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

The most boring Crea viewed so far. Severe punishment even for me.

one of the worst spaghettis i ever seen!!! there no shooting until the 92 minutes!!!
crap, crap, don’t bother! valeri he’s only good for the day of anger and that’s it after that he directed some
of the most crapiest westerns,

I don`t agree one of the top 30 Spaghetti Westerns!!!

[quote=ā€œsartana1968, post:122, topic:468ā€]one of the worst spaghettis i ever seen!!! there no shooting until the 92 minutes!!!
crap, crap, don’t bother! valeri he’s only good for the day of anger and that’s it after that he directed some
of the most crapiest westerns,[/quote]

Meaning: Per il gusto di uccidere and Il prezzo del potere are crap?
Can’t disagree more than that.

A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die (Valerii/72)

ā€œA Reason to Live, A Reason to Dieā€ (1972) is a exciting, Civil War-set Spaghetti Western, directed by Sergio Leone’s protĆ©gĆ© Tonino Valerii and stars James Coburn, Telly Savalas and Bud Spencer.

The script by Rafael Azcona, Ernesto Gastaldi, Jay Lynn and Tonino Valerii is hardly original, amounting to nothing but a ā€œDirty Dozenā€ rehash, but it is adequate: during the American Civil War, the disgraced Colonel Pembroke (James Coburn) tries to retake a heavily defended fort that was taken by the Confederates from him without a shot fired, a mystery that helps drive his character, by using twelve recruits who he has saved from death sentences.

Despite the lack of originality in the screenplay department, the spirited direction makes the story rattle along at a breathless pace to the expertly staged, wholesale carnage at the end. Throughout, the the three leads fare remarkably well and are the only ones who are given any sort of more than superficial examination of their past. The music by Riz Ortolani, all powerful horns, is masterly, compensating for uninteresting photography.

The fast pace and direction help raise this Spaghetti Western into a higher plane, turning it into a very, very enjoyable film.

[quote=ā€œp.pereira, post:124, topic:468ā€]Meaning: Per il gusto di uccidere and Il prezzo del potere are crap?
Can’t disagree more than that.[/quote]

I like Il prezzo del potere. Although maybe it’s the Bacalov score that I like the most.

Yes. I think it is a underrated spaghetti, but I’m fan of Valerri wich means that I’m not a reliable source. My Spanish friend AdriĆ”n Esbilla (writer of http://esbilla.wordpress.com) have done a incredible resume of it:

ā€œUn film escandalosamente desconocido y muy poco visto que supone una insólita reinterpretación del magnicidio Kennedy (La muerte de un presidente es su tĆ­tulo espaƱol) en los territorios del eurowestern. Dirigida con brillantez por Valerii y estupendamente interpretada por Giuliano Gemma, cuenta con la presencia del veterano Van Johnson en el papel de presidente. Un trabajo ambicioso, elegante y muy bien resuelto que acerca el gĆ©nero al thriller polĆ­tico para reflexionar (otra vez) sobre el compromiso, la corrupción y el idealismo.ā€

He included the movie in is 10 favourites spaghettis! His full list is available here:

[quote=ā€œp.pereira, post:127, topic:468ā€]Yes. I think it is a underrated spaghetti, but I’m fan of Valerri wich means that I’m not a reliable source. My Spanish friend AdriĆ”n Esbilla (writer of http://esbilla.wordpress.com) have done a incredible resume of it:

ā€œUn film escandalosamente desconocido y muy poco visto que supone una insólita reinterpretación del magnicidio Kennedy (La muerte de un presidente es su tĆ­tulo espaƱol) en los territorios del eurowestern. Dirigida con brillantez por Valerii y estupendamente interpretada por Giuliano Gemma, cuenta con la presencia del veterano Van Johnson en el papel de presidente. Un trabajo ambicioso, elegante y muy bien resuelto que acerca el gĆ©nero al thriller polĆ­tico para reflexionar (otra vez) sobre el compromiso, la corrupción y el idealismo.ā€[/quote]

Wow, judging by that review he really liked it! I used to have it at the bottom of my top-20 but it has been nudged out now. To be honest, excluding ā€œMy Name is Nobodyā€, it’s the only Valerii I’ve seen that I have any appreciation for. Unlike you, I’m not a huge Valerii fan.

That Spanish title ā€œThe Death of a Presidentā€ is terrible. They should have stuck with the Italian one like they did in English.

Or the German one: Bloody Lead :’(

That sounds bad too, but I think the Spanish one is still worse. It’s like calling the movie ā€œTitanicā€ something like ā€œThe sinking of a shipā€!

Possibly short notice but for anyone in the UK, A reason to live is on ITV4, Saturday 12th Feb, 5pm.

ITV4 are outdoing themselves with repeats. This one was on last week too. Still, nice to see a non Leone Spaghetti getting some airtime in the UK.

That’s because they’re a pretty crap channel :P.

Well I’m not complaining since I didn’t realise it was on last week.

To be fair to them I watch ITV4 quite a bit because a lot of the stuff they endlessly repeat I quite like. The Champions, The Saint, The Sweeney etc. All old shows I still get a kick out of.

I thought I had commented on this film a few years ago; but, apparently, that isn’t the case.
No big deal, really, because all I have to say about the film…even in its uncut form…is that it is one of the most boring of the medium-to-high budget Spaghetti Westerns I have ever seen.
I don’t even care that much for the music.
For the people that were involved in the making of this film…it should have been spectacular. However, it is very very far from that.

I don’t think I’m saying anything wildly controversial here… It seemed entertaining enough for a couple of hours, but I probably won’t watch it again. As others have said, it should have been better given the cast and the amount of money that had obviously been spent on it. Most of the characters seemed fairly underdeveloped (Savalas especially), so it was difficult to care about any of them really. Coburn and Spencer were reasonable, in spite of the script.

I’m not hugely sure which version I saw. Probably the cut version, or possibly something in between (there were a few scenes in a different aspect ratio, which suggested a different source). I’m not convinced a few extra scenes are magically going to improve the film though.

I saw it first in a 80 - 90 min version with a comedy dub and the violence cut down to child friendly action scenes.
Strangely enough, but it didn’t get better in the uncut version.

I think it`s a solid 4 star SW!!!1

92 minutes of BORING staff!!! after than this there was a small gunfight scene and that’s it!
one im my top 20 worst