As a child, Bill witnesses the murder of his family by four robbers.Fifteen years later, he embarks on his revenge. During his quest, he crosses paths with Ryan, an ex-con who wants the money the robbers owe him.Saw the good reviews. Let me say up front the version I saw had the worst dubbing ever. People's mouths would move and no voice would come out until 4 seconds later. It was like some bad Japanese dubbed movie!That said, it's well made and apparently influenced Tarantino in Kill Bill. John Philip Law cannot act but Lee Van Cleef saves the day.I'm not a huge fan of spaghetti westerns, but I liked this movie. If you ARE a fan, you'll probably love it.

There is a reason why people love Spaghetti Westerns. Most of the time, the movies that came out of this era were a little bit more realistic then its American counterpart, in the way, the films are made. Most of the men have sun-scorched, dirty, sweaty, unshaven faces clothes in these films as it look like what an violent, anarchic wild west settling would look like. It doesn't look like the typical Hollywood movies at the time with clean-shaven, clean clothes, romantic boy-scout good guys VS evil guys. Most of the characters in a Spaghetti Western would probably have a shade of grey to their character. If you're a fan of Spaghetti Westerns like me, then this movie is a must-watch and it's pretty watchable. Death Rides a Horse is a very interesting movie, as it somewhat become more popular due to another way popular film call Kill Bill (2003). There are several influences from and reference of Death Rides a Horse in Quentin Tarantino's movie. Some good examples are this, both stories are really similar. The story of Death Rides a Horse, is about Bill Meceita, (John Phillip Law), a man who as a child, witnesses the slaughter of his family, is now a young adult bend to sets out to track down the outlaws that kill his family from the clues he remembers from that night. Whenever, Bill encounters one of the bandits that kill his family. The footage of the bandit attacking one of his family member in the past, is superimposed over Bill's face showing anger and memory. The same thing happens in Kill Bill whenever the Bride confronted one of the Deadly Vipers in that film. The scene where the young boy, Bill watches his family being killed off, in-part is reenacted in the animated scene of Kill Bill with a few changes like skull necklace is depicted as a skull ring, worn by the man who kills O-Ren's father. The theme song by Spaghetti Western legend Ennio Morricone is even use in Kill Bill when it relates to the relationship to the Bride character and O-Ren character. It's seem like they have a connection to each other. While, Bill search each member of the gang, Ryan (Lee Van Cleef), just got released from prison, is on the same trail like Bill to search for those bandits that has robbed and double-crossed him. What starts as a rivalry turns into a deadly cooperation, and the discovery of their linked pasts, and both hunters find himself having more in common, then they want to know. Like, Ryan and Bill; both Kill Bill and Death rides a horse has similar things to each other, and find themselves more in common, then it does seems to be. Directed by Giulio Petroni, Death rides a Horse has lapsed into the public domain and can be found anywhere from Youtube, libraries to DVDs. It's not too hard to find like the other Spaghetti Westerns due to its new found popularity with cult followers. Just be warn, that like other westerns of the time, the title of the film might be different depending where you live, as it had to be copy and translate back into English speaker language. Other names that this movie goes under is Viva Django, Man to Man or Two Deadliest Guns Alive. The original name for the film was 'Duel in the Wind', but Lee Van Cleef came up with the Italian title while discussing the movie with co-star, John Phillip Law who thought of the movie as a 'man to man' story by Luciano Vincenzoni. Hints why it's sometimes call 'Man to Man', but the title was subsequently retitled to 'Death Rides a Horse' to the English market. The English dubbing is pretty awful, as you can see people still talking in German or Italian in the background. Worth noting, the movie is a bit lengthy, but if you get the Italian version, it runs six minutes longer than the complete English assembly. There seem to be some scenes cut in the English version like when the Sheriff talks about Betsy. We never see Betsy in the English version of the film. The movie is far from perfect, as it has a clutter of clichés such as the one kill shots, and a high death count: 49 if you're counting. Why do some shooting victims have to do a little dance when they are dying? It just takes away from the realistic of the film. The intro was forgettable, and there were some bit boring parts toward the middle of the film, but it get better toward the end. I do like the sandstorm/ fort showdown, even if parts of it was a bit silly with identical shoots use multiply times. I don't know, why the villains took so long to attack them after retaking the fort. There were a few other problems, I notice as the movie scenes cut from day to night, back to day, and back to night. A good example of this is when Ryan is dumped by the bandits after the night of the robbery on the road to be captured by the Sheriff. Then the scene cuts back to the night of the robbery. What is going on here? I have to say that John Phillip Law's acting is mediocre. It kinda sank the picture in my opinion whenever they did a close up on his face and he reads his line out like a cardboard cut out. I do have to say, I did like the 'Revenge serve cold' speech between Ryan and Bill. Lee Van Cleef really made the film stand out. Overall: good movie at the time, and a lot better than some of the other films, I have saw. It's still have a few mistakes that hurt the film. This is truly a movie about revenge, and there is nothing sweet about it.

Giulio Petroni's action packed film is a dynamite spaghetti western. A boy witnesses the massacre of his family, grows up to be John Phillip Law and takes revenge on the band of low-lives responsible. He's abetted by mysterious stranger Lee Van Cleef. There's a lot of gunfire, a lot of grungy desperadoes and a lot of great music courtesy of Ennio Morricone. Law is a bit too sun bleached to be truly menacing but Van Cleef is his usual steely self. The supporting cast is first rate and includes Luigi Pistilli as the sleaziest of sleazy bad guys as well as Anthony Dawson as a smoking jacket wearing dandy. The ironic ending does not cop-out. The excellent cinematography is by Carlo Carlini, who previously worked with the likes of Rossellini, Fellini & Sollima.

Two Italian guys who once made some good movies about a guy who stands around and sometimes shoots people decide that they are going to do another movie about a guy who stands around and sometimes shoots people.For the guy who stands around and sometimes shoots people they selected John Law. My understanding of this decision is that they saved money by hiring a model since he wasn't going to be acting anyway.So the guy who stands around and sometimes shoots people decides that the next people he shoots are going to be other guys who shoot people.To help him out he finds another guy who stands around and sometimes shoots people. The Italian guys cast Van Cleef in that role, because he built a career out of standing around and sometimes shooting people. Plus he's bald, which makes it a lot easier to tell which guy standing around and sometimes shooting people is which.The Italian guys decide that the plot is going to be the same basic plot as their big hit -- but they put a big twist in it. Oh, my.The twist is that Van Cleef isn't the Bad. This time, he is the Ugly.He lives up to it.Oh, and the guns sound just like the guns in the Italian guys hit movie. You know, the one with the plot and the good actor.