Angel Eyes, Lee van Cleef

[shootgringoshoot]

who doesnt respect Lee van Cleef for his unforgettable role as Angel Eyes in The Good The Bad and The Ugly.
this movie was for me the movie that opened my eyes for the spaghetti westerns and the euro cinema. think I saw the movie atleast 10 times and still Im very impressed when i see it ...... can remember as a child copying the movie with playmobil.

Van cleef started in the us as a B acter in some great movies, westerns science fictions and some classic noirs ...... allways as a bad guy ...... in the 50's he had a serious car excident so he couldnt act so much ..... his acting career was a bit quiet.
Leone invited van Cleef to play in Leone's second western beside Eastwood in the movie For a few dollars more. the magic was their the movie was a great sucses, van Cleef made his introduction in the euro cinema and his career was running again.
after a few dollars more, van cleef started in the good the bad and the ugly next to eastwood and Eli Wallach (what a role wallach plays as Tuco!!!! the ultimate douchebag!!)

van Cleef got numerous job offers and decided to stay in Italy.
he started in few of the best dark spaghetti westerns made; the 2 leone movies, big gundown, death rides a horse .... sabata.
also in some of the biggest spaghetti trash ever made ...... kid vengeance.

Sabata was a big sucses, van cleef plays a more or less same character as he did in the Leone movies.....only than a bit playfuller, a bit more humor is added to his role. the movie was very sucsesfull, that it created a sub gerne in the spaghetti western scene. two official parts followed return of sabata (with van cleef) and adios sabata (not with an cleef, but with Yul Brynner ..... strage anuff I cant find an old ex-rentaltape of this movie...).
Gianfranco Parolini who made the sabata movies, continued the sabata style with the sabata clone Sartana, starring gianni garko.

also some non official sequels of the sabata movies were made, not starring van cleef or brynner
- Sabata the Killer
- Dig Your Grave, Sabata is Coming
- Watch out Gringo, Sabata Will Return
- Wanted Sabata

in totall van cleef played in 15 spaghetti westerns:

1965 - For a Few Dollars More - directed by Sergio Leone

1966 - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - directed by Sergio Leone

1966 - The Big Gundown - directed by Sergio Sollima

1967 - Death Rides a Horse - directed by Giulio Petroni

1967 - Day of Anger - directed by Tonino Valerii

1968 - Beyond the Law - directed by Giorgio Stegani

1969 - Sabata - directed by Gianfranco Parolini

1971 - Return of Sabata - directed by Gianfranco Parolini

1971 - Captain Apache - directed by Alexander Singer

1971 - Bad Mans River - directed by Eugenio Martín

1972 - The Big Showdown - directed by Giancarlo Santi

1974 - Blood Money - directed by Antonio Margheriti

1975 - God's Gun - directed by Gianfranco Parolini

1975 - Take a Hard Ride - directed by Antonio Margheriti

1977 - Kid Vengeance - directed by Joseph Manduke

[shootgringoshoot]

For a Few Dollars More




The Good, The Bad and the Ugly




The Big Gundown




Death Rides a Horse




Day of Anger




Beyond the Law




Sabata




Return of Sabata




Captain Apache




Bad Mans River




The Big Showdown




Blood Money




God's Gun




Take a Hard Ride




Kid Vengeance

[Jack J]

Great post, Tom!!!

And an awesome collection.

So which are your favourites of his films, and are there some you really dislike?

Some years ago Nils Markvardsen (Kinski) gave me a composite fan edit of THE BIG GUNDOWN: Has this movie been fully restored officially?

[candela]

Any chance of you posting some screenshots of the Bad Man's River dvd ? I'd like to compare with my German DVD

Also, am I the only one who thinks Van Cleef is seriously overrated. I don't really like him ... sorry (good movies though)

[shootgringoshoot]

the big gundown is as far as I know complete on the koch dvd release, sad anuff without english audio....does have english subs, optional italian or german audio.

the best movies are ofcours for a few dollars more, good bad ugly, big gundown, death rides a horse ...... the early entrances of the spaghetti western gerne.

the sabata movies are fun, but not tru dark spaghetties

big showdown has a good first 20min ...... than is slowly becomes not that interestng anymore.

day of anger is nice, but im not a big guliano gemma fan

his last 3 spaghetti westerns are very bad, the other movies arn't so special aswell.....avarage spaghetti stuff

[Jack J]

Thanks.

[cannibal man]

great stuff there tom.
i particularly like the clint eastwood ones.

how many of his films have you.
have you any of the dirty harry ones

[shootgringoshoot]

no, i dont like the dirty harry or the other eastwood movies so much.....
think his highlights were the leone movies, and he build his image on those movies more or less.

[dodo]

Nice collection Tom!

I'm a big fan of Lee van Cleef. He also did some nice crime films in Italy like the
Perfect Killer. Anyways, here's an acryl painting I did of him:



Still need to fix some parts, like the ear...

[shootgringoshoot]

nice paintig!

you probably also know van cleef was a painter aswell.


I also like the other van cleef movies.....not so much the old westerns. bt the film noirs he played ina re cool. and I find it a good reason to watch a euro movie when van cleef is in it.
to be honest I dont know his euro crime movies.
I do have his euro ww2 movie Commando, and I also have the Antonio Margheriti tapes were van cleef plays in, but im not collecting al his movies ........ allthough I think I have most of them.