The Stunt Man (1980)?

nope, wrong decade.

I can count the number of westerns I have seen on one hand (same with musicals), but I'll take a stab and guess The Ballad of Cable Hogue.

That's a damn good guess Norm.

Thanks. If it's wrong, I'm out of guesses and you can go for the hat trick.

The Hired Hand

Excellent movie by the way, with a terrific, unusual soundtrack by Bruce Langhorne. Traditional acoustic string instruments (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, etc.) that would have been around in the old west, play drone-like music influenced by Indian ragas -- very effective.

I had some shots pulled that I was going to post someday. Oh well

wow, nice one. it is The Hired Hand. Directed by Peter Fonda.

A random guess: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?

No, but this movie does feature the work of an Academy Award nominated director.



(but not as the actual director of this film)

This movie features an actor probably best known for his TV work in a role quite unlike the one he plays here. I had his action figure as a kid because it made a serviceable bad guy.

One of four films released that year that featured a successful on-screen duo.

This movie was re-released in the US four years after its initial release when the star began what would be a long-running franchise (with rapidly diminishing returns). It was retitled to play up similarities to a popular movie.

Rebel (1970)?

No, but same (original) year of release. The music in this film comes from the two greatest film composers ever recorded.* This director collaborated with one or both of them six times. However, this movie is notable for its sequences without music (or dialogue). The first line of the movie is spoken 10 min. into it.



*This is a fact. I have charts and graphs to back me up.

'The Man Who Haunted Himself'?

^Nope. But what is it?

Cittą Violenta (The Family)

I'll be away for a few days, so wildcard.

Directed by Sergio Sollima, screenplay co-written by Lina Wertmüller; starring Charles Bronson & Jill Ireland (seen together in pic 3) and Telly Savalas (whose action figure stood in for Lex Luthor around the playground, since Mego made no 8" arch-villain for Superman), music composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai.

When I examined that shot yesterday, I thought that was Bronson, but he looked too tall, and I didn't think you would make it that easy. Besides, those first two or three shots look far more recent than 1970, so I wouldn't have gone that far back even if I had settled on Bronson.
The only discrepancy in your clues is the re-release date. According to IMDb, it was re-released in 2/1973, two-and-a-half years after its original opening (9/70), so I would imagine it was unrelated to the success of Death Wish.

I thought I'd go ahead and slip the leads into that shot since it wasn't a widely seen film and they're no longer household names, but I figured the shots would be so unlike each other that the pair could still be overlooked.
I was going by the Wikipedia entry that said the re-release was due to Death Wish, but you're right, the actual dates don't match up.

Also,

is in effect.

The shots were very unlike one another. I was confused. The second one is crisp enough to have come from a '90s Merchant/Ivory outing, whereas the third one has the lurid colours and look of a late-'70s cannibal-themed flick.
I have seen a number of Poliziotteschi, but not this one.
Maybe, as you also indicated in the clue, it was re-released to cash in on "The Godfather", although they don't seem to have much in common. The Bronson-starring "The Valachi Papers", which is about the mafia, was a fairly big hit in '72. I have a feeling that was the impetus.