I would put this in my five.
Itās not even in my Top 50.
:o
I canāt help it.
Iāve written about Death Rides a Horse , Iāve seen it again, but nothing has changed. Canāt see anything special in it. 3 stars in my opinion, not more.
I gotta agree with Stanton that this is actually quite overrated sw. Lee van Cleef is great as usual but John Philip Law is just so wooden! Luigi Pistilli is good actor but maybe not best for this film. Someone more famous would have been better to oppose LVC.
Iād give it 4 stars anyway but probably if I re-arrange my top20 it wouldnāt make it anymore.
Yeah, all the baddies in these film are not so convincing.
And van Cleef is much better when he plays a heartless killer.
If you like to alter your list, do it. Itās fun to make a new one.
I have this movie on three discs (at least), but as you can guess, they all suck. I just ordered the MGM DVD, so I canāt wait to see it how it is intended.
are them 3 discs cheap releases, i had one of these and the print was shit, the mgm version although lacks any decent extras is a nice print of the film.
Yeah, I think itās public domain or something so lots of different companies, not just Direct Source release it many timesā¦ First time, I saw the (Direct Source) DVD with Death Rides a Horseā¦ Then I saw the same one with Beyond the Law, so I bought thatā¦ then I saw it in a boxset with about eight other westerns, including some spaghettis (I think Navajo Joe was one of them)ā¦ And I might have bought another boxset with it in it as well. Itās just the same print.
Honestly, I donāt care about any extras as Iām not used to seeing many of these SWs with any, except if itās Blue Underground or Anchor Bay, or of course a Leone. And for the most part, the only extras worth caring about are interviews and commentary, the rest is pure icing.
I love how EVERY review of the movie on sites like IMDb and Amazon is the sameā¦ āGreat movie, awful DVD!ā
At least the mgm one is a decent print in widescreen
This film definitely makes my top 10 Spaghetti Westerns. Interesting direction, Excellent music score and a good revenge story. Itās only down side is John Phillip Lawās wooden acting. But it really is the only criticism I have of this film.
In particular I thought Giulio Petroneās directing was very good. Lots of interseting angles, close ups and zooms but also a deft hand at building tension at just the right level throughout the story. Morriconeās score is also one of his best I think and really adds to the tension building . All in all this one just about qualifies for a 5 star from me.
Incidentally, I recently bought the MGM UK version DVD of this and, as others here have already stated, the quality of the transfer is terrific. It almost doesnāt seem like a Spaghetti the picture is so clear!
Love the opening scene. Really like van Cleefās early scenes. Then ol Stoneface comes on, sheesh! Above average thanks to L v C. Three stars!
Lee van Cleef is not half-Godā¦ He is GOD. ;D
Boy is ok. Better than the gringo in Tepepa, butā¦ >:( Giuliano Gemma would have been better, and he had a wonderful chemistry with Lee.
And Luigi Pistilli as main villainā¦ very good! 
He deserved this role. So good actor. An he played ever āsupporting bad guysā. He works and I think he feeled himself god in the role.
The beginning is wonderful. When the riders appeared in the rain on the horizon, it was so ākurosawa-ishā And the final battleā¦ 8) I knew Lee is the man with the deathās-head on his necklace, but I hoped he would not be killed. ;D Thanks God.
Law was the Love Machine, so you gotta give him that.
agreed 
Just watched this film last night after getting the Australian MGM DVD. Itās not bad. A good, well-made spaghetti western. For me, the most effective moment comes at the beginning with the murder of heroās family. Now, weāve seen this scene in many spaghetti westerns and, for the most part, this one is no differentā¦except. The murder of the sister is horrifying. I think itās the way the young actress in the role plays the moment that makes it work. Her reaction to being shot and then dying seems so realistic. For me, this helps the rest of the film because I was haunted by the look on this girlās face.
Anyone, not one of the great spaghetti westerns (in my opinion) but a very, very good one that I enjoyed.
Flynn
I liked this one a lot. The wodden acting of LAw combined with the dubbing(english), where he says his one-liners like a robot are the only downers in my eyes. One thing i did not understand was the thing with the bullet in the end?
Did ryan not put a bullet in his revolver? did he wanted to get killed by bill(at least he said he waited for him to do it, and that he deserves it; by the way this is what reminded me of kill bill(which was influenced by drah as is stated all over the net), where the bride says the same thing to the daughter of the first women she kills.)
Or did he pick up the third bullet that was thrown into the middle and wanted to give ryan a second chance for a duell??
What i did not like was how the village people(haha the mexicans not the band) were treated. They wanted to help ryan and bill, but were all just slaughtered. this scenes reminded me of the magnificient seven.
I think it is a very good fim. And lee is the man in this one, i like him in those roles better than for example in sabata.
Ryan didnāt load his gun as a sign of peaceful surrender. He than showed the bullet to Bill to indicate that he wasnāt going to fight him, but he wasnāt going to run away either. I think intuitively he knew Bill would shoot him from behind.
that is what i thought too, maybe you had a typo in your last sentence? he knew bill would NOT shoot him in the back, or? i think bill deserved a proper duell from ryan. so i dont know why he kind of surrende into somewhat of suicide.