Lee Van Cleef's Best Westerns
The films listed here represent Lee Van Cleef's best work as a leading man in western movies.
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- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsClint EastwoodLee Van CleefGian Maria VolontèTwo bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a gang of outlaws led by a psychotic Mexican bandit, who is plotting an audacious bank robbery.Lee Van Cleef's first Spaghetti western cast him opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's masterpiece. Although he wasn't billed first, Van Cleef's role is substantial enough to qualify as a leading role since he is one of the three major players.
- DirectorGiulio PetroniStarsLee Van CleefJohn Phillip LawMario BregaA young gunfighter forms a tenuous alliance with an aging ex-outlaw to track down and eliminate the bandits who killed his family, till the surprising end.One of Lee Van Cleef's later roles and perhaps his best as an outlaw framed for a murder that he didn't commit. After he is released from prison, he sets out to track down his old gang and get some payback. Along the way, he encounters the family that his gang raped and murdered while a young boy watched in horror. The youngster grows up to become John Philip Law, and he sets out to find the murderers of his family. The two men form an uneasy alliance.
- DirectorTonino ValeriiStarsLee Van CleefGiuliano GemmaWalter RillaA scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of a famed gunfighter, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption.Lee Van Cleef stars as a ruthless gunslinger who rescues a young man, Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma of "A Pistol for Ringo"),
from cleaning up the local saloons in Tonino Valerii's western horse opera "Day of Anger." Frank Talby teaches Scott Mary all the tricks of the trade as a gunslinger. - DirectorSergio SollimaStarsLee Van CleefTomas MilianWalter BarnesAn unofficial lawman and would-be senator is tasked by a railroad baron with hunting down a knife-wielding Mexican peasant accused of raping and killing a young girl.Actually, Sergio Sollima's masterpiece about a bounty hunter who sets out to find a Mexican peasant accused of raping and killing a 12-year old girl was Lee Van Cleef's very first starring role.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsLee Van CleefWarren OatesForrest TuckerAt a river crossing, a stand-off between a gang of outlaws and local townsfolk ensues when the ferry barge operator refuses to ferry the gang across the river.Lee Van Cleef stars as a ferry boat owner who comes between an evil outlaw (Warren Oates) and his gang as they try to cross a river to get away from the authorities. Veteran Hollywood helmer Gordon Douglas made this solid western that cast Van Cleef in an entirely different role as a ferry boat operator in the Old West.
- DirectorGianfranco ParoliniStarsLee Van CleefWilliam BergerIgnazio SpallaA master gunfighter sides with a banjo-playing drifter and a Mexican tramp to foil the dignitaries of Daugherty, who want to use stolen army money to buy land that the railroad will cross.Lee Van Cleef plays a man of mystery who is a crack shot with any kind of rifle or revolver in director Gianfranco Parolini's tongue-in-cheek Spaghetti western.
- DirectorGiancarlo SantiStarsLee Van CleefAlberto DenticeJess HahnA grizzled ex-sheriff helps a man framed for murder to confront the powerful trio of brothers who want him dead.Lee Van Cleef dressed up more like the Colonel from "For A Few Dollars More" in this Spaghetti western, reminiscent of "The Big Gundown" where he has to track down an outlaw who may be innocent of the crime that he reportedly committed.
- DirectorAntonio MargheritiStarsLee Van CleefLieh LoPatty ShepardA martial artist joins a hard-hitting gunfighter in the search for treasure while bandits step into their way.Lee Van Cleef co-starred with Lieh Lo in director
Antonio Margheriti's Kung fu western. - DirectorGeorge McCowanStarsLee Van CleefStefanie PowersMichael CallanForced by personal circumstances, Marshal Chris Adams recruits a writer and five prisoners to help him eliminate a gang of Mexican bandits.Lee Van Cleef took over the role originated by Yul Brynner in John Sturges' classic horse opera "The Magnificent Seven" and Burt Kennedy's vintage sequel "Return of the Seven." Afterward, George Kennedy replaced Brynner in the second sequel "Guns of the Magnificent Seven." Finally, Van Cleef replaced Kennedy and played Chris, the man in charge of the seven. Unfortunately, "The Magnificent Seven Ride!" was not as memorable as the previous three outings.
- DirectorGianfranco ParoliniStarsLee Van CleefReiner SchöneGiampiero AlbertiniThe citizens of Hobsonville hire Sabata to rid them of the McIntock clan, who are forcibly and unlawfully taxing them under the pretext of town development.Lee Van Cleef reprised his role as the swift-shooting, elegantly-clad trouble-shooter in Gianfranco Parolini's witty Spaghetti western.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsJim BrownLee Van CleefPatrick O'NealThe El Condor, the fabled Mexican stronghold rumoured to contain Emperor Maximilian's mythical reserves in gold, will attract two adventurous fortune seekers, who with eyes gleaming with desire, will shortly know that only fools rush in.Lee Van Cleef and football legend Jim Brown co-starred as two adventurers out to take a fortune in gold from a French garrison in Mexico in the late 19th century.
- DirectorAlexander SingerStarsLee Van CleefCarroll BakerStuart WhitmanA Native American born US Army officer, Captain Apache, investigating a murder, uncovers a presidential assassination plot.Lee Van Cleef stretched his acting repertoire with this Spanish western that cast him as a Native American cavalry captain opposite villainous Stuart Whitman in the Old West.
- DirectorGiorgio SteganiStarsLee Van CleefAntonio SabatoLionel StanderA trio of thieves plot to steal a town's silver shipment but a turn of events makes them the town's heroes.Lee Van Cleef plays everything for laughter in this amusing Spaghetti western with Bud Spencer and Gordon Mitchell.
- DirectorEugenio MartínStarsLee Van CleefJames MasonGina LollobrigidaRobber Roy King loses his wife, Alicia, to revolutionary Montero. Despite their rivalry they collaborate in an attempt to rob the Mexican government of one million dollars.Lee Van Cleef has his tongue in his cheek in this shoot'em up Spanish western that he co-starred with James Mason.
- DirectorGianfranco ParoliniStarsLee Van CleefJack PalanceRichard BooneA priest and his twin brother take turns defending a small town from the vicious Clayton gang.Lee Van Cleef plays a preacher who tangles with Jack Palance in Gianfranco Parolini's western "God's Gun."
- DirectorAntonio MargheritiStarsJim BrownLee Van CleefFred WilliamsonAfter selling his cattle in town, ranch owner Morgan unexpectedly dies, and his foreman Pike has to deliver the payroll to Sonora, despite the perilous journey during which he's followed by many shady characters who want the money.Lee Van Cleef plays the chief villain in this largely African-American western that co-starred Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. Antonio Margheriti directed this oater.