Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Love this movie and have it in my archive. not sure why someone would call it a leone rip off. He just happens to be the most famous of the directors. But there were other influential ones created by the likes of Sergio Corbucci "Django" and this one by Giulio Petroni. All very entertaining all dubbed. If you say rip off then Leone rip offed Kurosawa .. but in my eyes its not rip off... remake or takings ideas is flattering in my eyes...Death rides a horse is great for a nice Spaghetti western marathon

As a western tale of menace and atmosphere, Giulio Petroni's epic reminded me of Hammett (for the plot of clever, cold revenge, a 'Yojimbo' flavor coming back to the Occident, but this tendency is soon dropped for good, as the two gunmen meet fiercer gangsters in Lyndon City, and the storyline is episodic, from one town to another, then across the border amid the frightened Mexicans), Bogart (by Van Cleef's endearingly careful role, but this is a limited resemblance or suggestion, since 'Ryan' hasn't the vulnerable and down to earth side of the silver screen Marlowe or Spade, though he is quite soon stripped of his seeming omnipotence and, in the scene after Bill rescues him, he appears as a vulnerable person indeed, still trying to patronize the cub with wisecracks; so just a hint of a resemblance, within different and dissimilar scripts), and the action starts with spurs, it has wholesome humor (the son's first entrance into Cavanaugh's saloon, there is a sense that this youngster has humor and a sense of fun, as in Nero doing an Eastwood role), there are satisfying twists (Cavanaugh's early demise), a less plausible idea (Walcott shows at the bank robbery). The movie is suspenseful, and, if couldn't term it stylish, it's eerie, grim and intensely dramatic; Van Cleef's role isn't the one he had in the Leone movies, and if, for some, those seemed really his movies, as opposed to the blander Eastwood's, this becomes Bill's movie. Which means Ryan isn't magically better than Bill. He's not that entitled to patronize the youngster.Ryan has the advantage of mysteriousness, so Bill has to be resourceful, which he is. And where Leone was playful, Giulio Petroni is dryly humorous. There's no spoof, I suppose, but a bit of comedy.

Fifteen years after the brutal massacre of his family by vicious outlaws, Bill (John Phillip Law) is finally ready for revenge, having perfected his gun-slinging skills; however, the young man finds himself facing competition from recently released criminal Ryan (Lee Van Cleef), who is also gunning for the murderous gang.Death Rides a Horse marks my very first foray into the spaghetti western genre outside of the relative safety of Sergio Leone's better known movies, and while it's not quite on a par with the Leone classics, the film is still a solidly entertaining adventure that certainly can't be accused of not trying…Between the film's brutal, rain-lashed opening massacre and its wind-swept gun-fight finalé, Death Rides A Horse delivers almost all the elements one might reasonably expect from the genre: a dashing, gun-slinging hero hell-bent on revenge, a grizzled ex-convict with a score to settle, loathsome villains, wonderful widescreen cinematography, a jail-break, a lynch-mob, fist fights, whisky drinking, poker playing, lots of rapid-zoom close-ups of eyes, a cool Ennio Morricone score, a village of scared Mexicans, and just a little gallows humour.Where the film suffers somewhat is with its rather pedestrian plot, that offers too few genuine surprises, and which, at almost two hours, resorts to padding out the action by having the lead characters take it in turns to put themselves in mortal danger, only for one to be saved by the other. This nonsense takes some swallowing, but director Giulio Petroni's stylish handling, some gritty violence, and a fine performance from Van Cleef ensure that the film never drags.While this might not be a top-tier spaghetti western, it's impressed me enough to make me want to check out further non-Leone movies.

To me, not one of the better spaghetti westerns. Maybe something is lost in translation, but the scripted lines in English are embarrassing and spoken as such. There are some evocative scenes but some completely unbelievable ones that even the actors seem to find embarrassing. I've tried to like this film but there are far better in the spaghetti western genre to appreciate. It just all seems befuddled and forced to me. Still, its worth watching for Lee Van Cleef, but not a film I would revisit for the acting, plot, storyline etc. It's only real saving grace is a distinctly darker score by Ennio Morricone, but then that is available on various CDs. In short, emotionless and drab.