Lee Van Cleef

[ferociousdragon]

This is not kung fu related. Lee Van Cleef is prodomanitly a western actor and has stared in many great movies since the early 1950's . However he did star in a couple of martial art related movies like Master Ninja and another that I cant remember the name. He is one of my favorite western actors besides Clint Eastwood ,Charles Bronson and Yul Brynner.
What I would like to no is if anyone has the Sabata Trilogy or any Lee Van Cleef dvds they are willing to trade with me. Thnx again.

[Chinatown Kid]

I have The Stranger and the Gunfighter which also stars Lo Lieh and also the first two episodes of The Master tv series from the 80's if your interested in any of those. I'm trying to track down more episodes of The Master, hopefully silver hermit is going to hook me up.

[ferociousdragon]

I'm interested yes indeed. Wow I never new Lo Lieh worked with Lee. You no its funny how Martial arts films ,Western and Samurai film are all different but the same :\ ... I also noticed that some westerns were made based off of some old samurai films like the Magnificent 7 is originaly the 7 Samurai and A Man From Elpaso is 3 Outlaw Samurai . I hope I got those right;) . But yes, that would be great chinatownkid, I just updated my trade list so check it out and let me no would you would like to trade for.

[Chinatown Kid]

Sent you a pm!

[limubai2000]

The Big Gundown is the best western Cleef ever did, track down a fan created director's cut (from ebay), you will be glad you did.

In fact BG is probably the best spaghetti western ever made, it's soundtrack has been used for countless films. Linn turned me onto this film and Im very happy he did.

[Chinatown Kid]

Haven't seen The Big Gundown, I'll definately have to track this one down myself as well.

Probably my favorite Lee Van Cleef performance would have to be as Angel Eyes in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, he really played that ruthless, cold blooded killer role to a tee. That's probably my favorite Western of all time.

[teako170]

track down a fan created director's cut (from ebay)

is this the Franco Cleef version?

[ferociousdragon]

Thnx Limubai , I never seen The Big Gundown but I will deffinetly check it out. As for my favorite Lee Van Cleef movie that I have seen... is The Good The Bad and the Ugly. Tho the second would have to be Sabata. This is a 3 movie trilodgy and I have not seen the other 2 but I no that Yul Brynner stars in the second one and reading the synopses of the of the film and relating it to the one I saw, I deffinetly want to see them. If you never seen it I think you guys will realy like this one.

[limubai2000]

Yes its the Franco version.

[KevinClo]

Let me add a few worth watching:

Death Rides a Horse
Day of Anger
The Grand Duel

The last two are sold by wildeast.net. Grand Duel is sold as a double feature with Beyond the Law so its a good deal. Unfortunately, they list Day of Anger as "out of print" so I don't know what the status is with that title these days.

while I am at it...some silly stuff to look at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emkCqE5J3c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emkCqE5J3c)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzbvcED78QU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzbvcED78QU)

KC

[venoms5]

xploitedcinema still has some copies left I think.

[Dion Brother]

I got a DAYS OF ANGER dvd off ebay last year. Well worth it. I think SEVEN COMMANDMENTS OF KUNGFU ripped off its plot.

[venoms5]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emkCqE5J3c

The music in this is from one of the best spaghetti westerns entitled THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO and one of the best soundtracks ever.

[TheManInWhite]

I just watched Big Gundown, Death Rides a Horse and For a Few Dollars More yesterday. All classic Van Cleef at work. DRAH reminds me of Heroes of Shaolin for some reason.

For those who are into Mystery Science Theater 3000, they riff on Master Ninja I and II. Hilarious stuff!

[vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

How is Death Rides A Horse? Is it italian spagetti western or a US production? I just ordered Red Sun with Mifune Toshiro and Charles Bronson a 1972 production. It's a western too. Never seen it. Looks very interesting though.

[TheManInWhite]

This spaghetti western is about a young boy's family that is wiped out by bandits and their house is burned down. The boy is rescued and goes into manhood bent on revenge. He crosses paths along the way with an ex-convict who has an axe to grind (Van Cleef). I thought it was really good.

[ferociousdragon]

Another pretty good Lee Van Cleef movie is Beyond The Law.
He plays a sheriff in a town. He earns the towns trust in order to get rid of some bandits who want to steel a lot of silver. Thats when Lee uses his classic style of outwit and out smart to trick the bandits and the people who trusts him...hence the name of the film, Beyond The Law.

[teako170]

Yeah, sorry to the fans of this film but I was expecting a little more.

The movie was certainly engaging and Tomas Milian's character was highly entertaining but...

I can't see this film on the same playing field as one of the Dollar Trilogy films nor the epic (yes, epic) "Once Upon A Time in the West." Those movies are on a whole other level.

I'll certainly rewatch TBG but I guess my expectations were just too high.

