Death Rides a Horse
Like the thrilling genre it identifies, the term "spaghetti western" has steadily gained in esteem and sympathy. Born in the mid-1960s, the Italian Western is a universe in its own right, whose cinematic language, anarchic tone and spectacular iconography have had a considerable impact. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal, this cycle brings together the must-see films of the "three Sergios" (Leone, Corbucci, Sollima) and a diverse selection of films by the main directors of the period. It's an opportunity to grasp the richness of a genre whose stylistic beauty is matched only by the dirtiness of its protagonists, and which has managed to be alternately irreverent and lyrical, funny and violent, bon-vivant and political, dark and luminous. The versions presented have been chosen on the basis of elements such as language (all these films were dubbed, so there is no single "original" version), complete editing and recent restorations.
The paths of two men who lust for vengeance cross: Bill, who saw his family massacred when he was a child, and Ryan, who has just returned from a long stay in prison after being betrayed by his accomplices. Released the same year as Day of Anger, Death Rides a Horse also stars Lee Van Cleef as an aging mentor. In the role of the young man facing him, American actor John Philip Law makes his first starring appearance, a year before playing the lead role in Mario Bava's cult film Danger : Diabolik!
Giulio Petroni
Giulio Petroni is an Italian film director from Rome. After graduating in literature, Petroni began working as a director on political shorts. Antifascist, he joined the resistance during the Second World War and was awarded the Silver Medal. After the war, in 1959, he directed his first feature, La cento chilometri, a comedy featuring Massimo Girotti, Riccardo Garrone and Marisa Merlini, but made his reputation mainly as a director of spaghetti Westerns, the best-known of which: Death was waiting made in 1967 after the first three Westerns by Sergio Leone and starring Lee Van Cleef with music by Ennio Morricone.
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