Revenge Served Pretty Dang Hot (Death Rides A Horse (DVD))

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Death Rides A Horse (DVD)
Date:	03/04/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A very pure, character driven and overall starter kit spaghetti western

Disadvantages: At the same time feels a bit basic when it comes to the story components

A criminal gang goes to rob a $200 000 money shipment, and in the process end up killing the entire family of Bill Meceita, who 15 years later is coming after the, now "civilised", murderers. Also after the people is Ryan, who has just been released from prison after being put there by his ex-gang members as a scape goat. The two then end up clashing with each other, with Bill wanting vengeance through bullets, and Ryan wanting compensation for all the years he was locked up, both then ending up building a bit of a companionship do to their same objective, though the means of accomplishing this isn't exactly the same for them until the end. Death Rides a Horse is Giulio Petroni's most famous film, and is considered as one of the best spaghetti westerns ever made. Petroni was never a particularly prolific director and between 1959 and 1978 only directed 13 films. Of these only his Zapata western Tepepa of 1968 and Death Rides a Horse are remembered at all. Made in 1967, Death Rides a Horse features some of the most sure-fire success trappings of Italian westerns. It has plenty of action, some fine performances, at times witty dialogue and a classic story of revenge. Starring Lee Van Cleef as Ryan and John Phillip Law as Bill, the two play off each other rather well, though never really on the same level as Clint Eastwood and Van Cleef did in For a Few Dollars More, but there's still the same kind of young vs. old dynamic at play. Now Law may not really be one of the greatest actors there's ever been, but neither does he come across as somehow unlikeable or annoying, instead being a very competent leading man, if somewhat wooden at the same time. Lee Van Cleef, on the other hand, turns in a fine performance as always, and he does have quite the good presence to make him capture every scene he appears in with ease.

Also appearing are some of the spaghetti western mainstays, like Mario Brega as Paco and Luigi Pistelli as Walcott most notably. Pistelli in particular puts out a good performance that features a lot of his civilised air where money talks the best, while still seeming a real bad guy. What is a definite plus in this film comes from its air of being fairly light-hearted in tone. There's some quite fun little banter between the characters that brings in some much needed levity to not make the film too serious, and in many ways this is a film that never was meant to be taken as brutally serious as some of the others in the genre that at times were completely devoid of humour. A good example of this is when Ryan tells an old train station attendant to give Bill his horse back and a kiss, so when Bill shows up the attendant asks him quite seriously where he'd want to have that kiss. For the more dramatic moments of realisation, Petroni uses a lot of slashing flashbacks when ever Bill comes into contact with the men he is after, in which gunshots start blazing and the screen turns red as we see little snippets of scars or tattoos and stuff to identify the people in question, a technique Quentin Tarantino came to use as well in Kill Bill as an obvious homage. The score of Ennio Morricone is one of his less than melodic efforts and has a lot of avant-gardist touches to it, but works along with the film as well as always, while Petroni's direction is good, if not outstanding. Ultimately, Death Rides a Horse may not be one of the absolute best of the Italian western genre, but it's still miles apart from some of the dregg that the Italian film industry pulled off, standing as a good watch for any western fan. It's certainly no Leone - then again very few things were - but regardless of that this is definitely among the better ones amongst the hundreds of spaghetti westerns produced in Italy and one of the most representative of the genre. Recommended for anybody wanting to expand their knowledge on films of this type, as Death Rides a Horse is one of the purest examples of the Italian western.

© berlioz, 2009

Summary: Spaghetti Westerns Vol.10