Death Rides a Horse aka Da uomo a uomo (1967)

[cigar joe]

derringdo, you have to get the SPO Entertainment Japan pristeen widescreen version, or a very reasonable facsimile 

[dave jenkins]

Just saw this today, and even in the dog-awful Madacy dvd version, it's quite a movie.  Law, imo, isn't nearly as bad as reported-just stoic to the point of blandness and dubbed with a funky Texas accent. 

I'd say it was an Oklahoman accent.....

[dave jenkins]

Well, maybe it is more of an Oklahoman accent...to me it just sounds like a very exagerrated attempt to make Bill sound more "cowboy".  Which is mildly ironic, given how often Ryan slips into more of a NY/NJ "tough guy" speech pattern. 

Well, yeah. But then, Col. Mortimer never really sounded like he came from Virginia, either.

[el nombre]

I just picked this up for a buck at Wal-mart.

Very recently discovered the Sergio Leone films. I first watched GBU  a few weeks back and have seen it 5 or 6 times since. I'd say he is my favourite director, even though I have only watched five of his films yet.

Anyhow...  picked up this DRaH film knowing only that it was a western and staring Lee van Cleef. Couldn't go too wrong for a dollar right? ( Might start calling it 'For One Dollar More'.)

The quality wasn't great, but I enjoyed it about as much as A Fistful of Dollars. This really deserves a good quality copy, without having to buy that Japanese set you all mention.

Biggest disapointment was the casting of Bill. As someone already said, he delivered his lines like crap.  Good thing Lee Van Cleef was there to make up for it.

It wasn't until after I watched the movie and looked it up at IMDB that I realised it's writer Luciano Vincenzoni also wrote for some of the Leone films.

I wonder what the budget for this film was. While watching it I kept wondering when it was made. Giulio Petroni seemed to be trying to mimic Sergio Leone's style in many ways, so I assumed it was at least made after A Fistful of Dollars, and probably after GBU. Yet I wondered if it could have afforded someone who would have been a big  star by that point in time. Anyhow I looked it up and found out when it was made, but I still wonder how much Lee Van Cleef was paid as compared to GBU. The poor quality of the copy might have gave me the false impression it was lower budget than what it actually was.

This $1 disc was so cheap that it doesn't even give a run time on back, or the date it was made. (Called Digiview Productions, I'm sure many are familiar with these cheap discs?) The sound wasn't great, but visually it was just awful in places. I'm not sure how much of this is due to the particular copy I have and how much is just bad lighting when the film was made. Totally ignorant on that stuff.

I have a question too. Were we supposed to be surpised along with Bill that Ryan had been involved?

At first I thought they were trying to copy the Leone films with their soundtrack style, but later learned it was the same guy doing the music so that's cool.

There were a couple times I wondered if they didn't cast Bill as they did because the guy might slightly resemble Clint Eastwood from certain angles in certain light.

I wonder why Sergio did not direct this film. Was it offered to him? I wonder if they tried to get Clint Eastwood, but maybe he was older than they wanted.

[cigar joe]

Yea,  the restored SPO Japan DVD is beautiful don't know if we are ever going to see this legitimately in an R1 release.

[Fortean]

derringdo, you have to get the SPO Entertainment Japan pristeen widescreen version, or a very reasonable facsimile 

Just got mine today, along with the Franco Cleef Big Gundown - I already loved the film but this just makes it incredible.

Law will never win any acting awards, but he's adequate. And the story, the style and Lee Van Cleef more than fill the gaps.

[Christopher]

I recently got this on a dual DVD along with Beyond The Law (PanScan version for both). The video is bad, and is begging for a widescreen release. As for the movie, it is good, and belongs in the upper tier of spaghettis, but is no Big Gundown.

I just picked up that same DVD with Death Rides a Horse and Beyond the Law for $2.50! I've never seen either movie but I thought people here had mentioned DRAH before. Glad to hear people seem to like the movie. I'm not too familiar with Van Cleef's non-Leone SW films, other than seeing El Condor a long time ago on television but I don't remember it too well.