[venoms5]

Sergio Sollima did two other westerns, all three are political spaghetti's THE BIG GUNDOWN, RUN, MAN, RUN (sequel to BG) and FACE TO FACE which is his best. Gian Maria Volonte, Tomas Milian and William Berger star in this one about an educated, learned adn civilized man who falls in with a bandit savage and over the course of the film, the two switch places with the civilized Volonte becoming even more vicious than Milian's character ever was.

Here are some recommendations--

DJANGO (The Blue Underground disc has the missing gore)
THE GREAT SILENCE (One of the best ever with the most vicious ending you're likely t oever see)
COMPANEROS
THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO
LIGHT THE FUSE...SARTANA'S COMING!
THEY CALL ME TRINITY
TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME
A PISTOL FOR RINGO
RETURN OF RINGO
NAVAJO JOE (Ultra violent spaghetti starring Burt Reynolds who's music was used during the trailer fight in KILL BILL 2)
BLINDMAN
GOD FORGIVES, I DON'T
THE MERCENERY
STRANGER & THE GUNFIGHTER (Shaw-Ponti co-production)
KEOMA
7 GUNS FOR THE MACGREGORS
VENGEANCE IS MINE
KEOMA
ONE SILVER DOLLAR
MAN FROM NOWHERE
LONG LIVE YOUR DEATH
JOHNNY ORO
THE HILLS RUN RED
THE HELLBENDERS
THE LONG DAYS OF VENGEANCE.....etc....

[teako170]

FACE TO FACE which is his best. Gian Maria Volonte, Tomas Milian and William Berger star Yes, this one is on my short list to get. Want to check out some of GMV's other films as well. It was only a few months ago that I found out he died back in '94.

Thanks for the other suggestions. How is Run, Man, Run?

[ferociousdragon]

Saw this film a few years ago and I dont remember much of the movie because I didnt think it was that good. I do remember Thomas Milian never used a gun in the entire film, instead he used knives, and threw them well tho. In all this is a film that you would not want to see a second time.

[venoms5]

RUN MAN RUN is quite funny. I enjoyed it a lot. It does hit a slow spot near the end though. It's a sequel to THE BIG GUNDOWN. Milian plays Cuchillo again.

The emphasis is on comedy. Donald O'Brien (DR. BUTCHER M.D.) plays the role tailored for Van Cleef and does a fine job. Some beautiful girls too.

Frequent peplum actress Chelo Alonso and exploitation starlet Linda Veras are the fighting females. The film has a really good soundtrack credited to Bruno Nicolai but was actually the work of Morricone.

If you're a Milian fan, you should definitely check out some of his Italian crime movies.

[morgoth]

Is Run Man Run the music they use in Secret rivals? I remember it was a Lee Van Cleef movie and that song actually has vocals.

[venoms5]

No, not sure what movie that music was from. Sounds like it might be a spaghetti track or maybe just stock music.

LVC wasn't in RUN MAN RUN.

[morgoth]

I can't remember the name of the movie where I heard the Secret Rivals song, it was a good Lee Van Clief movie though, and it was even better than Secret Rivals.

[VonHumboldtFleischer]

It's Ennio Morricone's theme to THE BIG GUNDOWN. But it'll always be the SECRET RIVALS music to me.

[VonHumboldtFleischer]

I've uploaded the Big Gundown theme.
Dig it (http://<!--EZCODE).

[the golden dragon]

Lee Van Cleef is one of the greatest of western stars. His rugged good looks and stern demeaner said he was no one to be messed with.

Always have been a western movie fan.

The TV in the late 50's and early 60's was my most liked era of TV.

I dug that Phil Silvers, You Tube with Lee very, very funny.


Was that from the Phil Silvers Show or a movie or what?

GD

[KevinClo]

Was that from the Phil Silvers Show or a movie or what?
It was a tv movie. I have seen it sold out there on the net, but I never have really wanted to purchase it.
The Slowest Gun in the West
www.imdb.com/title/tt0057510/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057510/)

I love the old westerns. Van Cleef is bad ass, but my favorite old villian will always be Jack Elam. He always had that deranged look, but it helped he only had one eye. lol.

KC

[morgoth]

hey Vonhum...

Is the Big Gundown available on DVD? That song gets me so freaking pumped!

[VonHumboldtFleischer]

It used to be available on a R2 boxset from Koch along with FACE TO FACE and RUN MAN RUN. I don't think there is an official R1 release.

Here's some more "pumped" music, Morricone's theme to DEATH RIDES A HORSE.

Dig it. (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BSBZKAS7)

[venoms5]

There is a fan made DVD that subtitles all the cut footage. It amounts to around 20 minutes or so. Here's a link for the fan DVD. They also have a completely subbed addition that's legit.




xploitedcinema.com/catalo...-5250.html (http://xploitedcinema.com/catalog/gundown-franco-cleef-reconstruction-dvdr-p-5250.html)