I feel the revenge theme is beautifully illustrated here and the twists etc, with no easy answers (which I don’t think are important anyhow) but artistically so nice with irresistible music, mood, atmosphere, Almeria landscapes and the minimal dialogue and so on.
Ranking 9 on my SW Top list and with an 8/10 rating.
‘Une corde, un colt’ (aka ‘Cemetery Without Crosses’) didn’t get a theatrical release in the United States but it got one in Canada. It premiered at the French Film Festival in Montreal (September 26 1969 - October 2 1969) before going on general release in Quebec in early November 1969 as a double-feature with ‘48 heures d’amour’.
‘Cemetery Without Crosses’ was finally screened in the U.S. as part of a spaghetti western retrospective by American Cinematheque at Raleigh Studios, Hollywood on November 29 1996. “Watching a bunch of greasy, stubble-faced gunslingers speak French takes some getting used to, but ultimately it makes no difference, since there are probably only two dozen lines of dialogue in the whole film.” The LA Weekly reviewer even threw in a passing reference to our elusive ‘Chrysanthemums for a Bunch of Swine’.
Sources below: (1) (Le Devoir, [Montreal], September 11, 1969) (2) (The Montreal Star, January 30 1971)
I’m getting the feeling that those so called ‘bizarre’ film title references may be pinched from the 1968 Frank Wolff narrated documentary - ‘Westerns Italian Style’, which many of us first saw on the Blue Underground release of ‘Run Man, Run’ - just seems a little specific to be coincidental.
Rewatched again.
Such a GREAT film. It’s a shame that Hossein didn’t make more Westerns because this and Le Gout de la Violence are absolutely masterpieces.
There aren’t many duels in all of spaghetti westerns better than the staring duel between Maria and Manuel halfway through the film. So much is said without words (in fact, I think Maria’s confession before dying is practically unnecessary).
8 out of 10 for me.
P.S.: the soundtrack, especially the score in that “duel” sounds like a ripoff of the Adagio from El Concierto de Aranjuez. Does anyone else thinks the same?
Michèle Mercier also did a couple of songs (only a single with a and b side) apart from being an actress, released in 1969. Serge Marquand is also to be seen in this pre-MTV “music video”. 
Mercier was a big star in France and Continental Europe due to the Angelique movies (17th or 18th century costume dramas). She starred in 5 of them I think and Hossein was in 3, being killed in the first one but returning like Fu Manchu or Dracula in the last two. The last one was in post production when Hossein set up CWC.
The Italian co-producer of CWC was the same company that had co-financed the Angelique films.
That is correct, and these are her most well known movies by far.
Michèle Mercier is Angélique. 
They were french-italian-west german co-productions. Giuliano Gemma is in a couple of them.
All five Angélique films and ‘Une corde, un colt…’ were shot by the same cinematographer - Henri Persin.
Yes 8/10 (at least) OOps I recently raized my verdict to 9/10
Not a big fan of CWC myself. It tries to be a somewhat unusual SW, but doesn’t find the right tone, and is not a very engaging film. El Puro and Yankee are better in this regard.
The score in CWC is ill-fitting as well, at least the main theme (and this is repeated in the film without lyrics). Like a member here put it:
Edit: Furthermore, like our own Admin put it in the thread, “Robert Hossein lacks screen presence”. This is true, why did he have to be in the film himself, why not just direct the film? He was an actor as well and was in a lot of films, but he is miscast as a SW pistolero.
Michèle Mercier is of course the highlight of the film, the rest is so-so or rubbish.
I couldn’t disagree more with both these statements. Hossein has oodles of screen presence and CWC is one of my favourite eurowesterns. It hits the mark pretty much everywhere for me.
He’s ok, he was in the Angelique movies as well.
Of the french leading men, Johnny Hallyday was the most suitable as a SW protagonist. Philippe Leroy in Yankee was good too. Hossein and Trintignant were so-so.
Seems like our opinions are polar opposites