[cigar joe]

I just picked up that same DVD with Death Rides a Horse and Beyond the Law for $2.50! I've never seen either movie but I thought people here had mentioned DRAH before. Glad to hear people seem to like the movie. I'm not too familiar with Van Cleef's non-Leone SW films, other than seeing El Condor a long time ago on television but I don't remember it too well.

If you get the SPO Japan DVD it will be an eye opener, beautiful clear widescreen transfer, night and day from the pan & scan version

[Christopher]

When The 4th Gunfighter mentioned the video was bad, he wasn't kidding! I didn't watch either of the movies but I popped it in to see the first minute or so to look at it. The picture screams to at least be in widescreen, and yeah, better all around quality. But that's what you'll usually get for $2.50.

[cigar joe]

It's...snif...beautiful.

I told you so, lol.

[Christopher]

I just watched Death Rides a Horse last night. I really enjoyed it. I can see why people have ranked it as being one of their favorite non-Leone SWs. This movie really deserves to have a good DVD transfer. More people might take a look at the movie if they did. I would imagine some might be put off by the picture and sound quality.

I've looked through this thread and I noticed some people mentioned Kill Bill. Lee Van Cleef's line, "Revenge is a dish best served cold," struck me as sounding very familiar. Is it from one of the volumes of Kill Bill where I've heard that from? If I remember that right as far as it being from Kill Bill, I think the line sounds much cooler coming from Van Cleef anyhow.

I can see what some people have said about John Philip Law. I'm not sure about the way he delivered some of his lines, though maybe the problem was with some of his lines in the first place. But for the most part, I think he did an alright job.

[cigar joe]

I can see what some people have said about John Philip Law. I'm not sure about the way he delivered some of his lines, though maybe the problem was with some of his lines in the first place. But for the most part, I think he did an alright job.

Well, he does kind of come off as a big dumb man/kid, don't know if it was intentional or not. The only other film I've seen him in is Barbarella he plays a blind angel (Pygor), and he acts pretty much the same there, lol.

[The Smoker]

Well, he does kind of come off as a big dumb man/kid, don't know if it was intentional or not. The only other film I've seen him in is Barbarella he plays a blind angel (Pygor), and he acts pretty much the same there, lol.

Danger Diabolik is proberly the best thing ive seen him in, and a typecast dodge if ever i saw one.
He's more a prop in Barbarella than anything, fought over by Anita Pallenberg & Jane Fonda (the lucky sod  )

The "Revenge" proverb is a traditional European one, that one of the Star Trek movies jokingly attributes to the Klingons. So Kill Bill Vol. 1 opens w/ text citing it as "an old Klingon proverb." But the DRAH reference is also deliberate, knowing QT.

John Philip Law's character struck me as being meant to be kind of stuck in childhood thanks to the Big Childhood Trauma. He needs a chance to exorcise his demons, and some mentoring, before he can grow up. Like Mortimer, and unlike Harmonica, you get the impression that after getting his revenge he'll be able to lead a relatively fulfilling (if not necessarily normal) life.

Thats spot on, I always thought that about Law's potrayal. Stuck in his childhood.
Jean-Louis Trintignant's muted charactor from The Great Silence has a similiar feel to me too.

[cigar joe]

John Philip Law's character struck me as being meant to be kind of stuck in childhood thanks to the Big Childhood Trauma. He needs a chance to exorcise his demons, and some mentoring, before he can grow up. Like Mortimer, and unlike Harmonica, you get the impression that after getting his revenge he'll be able to lead a relatively fulfilling (if not necessarily normal) life.


Thats spot on, I always thought that about Law's potrayal. Stuck in his childhood.
Jean-Louis Trintignant's muted charactor from The Great Silence has a similiar feel to me too.

yea you guys are right in that observation

[dave jenkins]

John Philip Law's character struck me as being meant to be kind of stuck in childhood thanks to the Big Childhood Trauma.  He needs a chance to exorcise his demons, and some mentoring, before he can grow up.  Like Mortimer, and unlike Harmonica, you get the impression that after getting his revenge he'll be able to lead a relatively fulfilling (if not necessarily normal) life.

Well, there is that Assistant Sheriff's job he's been offered, and of course everybody knows about him and Betsy.........