A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die / Una ragione per vivere e una per morire (Tonino Valerii, 1972)

Spaghetti Westerns šŸŽ¬
282

Havenā€™t seen the Kino one so canā€™t say but would be surprised if it any better. This really was a basic release. Short version only too, despite what it says on the sleeve

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Which we have known for some time, hence the correct info in the database :slight_smile:

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Watched this recently - the UK Blu Ray which is the short 90m version and also looked at a You Tube video 113m Pal. The UK Blu ay print was very good.

  • Very strange that Coburn dubbed in the longer version but not in the shorter version
  • The shorter version uses a lot of music from Day of Anger and some cues from Beyond the Law. In the longer version, the music is all the score from A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die. I thought the Day of Anger cues were more effective than the original in several scenes.
  • In the scene involving the train the short version has two extra shots showing the Dirty Half Dozen on the train and the shot when they emerge from the tunnel was also an alternative take.
  • The short version is missing the first 19m odd of the movie after the opening credits and also a 3m scene in which Spencer is caught trying to do sabotage and is forced to pretend that he needs a wee. The scenes around the wee missing footage play out in a different order in the shorter version presumably to cover for the cuts.
  • Some of the dubbed over dialogue is different. When we first see the fort, Coburnā€™s voiceover in the short version is different and shorter.
  • Before Brandt is killed he uses the F word at Spencer in the longer version and there are a couple of extra shots of him machine-gunning soldiers.

I donā€™t think this is a great film. Itā€™s a clear Dirty Dozen rip-off, Savalas is wasted or rather, undeveloped (as several have commented) since we never see him be really ā€˜madā€™ and he watches out the final slaughter impotently. The ending is a bit weak since we never find out what happens to Coburn and he kills off Savalas without a proper fight.

3 Likes
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Iā€™ll also add that almost everyone in the cast and crew except Coburn, Savalas, Spencer (sic) and Valerii is credited under an anglicised alias in both long and short English language prints.