Death Rides a Horse (1967)

Death Rides a Horse (Da uomo a uomo)
Directed by Giulio Petroni
Written by Luciano Vincenzoni
1967/Italy
PEC/Sancro International Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ryan: Two lessons, my son. First, watch behind you. Second, count your shots – four bullets for one man, that’s a waste.[/box]

Petroni is not Leone but this is a fine, if extremely violent, Spaghetti Western with a dynamite performance by Lee Van Cleef.

As the film opens, a gang of very bad guys invades a home, rapes the women and kills every man, woman and child therein before setting the house on fire.  Unbeknownst to them they had missed the youngest son, Bill, who witnessed the whole thing.  Bill grows up to be John Philip Law. He has been out for revenge for the subsequent fifteen years. At last, he finds clues that put him on the trail of his enemies.

Soon thereafter, Bill meets up with Ryan (Van Cleef) a seasoned gunman who is after the same gang and the $15,000 payout he has been waiting for while he rotted in jail.  Ryan does not want Bill to mess up his rendezvous with destiny so he employs various strategies to keep him one step behind.  Over the course of the movie the two develop a grudging respect for each other.  Much blood is shed.

The dialogue, penned by Luciano Vincenzoni (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) has wit enough to lighten the very bleak story.  It also gives Van Cleef an opportunity to be super cool in one of his first leading roles.  The Morricone score took some getting used to. Recommended to fans of the genre.