Friday, October 2, 2009

Death Rides A Horse!! This is revenge... And there's nothing sweet about it!


"Somebody once wrote that revenge is a dish that has to be eaten cold. Hot as you are, you're liable to end up with indigestion."



Death Rides a Horse (Da uomo a uomo) is a spaghetti western made in 1967, directed by Giulio Petroni and stars Lee Van Cleef and John Philip Law. Law plays Bill Meceita who as a boy witnessed the brutal murder of his family, his mother and sister were also raped. 15 years go by and now the grown Meceita has revenge on his mind. When Van Cleef strolls into town with violent results, with his own agenda of revenge, Bill finds he has a lead as to the were abouts of the sadistic gang that murdered his family.




This is a great film and one of the very best in the genre. It feels like it had a decent budget behind it. Petroni is a very skillful director here with lots of great camera shoots and a very well paced film. Ive never heard of Petroni until i watched this and now I am curious about the rest of his filmography. Van Cleef and Law share great chemistry on screen. You can tell Van Cleef was having a blast. The dialogue is great and memorable. Van Cleef spouts lots of wisdom to the inexperienced Law. Van Cleef's gunfighter, Ryan, is mysteriously sympathetic and protective of Laws hot headed vengence seeker. Theres several great scenes were Ryan leaves Bill in the middle of nowere so that he is able to the gang first.

The film doesnt shy away from the violence either. Theres alot of great shoot outs. The end climax is a balls out shoot em up that lasts a good ten minutes or so. Petroni films the action well. Lots of great revealing camera shots and some seriously haunting locations.
All of that and Ennio Morricone contribute another classic spaghetti western score here.



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