BY JOHN LEMAY
Oftencalled the Spaghetti Western version of TheDirty Dozen, A Reason to Live, AReason to Die! is out on Blu-Ray from Kino-Lorber. Despite a superstar trioof actors in the form of James Coburn, Bud Spencer, and Telly Savalas alongwith an established director Tonino Valerii (Day of Anger; My Name isNobody) and gorgeous sets, the film is nonetheless something of a mixed bagthat doesn’t take off until the third act.
Theplot concerns Colonel Pembroke (Coburn), a Union officer out for revengeagainst Major Ward (Savalas), the Confederate officer in charge of Fort Holmanwho also killed Pembroke’s son. With the support of the Union Army, Pembrokeand his second in command, Eli Sampson (Spencer), enlist several Union officerscondemned to the hangman’s noose who can have their freedom if they helpPembroke overtake Fort Holman.
Mostall fans and critics of the genre unanimously agree that the movie is tediouslyboring until Coburn and his men finally arrive at Fort Holman and the battlebegins. And what a glorious battle it is with Gatling guns and exploding gunpowder 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 thefilm’s existence. After all, any movie sporting James Coburn, Bud Spencer andTelly Savalas on the poster certainly catches the eye.
JamesCoburn had been to Almeria the previous year to film Sergio Leone’s somewhatdivisive Duck You Sucker! in 1971. Heplays a similarly laconic role in AReason to Live, A Reason to Die! However, depending on what version of thefilm you are watching (and there are several) his character can come across assadly underdeveloped and mysterious. According to Marco Giusti’s book Dizionario del western all'italiano Coburnand director Valerii did not gel well, and a bored Coburn spent most of histime between takes doing yoga. Telly Savalas is also curiously underdevelopedas the villain. His best moment probably comes when he executes a deserterduring the final battle. As such, Bud Spencer actually comes out of this filmas the one to watch, chewing the most scenery and receiving the majority of thescreen time (ironically, this role was originally supposed to have gone to EliWallach). Firmly entrenched as a European superstar after the release of They Call Me Trinity (1970) and itssequel, Spencer plays his part in a fairly comical fashion. He manages tolighten the mood well—but not to the extent that it seems as though he walkedon 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 ishimself dubbed by the same man who later dubbed Spencer in his other films likeCrime Busters (1977). The observationis made all the more amusing when this character tells Spencer, “You seemfamiliar.†This isn’t a joke though, but a set-up for something in the plotlater on when he outs Spencer as a Union spy.
Despitethe larger than life trio of super stars that headline the film, in somerespects the sets still manage to be the real star of the show. In a word, FortHolman is as gorgeous and grand as any movie set could hope to be. As eagleeyed movie fans will notice Fort Holman is actually the set built for El Condor (1970) the previous year whichstarred Lee Van Cleef and was directed by John Guillermin. And if my eyes don’tdeceive me, the large ranch house that Coburn and the convicts visit is theMcBain residence from Once Upon a Time inthe West.
Asto the Blu-Ray, don’t let the first grainy shot fool you, the picture qualityis actually excellent. This is probably as good a place as any to mention thisis the cut 92 minute American version, hence the grainy opening shot which isin fact taken from the film’s climax, not the uncut 112 minute version whichhas a different opening. The uncut version reportedly does a much better job offleshing out the characters of Coburn and Spencer and their motivations areboth 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 inall, though the first half drags on a bit, this film is still highlyrecommended for Spaghetti Western and Bud Spencer fans.
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John LeMay is the author ofThe Big Book of Japanese Giant MonsterMovies Vol. 1: 1954-1980. (Click here to order from Amazon)
