*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*Plot and ending analyzed*

This Western was extremely difficult to find for many years. I have not seen it since when it was first released. But I caught it recently and found it interesting.

It is quite unusual. It almost seems strange and ambiguous in some ways. A very existential Western. I liked it, even though it is entirely average and ridiculous in a few places.

The introduction starts off fairly quickly with some double crossing betrayal. That sets the stage for the absolutely fantastic Western titular song, "Rider on a Dead Horse", sung by Millard Woods.

If you love Western movie songs like, "Gun Fight at OK Corral", sung by Frankie Laine, "The 3:10 to Yuma", sung by Frankie Laine, "5 Card Stud", sung by Dean Martin, then you will probably have "Rider on a Dead Horse", sung by Millard Woods, in your head for days.

The Arizona desert scenery is very bleak and austere, as if only the principle characters exist in the setting. The movie has the feel of a theatrical play since they did not have a budget for many extras.

I don't know why actor John Vivyan did not get any other Western movie roles, or why he did not go to Spain in the 1960s or 1970s to do Spaghetti Westerns. He was definitely capable, and was better than a lot of the wooden actors that they used.

The only other low budget Western that is similar to this one is, Five Bloody Graves (1969). Another strange Western movie.

I got a Portuguese VHS version and the song was not cut out. I've noticed a few English DVD versions without the song and introductory title and credits.

This is definitely a nice little Western movie to see.

Further: Mark of the Gun (1969), Five Bloody Graves (1969), Four Fast Guns (1960), The Quiet Gun (1957),The Shooting (1966).

John Vivyan and Bruce Gordon kill their partner. But there are Apaches about, so they have to bury their $200,000 in gold dust to come back for it later. When they reach a town, they part ways in more ways than one. Vivyan takes up with dance hall girl Lisa Lu, and Gordon tries to recruit bounty hunter Kevin Hagen to kill his ex-partner. Meanwhile, Miss Lu dreams of a rider on a dead horse.

This movie looks like what you'd get if you remade the second half of THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE as a spaghetti western, which is remarkable considering America was unaware of the subgenre. Nonetheless, some cheap co-productions were being made in Europe, and they were a lot more violent than the traditional B westerns. It looks like they cast Miss Lu to ease American minds about the sequence in which she is raped.

Miss Lu made a late entry to the movies in Borzage's CHINA DOLL. Since then she has appeared in a lot of big and little screen efforts; she was in the recent CRAZY RICH ASIANS and is still appearing in movies at the age of 95.