Death Rides A Horse (1967)

The spaghetti western, Death Rides A Horse (1967; Da uomo a uomo), starts off with a gold-robbing gang who brutalises and murders a whole family. Except for the sole surviving boy who grows up to be John Phillip Law out for revenge. His path crosses with cowboy Lee Van Cleef, recently released from prison with […]

Django (1966)

The original Django (1966) is a spaghetti western that obviously Tarantino paid tribute in Django Unchained taking the name, the theme song and even having original Django Franco Nero pop up in a cameo. The original Django film is itself a riff (or cash-in copycat) on A Fistful Of Dollars in that it’s based on […]

The Swimmer (1968)

I’d always wanted to see The Swimmer (1968) on the basis of its rather unique story: a man decides to swim home through all the suburban pools in his neighbourhood. Based on a short story by John Cheever, Burt Lancaster gives a brilliant, captivating performance as the strapping man brimming with confidence in only his […]

Sanjuro (1962)

I didn’t realise there was a sequel to Yojimbo, which reunites director Akira Kurosawa with actor Toshiro Mifune as the wandering hero. So I was in the mood for the 90 minute samurai movie, Sanjuro (1962; Tsubaki Sanjūrō) where Mifune’s character gets mixed up with helping nine younger samurai trying to release their uncle from […]

Youth Of The Beast (1963)

Always great when a film from an older decade feels contemporary in its energy. Youth Of The Beast (1963; Yajū no seishun) is very snappy and vibrant, a Yazuka gangster movie about a mysterious stranger Joe (Joe Shishido – who I only discovered now had cheek implants to help his career and thus his very […]