Death Smokes a Pipe

Sometimes you just feel like a spaghetti western; we did so we queued up Death Rides a Horse (1968). It stars John Philip Law and Lee Van Cleef, and that alone was enough to convince us.

It starts with a gang of bandits invading a rancher’s home, killing him and raping his wife and daughter. The son sees it all from hiding, memorizing the characteristics of the four bandits. Finally, they light the house on fire and ride off. A fifth man leads the boy out of the burning house.

Years later, the boy has grown up to be John Philip Law, a crack marksman intent on revenge. He gets news of one of the gang, the first clue in years, and heads out. Meanwhile, Lee Van Cleef is getting out of jail. To skip ahead, he was one of the gang who was set up to take the fall, and he wants his cut - and revenge as well.

So these two, the young man and the older, are tracking the same men, but they don’t want anything to do with each other. Nonetheless, they keep running into each other, and sometimes one makes the kill, sometimes the other gets there first. Sometimes one has to save to other. There’s a nice buried-to-the-neck-in-sand-in-the-hot-sun-sand. And finally, Law figures out the Van Cleef was one of the robbers and challenges him to a duel.

I wouldn’t place this in the top tier of spaghetti westerns. It was directed by Giulio Petroni, who had a  what looks like a respectable careeer - even directing Olson Wells once. I enjoyed it, but Ms. Spenser sadly had to work through it. I was willing to rewatch with her another night, but she told me to send it back. So that will give you some idea.