BY JOHN LEMAY
Often
called the Spaghetti Western version of The
Dirty Dozen, A Reason to Live, A
Reason to Die! is out on Blu-Ray from Kino-Lorber. Despite a superstar trio
of actors in the form of James Coburn, Bud Spencer, and Telly Savalas along
with an established director Tonino Valerii (Day of Anger; My Name is
Nobody) and gorgeous sets, the film is nonetheless something of a mixed bag
that doesn’t take off until the third act.
The
plot concerns Colonel Pembroke (Coburn), a Union officer out for revenge
against Major Ward (Savalas), the Confederate officer in charge of Fort Holman
who also killed Pembroke’s son. With the support of the Union Army, Pembroke
and his second in command, Eli Sampson (Spencer), enlist several Union officers
condemned to the hangman’s noose who can have their freedom if they help
Pembroke overtake Fort Holman.
Most
all fans and critics of the genre unanimously agree that the movie is tediously
boring until Coburn and his men finally arrive at Fort Holman and the battle
begins. And what a glorious battle it is with Gatling guns and exploding gun
powder kegs galore (some sources claim this scene was shot in only five days).
In essence, this scene manages to be the film’s saving grace. That being said,
it is usually the teaming of the three leads that alerts many movie fans to the
film’s existence. After all, any movie sporting James Coburn, Bud Spencer and
Telly Savalas on the poster certainly catches the eye.
James
Coburn had been to Almeria the previous year to film Sergio Leone’s somewhat
divisive Duck You Sucker! in 1971. He
plays a similarly laconic role in A
Reason to Live, A Reason to Die! However, depending on what version of the
film you are watching (and there are several) his character can come across as
sadly underdeveloped and mysterious. According to Marco Giusti’s book Dizionario del western all'italiano Coburn
and director Valerii did not gel well, and a bored Coburn spent most of his
time between takes doing yoga. Telly Savalas is also curiously underdeveloped
as the villain. His best moment probably comes when he executes a deserter
during the final battle. As such, Bud Spencer actually comes out of this film
as the one to watch, chewing the most scenery and receiving the majority of the
screen time (ironically, this role was originally supposed to have gone to Eli
Wallach). Firmly entrenched as a European superstar after the release of They Call Me Trinity (1970) and its
sequel, Spencer plays his part in a fairly comical fashion. He manages to
lighten the mood well—but not to the extent that it seems as though he walked
on set from another movie—and the film would suffer greatly without him.
Spencer is dubbed in this film by the same man who dubbed him on the Trinity films and several others.
Sharp-eared viewers may notice Spencer interacting with another actor who is
himself dubbed by the same man who later dubbed Spencer in his other films like
Crime Busters (1977). The observation
is made all the more amusing when this character tells Spencer, “You seem
familiar.†This isn’t a joke though, but a set-up for something in the plot
later on when he outs Spencer as a Union spy.
Despite
the larger than life trio of super stars that headline the film, in some
respects the sets still manage to be the real star of the show. In a word, Fort
Holman is as gorgeous and grand as any movie set could hope to be. As eagle
eyed movie fans will notice Fort Holman is actually the set built for El Condor (1970) the previous year which
starred Lee Van Cleef and was directed by John Guillermin. And if my eyes don’t
deceive me, the large ranch house that Coburn and the convicts visit is the
McBain residence from Once Upon a Time in
the West.
As
to the Blu-Ray, don’t let the first grainy shot fool you, the picture quality
is actually excellent. This is probably as good a place as any to mention this
is the cut 92 minute American version, hence the grainy opening shot which is
in fact taken from the film’s climax, not the uncut 112 minute version which
has a different opening. The uncut version reportedly does a much better job of
fleshing out the characters of Coburn and Spencer and their motivations are
both clearer. This still isn’t as bad as a 79 minute German version though,
which was cut with the intent of making it into a Bud Spencer comedy! All in
all, though the first half drags on a bit, this film is still highly
recommended for Spaghetti Western and Bud Spencer fans.
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John LeMay is the author of
The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster
Movies Vol. 1: 1954-1980. (Click here to order from Amazon)