stars Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law as two men chasing down the same horde of baddies to shoot up with some retributive justice. Cleef - after they framed him for a crime he didn’t commit, and…
One of the few non-Leone spaghetti westerns that comes close to Leone's knack for purely visual storytelling, and doesn't get bogged down in a lot of dry dialogue. So much of the movie is made up of expressionistic closeups - a face, a gun, another face, dust, a bullet, etc. And the dialogue, in the rare cases when it does happen, is terse, clever, and often funny.
Lee Van Cleef gives maybe his greatest performance, but the only drag on the picture comes in the form of John Phillip Law, who comes close (but not close enough) to being a parody of a dopey cowboy hero. He looks cool, but his ridiculous cowboy twang and lack of screen presence compared to Van Cleef will make you wish someone like Clint Eastwood or Franco Nero were in his boots instead.
Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law leads this very good Western about a man (Law) who join forces with an exconvict (Cleef) to seek vengeance for the men who killed his entire family.
As you may get by the premise, the film is filled with tropes to the point for the most part I was worried I was going to feel bored, but instead towards the end I was having some good fun and there are some great banter between Cleef and Law that makes the film much entertaining. Speaking of which, performances here are for the most part are great. Again, John and Lee have a nice chemistry and Luigi Pistilli makes for a compelling villain. Ennio Morricone’s…
Spaghetti western that should be mentioned in the same breath as A Fistful Of Dollars, Django, Keoma, and The Big Gundown.
It does have one thing those other don't have. The best title. Ever. (The English title that is. The Italian title is a bit boring).
AKA FROM MAN TO MAN (Da Uomo a Uomo)
The original Italian title might be a little more appropriate, as Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law are two men converging on their respective paths of revenge. DEATH RIDES A HORSE could be slapped on most westerns, after all, but in this case, the film is badass enough to own its badass title.
The last leg of the film, where our gunslingers teach some Mexican villagers how to defend themselves, comes in too late to have much impact and feels perfunctory; like someone felt the story had to check a “rise-up” box. Should have just told the townsfolk to hide in the hills, Law and Van Cleef don’t need help!
I do appreciate the twist, which I won’t spoil. It would have still been a pretty good revenger without it, but the moral complexity it adds, is why this is one of my favourite non-Leone Italo-westerns.
The Years of Lead – Book Out Now!
"I haven't been around here in a while. Everything's changed."
Three reasons to watch this one: Lee Van Cleef, Ennio Morricone, and Carlo Carlini (cinematographer probably best known for his work with Fellini on La Strada and I Vitelloni). Surprise surprise: they all deliver the goods.
Van Cleef is at his peak coming off the tail end of the Dollars Trilogy and The Big Gundown, and his sneer pierces through his mustache to guard a world-weary vulnerability. Morricone is also coming off the highs of the Dollars Trilogy and The Big Gundown, and here he creates another banger central theme with a haunting earworm of a choral refrain that Tarantino would re-purpose…
"Son, you got too much hate in you."
Vengeance trails. Lee Van Cleef in his “solo album” phase, proving he can carry the genre on his tired back if he needs to. Opens like a horror movie with four black clad killers murdering a homesteader and assaulting his wife and daughter under the cover of rain and darkness. But the surviving young son has seen it all, including distinct markings and jewelry on the killers. We get a quick “growing up” montage and the young boy is now big strong boy (and dead-shot) Bill Mecita (John Phillip Law). Nearby, Ryan (Van Cleef) is freed from the chain gang after 15 years, with his own score to settle with old frenemies.…
The opening scenes in this film are pretty harrowing, with a family being slaughtered in front of a young boy, who ends up haunted by the little details he remembers as he grows into adulthood. A tattooed torso, a distinctive earring, a facial scar, and a fourth man who carried Bill to safety, who wore a skull necklace. Revenge is the name of the game in Giulio Petroni's film, revenge against a gang of men who killed his father, raped his mother and teenage sister, and burnt the family home to the ground. Those 15 years between the massacre and the boy becoming a man have been used wisely. He's a crack shot with every kind of gun imaginable, eager…
*Original Italian dubbing*
I'm sorry to kickstart like this, but excellent score to begin with! Seriously, Morricone's got his big share of worldwide renowned credit, but to witness the original context of his amazing pieces is an epic and very rewarding task. It is amazing to analyze the levels to which a film can be elevated with a terrific score and an intriguing atmosphere, the latter not missing an ounce of stylistic flair and exploitative madness.
But not all credit go to the popular names (aka Morricone and Van Cleef): Petroni constructs a whole convoluted moral edifice of a seemingly simple revenge story and showing versatility throughout, even featuring horror iconography and an opening worth of being mentioned as an…
Note: This kicks off a deep spaghetti western dive about which I'm super excited. My watchlist is here — please drop any and all suggestions in the comments — and the rankings are here.
GENERAL
First and foremost, spaghetti westerns are in constant conversation with — paying tribute to — the traditions of their source material, with a focus on things like: muddy streets, sweeping vistas, lone men against incredible odds, visual isolation, and wealth as evil. All of these things are dropped as shorthand into spaghetti westerns: give a man a gold timepiece, and we know where he stands; let a single man quietly watch overindulgence, and we know where our allegiances lie; have a man help a woman…
