A young man (John Phillip Law), whose family was murdered when he was a child, sets out to avenge them with help from a gunfighter (Lee Van Cleef) just released from prison. Good Spaghetti Western with a wonderful Ennio Morricone score. Kill Bill fans will recognize a lot of it. Lee Van Cleef is always awesome to watch. Luigi Pistilli, Mario Brega, and Anthony Dawson are all fine. A major negative is the casting of John Phillip Law. With his steel blue eyes and All-American good looks, Law was perhaps someone's idea of the next Paul Newman back in the day. Unfortunately he doesn't have one-tenth of the charisma of Newman. He's a very wooden actor lacking in the kind of screen presence needed to hold his own with the great Lee Van Cleef. Still, despite this drawback and a slower than necessary pace, it's a good movie. The story is simple but they generally were with Spaghetti Westerns. It's the appeal of Van Cleef coupled with the style of the sub-genre that should please most viewers.
Review of Death Rides a Horse
