Death Rides a Horse (1967)
This was one of those films I took an interest in many years ago because Tarantino used some of the music from it in Kill Bill. Same goes for other spaghetti westerns that Tarantino used as inspiration, and besides their cool soundtracks, they are also pretty good entertaining westerns. It is also easy to see where Tarantino got some inspirations for his revenge plot in Kill Bill.
This spaghetti western is a pretty standard fare revenge plot, with some interesting twists along the way. A young boy watches his entire family being raped and in front of him, and 15 years later he has trained himself to be a proficient gunslinger and is ready for revenge. To complicate matters, Lee van Cleef gets released from prison, and he is after the same people - for different reason. This sets up a nice rivalry between the two, because they are not willing to co-operate on their shared goal, though they are forced into situations where they have to.
There is plenty of good gunfights, great music and tons of attitude from van Cleef. It may not have any deeper themes to offer, but it is just damn well made and entertaining.
Rating: 4