10 Criminally Underrated Westerns You Must See Before You Die

10. Death Rides A Horse

Death Rides A Horse
United Artists

One of the all-time great Spaghetti Westerns, Death Rides a Horse not only has the most genius tagline in the history of taglines ("When you've waited 15 years to kill a man... It's a shame you can only kill him once!"), but a compelling story too, starring Lee Van Cleef in a leading role.

Cleef had previously endeared himself to audiences in the revered The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (as well as the overlooked For a Few Dollars More), and his performance as a revenge-seeking criminal in Death Rides a Horse is one of his best. The film, directed by Giulio Petroni, features Cleef teaming up with John Phillip Law's Bill, a man who seeks vengeance against the same gang who wronged Cleef's Ryan - albeit for drastically different reasons.

Perhaps due to the fact it released in the wake of the aforementioned Good, Bad and Ugly, Death Rides a Horse is somewhat overlooked today. That should provide ample incentive to track it down though, as it's certainly one of the sixties' better films.

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Content Producer/Presenter
Content Producer/Presenter

Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.