Unsung Movie Heroes - Lee Van Cleef

The first in an occasional series looking at those film stars who, whilst enjoying both the respect of their peers and the praise of a healthy fan base, never quite attained that top-level superstar status. The series aim is to pay tribute to their work and hopefully inspire some readers to search out some of the movies mentioned. The first star to get the tribute treatment is the man with the steeliest gaze in movie history - Mr Lee Van Cleef.

It's hard to imagine that the man with the hawk-like face and a gaze that could burn through solid steel was once, albeit only briefly, an accountant. Oh...and his first name was really Clarence. Not that there's anything wrong with being an accountant or being called Clarence. It's just difficult marrying those facts with the classic hard-man screen image of a certain Lee Van Cleef.

After also serving in the Navy during World War II, the man born Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jnr made his screen debut in one of the greatest westerns ever made - High Noon. Although the villainous role was only a small one and had no dialogue, it ensured Van Cleef was noticed by producers and led to regular character work for him; mainly as western heavies.

Despite regular work over the next 10 years, including roles in such classic movies as Gunfight at The OK Corral and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Lee Van Cleef was still just a jobbing actor with no name value. Thoughts of quitting the movie business altogether were forming in his mind. Little did he know that accepting a role in a low budget Italian western to be filmed in Spain in 1965 would change both his mind and his fortunes forever. 

Italian director Sergio Leone was looking for another American actor to play opposite Clint Eastwood in a sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. Charles Bronson was approached but declined the offer. The future Death Wish star would finally appear in a Leone picture in 1969's epic Once Upon a Time in the West. Van Cleef was eventually offered the role in For a Few Dollars More and was so successful Leone cast him, in a different role, in the final part of the trilogy - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Many Italian-produced westerns would follow for Van Cleef, with the quality varying greatly from poor to very good. Some of the better efforts included Death Rides a Horse, God's Gun and the quirky and very enjoyable Sabata.

As the popularity of westerns began to decline as the seventies wore on, Van Cleef returned to the States and made notable appearances in, amongst others, The Octagon opposite Chuck Norris and in John Carpenter's classic sci-fi actioner Escape from New York. He even had his own TV series, the somewhat short-lived The Master.

Lee Van Cleef suffered a heart attack and passed away on December 16th 1989 at the age of 64.


Lee Van Cleef - The Top 5 Movies




For a Few Dollars More (1965)

To my mind the best of Sergio Leone's iconic Dollars trilogy. Lee Van Cleef is superb as Colonel Mortimer, a bounty hunter who teams up with Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name to take down the villainous Indio (an intense Gian Maria Volonte) and his gang. Director Leone is really at the height of his powers here and the atmosphere he conjures almost drips off the screen. Superb camera work, a memorable score, wonderful locations, a great storyline and excellent performances all combine to make this one of the greatest westerns of all time.   




The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Undoubtedly the most famous and fondly remembered entry in the Dollars series, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is a huge, swirling epic which still stands as one of the finest movies ever made. At just under 3 hours long, the film takes you on an incredible journey as 3 disparate characters search for a box of gold buried in a grave. Lee Van Cleef gives his greatest ever performance here as the cold-hearted villain Angel Eyes.
Magnificent. Momentous. Memorable.













Death Rides a Horse (1967)

This has often been accused of trying to be For a Few Dollars More and, to a certain extent, that may be true. However, director Giulio Petroni creates an excellent atmosphere, which means this spaghetti western can definitely stand on its own two hooves as it were. Van Cleef is superb here and is ably supported by a number of familiar faces from Sergio Leone's westerns including Luigi Pistilli and the unmistakable Mario Brega (pictured right). The only weak link is a rather bland John Phillip Law, who actually went on to make a decent Sinbad in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1973.




Sabata (1969)

Another Italian western outing for Mr Van Cleef and this one employs a nice change of pace as it plays a bit more heavily on the comedic side. With the character of the unflappable, gadget-loving, irresistible-to-women Sabata, Lee Van Cleef created his very own western James Bond. The plot of Sabata is sometimes hard to follow, with double crosses turning into double-double crosses and then double-double-with-triple-back-somersault crosses. However, it is still very entertaining to watch and makes a very worthy addition to any spaghetti western fan's collection.












Escape From New York (1981)

It's fitting really that director John Carpenter cast Lee Van Cleef opposite Kurt Russell in this classic cult movie. Russell has stated that he based his character Snake Plissken's vocal characteristics on that of Clint Eastwood, Van Cleef's co-star from the Dollars movies 15 years before.
Once again, Lee Van Cleef is on top form as Prison Commissioner Bob Hauk, who forces Plissken into going on a rescue mission to bring back the kidnapped US President.
Escape from New York happily sits in my list of top 10 favourite movies of all time and is essential viewing for any fans of sci-fi action films.









Well, I hope this article has maybe made you want to rediscover some of the great films that Lee Van Cleef has been in and maybe even a couple of the poor ones too! Even in the worst films of his career, Van Cleef  never gave a bad performance and ,indeed, his mere presence rescued some films from being complete disasters.

The Man with the Steely Gaze will always remain one of my favourite actors.

Lee Van Cleef 1924-1989