Death Rides a Horse

A revenge western built on a strong hook: a young man who watched his family murdered as a child, and an older ex-con who was there that night, circling the same targets from opposite directions. Lee Van Cleef mentors John Phillip Law toward a reckoning that implicates them both.

Giulio Petroni directs it with real style, and Morricone's score is so good that Tarantino lifted its central cue wholesale for Kill Bill. The flashback structure, each killing triggering a fragment of memory, is elegantly handled.

A model revenge western, elevated by one of Morricone's best scores.