Death rides a horse (1967) and The big showdown (1972)

[Neville]

Two spaghetti westerns starring the one and only Lee Van Cleef.

Death rides a horse (1967)

This film has its share of fans (Tarantino being one of them, several motifs in "Kill Bill" are lifted from this film), but didn't impress me as much as other SW. The main fault here is probably mine, as I am a big fun of Giulio Petroni's "Tepepa", and I expected a much more different film. What we have here is probably one of the more somber films in the genre. Lee Van Cleef stars as a mysterious gunman that leaves jail and helps a younger man (John Philip Law) to track down the men who killed his family when he was a kid. As I said, a somber and VERY violent film, even for SW standards. Petroni's work is far less sophisticated than in "tepepa", but gets the job done, and it even shines in some spots, like the interview between the prison warden and Van Cleef, but the film has two serious problems, one being the pace (the film clocks around 2 hours) and the other being John Philip Law, who certainly can't make his tormented character work at any moment.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064208/


The big showdown (1972)

Nothing to do with Sergio Sollima's "The big gundown". The titles are some similar I kept confusing both films until I finally saw them.

Lee Van Cleef plays here a former sheriff turned bounty hunter, who aprehends a young man sentenced to death after murdering one of those mighty and corrupt landowners that plage SWs. Instead of turning him into the authorities, he protects him from his enemies, and upon arriving to the town where he is to be hanged tries to put some light on the case.

Although the plot sounds serious enough, and there's quite a lot of violence, this film is much lighter in tone, and some particular moments made me think of the first "Sabata" film I talked about a few weeks ago. Quite a neat film, although it meanders too much when it could have focused instead in the main plot, the murder of the landowner. Lee Van Cleef plays a more likeable character than usual, which is refreshing, turning a quite enjoyable performance. As I said, the film takes its time to deliver the goods, but the final act, when all the questions are answered and the tension grows is very good, culminating with a fantastic duel, one of the best I've seen. Luis Bakalov also delivers a great score.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068657/

[Scott]

THE BIG SHOWDOWN 1972 (a.k.a. The Grand Duel) Trailer - Whole lot of pasta here and good musical score. Lee Van Cleef is one of my favorite actors.

DEATH RIDES A HORSE 1967 Trailer - Another good Spaghetti Western. It's starts out like a horror film with the opening scene. Lee Van Cleef is good as usual. The only problem with this film is they over use the great theme music. Still one of my favorites.

Your hitting all the good ones Neville.

[Neville]

Oh, the problem is I'm also hitting lots of trash or not-so-good stuff, like "Bandidos", "Adios Texas" or a butchered version (missing like 40 minutes!) of "Run, man, run".

BTW, I found these information on a DVD set of all Sollima's westerns, you may find it interesting:

http://10kbullets.com/reviews/sergio-sollima-italo-western-box-the-big-gundownface-to-facerun-man-run/

If you're after any of those it may be a good option, Sollima has been one of the best things I've discobered digging out spaghetti westerns.

I still have some more SW stuff to watch, but I'm almost done with it. I'm really looking forward to some of the stuff, like Tonino Valerii's "The Price of Power" or Corbucci's "The Mercenary", but I need to space my viewings or I'll get tired of westerns soon.

[Scott]

Yes, Neville do pace yourself. Other non-Western Italian action films are fun. Your right about TEXAS ADIOS being boring.

[Yaddo 42]

I liked Death Rides a Horse a lot. Thought it was one of the better SWs I had seen in a while. Not as jokey and loose as some, but a well done example of what it was, a dark revenge piece. I'm sure though that my opinion of it was elevated by seeing it not long after watching "God's Gun" and "Beyond the Law". All Van Cleef filcks, but DRAH was certain the best of that group.

The Big Showdown/The Grand Duel is apparently easy to find among SWs, but I have never seen it. America One used to show it a lot, and it's in lots of those huge multipacks of westerns, but it's slipped through my fingers. IIRC, music from it turns up in Kill Bill, can't find my copy of the soundtrack right now for some reason.