If You Want to Live … Shoot! / Se vuoi vivere … spara! (Sergio Garrone, 1968)

4 stars are pretty conciderable …

3 stars without cider though :stuck_out_tongue:

Here’s another that I manage to get a Franco Cleef’s DVDr. I kind of like it in the overall, but still far from the best of Garrone.
The stable gives a good touch. Very funny!

[quote=“p.pereira, post:23, topic:2173”]Here’s another that I manage to get a Franco Cleef’s DVDr. I kind of like it in the overall, but still far from the best of Garrone.
The stable gives a good touch. Very funny![/quote]

which is better in your opinion If You Want to Live…Shoot! or Vendetta at dawn?

Probably this one since I never finish Vendetta at dawn.

[quote=“Phil H, post:2, topic:2173”]Oh yes, just remembered my favourite bit.
In the German blacksmith’s livery stable he has a load of horses that used to belong to dead gunslingers and they are all in stalls with the names of their former owners tacked on little signs. Very post modern and self reflexive as the names are all characters from other spaghetti westerns. Django, Ringo, Arizona Colt, MacGregor and Killer Kid amongst them ;D Nice touch I thought.[/quote]

Strangely in the 90m PAL Italian TV version I’ve noticed only the Django, Ringo, MacGregor and Baby Face (?) names, but not in the same scene. Maybe a short sequence is missing…

Garringo seems to me improbable, because it was released 20 months later!

You never know with spaghetti western heroes, they’re fasten than lightning

Yeah, agreed that it starts off really well then turns boring, thought the music was pretty tiresome… Rassimov can do no wrong though, he’s always good, imo.

Does anyone have the New Spanish release of this? According to the details, its got Italian and Spanish audio with Spanish and English subtitles. Print looks pretty good, if they do indeed have Eng subs, Koch may have some competition.

I’ve got the new Spanish packaging of this one. It is available in Portuguese Fnac’s stores.

It got Spanish and Italian audio with Portuguese subtitles.

Would like a copy of the UK tape if anyone wants to part with it.

Watched this three times during Spagvember and another time this week. Here some notes.on the film.
After Leones films followed films painting a bleaker picture of the bounty hunters. Such is the case here. According to the film’s synopsis a young cowboy, Johnny, playing in a rigged poker game is forced to shoot one of the other players. The cowboy takes quick leave as he is accused of murder and a reward for his capture is posted. Is this actually what goes on? Let’s take a closer look at the two poker games at hand.

Sure enough, the film opens in a Texas saloon in the middle of a poker game. There are four players. Then there are two bystanders: a young cowboy (and gold-digger?), Johnny Dark, and Stack, a bounty hunter.

At first Stack and Johnny are just standing by the table together. After a while Stack encourages Johnny to join in. Johnny joins the game and starts winning big time. A guy named Mac, down on his luck, bets his last 1000 dollars. He gets a full house with knights and two aces to back them up. When Johnny claims the pot with a full house with three aces, there are five aces on the table. The players accuse each other of cheating, and trouble is sure to ensue. Mac draws on Johnny but is himself shot by Johnny without further ado. Johnny claims self-defence and leaves the saloon. Stack walks over to the sheriff who is present. The sheriff there and then announces a bounty on Johnny’s head of 1500 dollars alive or dead, “minus the usual 20 percent” he adds. Stack wastes no time going after Johnny who is getting ready to ride out of town.

The game is rigged all right. Garrone even goes to the trouble to show us how. After Mac goes all in, the dealer exchanges some glances with Stack, who gives him a nod back, as to say go ahead, then the hand is dealt. Two players fold. Johnny stays in and asks for two cards; Mac does the same. Now a strange thing. Before dealing the draw, the dealer produces some new cards from his vest pocket and places them on top of the deck. Garrone even shows us the bottom card of these, an ace. So here is where all the aces come into the game. Two of them are dealt to Johnny, the next two to Mac.

What is for now left in the unclear is rigged by whom, for what purpose and who are in on it. As for the first it is hinted strongly at Stack. As for the purpose, it is not about the pot on the table at any time. It is to provoke what ensues after the showdown, the showdown in the poker game that is, a draw, not of cards, but of guns. It is to provoke a situation between two players, Johnny being one of them.

Next morning Johnny is back in the saloon. Stack, who keeps an eye on him, follows suit. Another poker game is brewing. The same dealer as in the last game, Johnny and Stack, and a man named Alan Ross is joining in. Johnny produces a sack of gold as his stack. Johnny gets four aces and a ten. Ross has four aces with a knight. So, Ross has the strongest hand. But we have eight aces on the table. Johnny collects the pot; the other man draws on him and Johnny shoots him. Stack, as before, walks over to the ever-present sheriff, who upon Stacks inquiry raises the bounty on Johnny. - This time different he says. 1000 dead and 5 000 dollars alive. He got to tell us where he found that gold, he adds. Johnny leaves the saloon. Stack goes after him with some men. Outside there are other men trying to block Johnny off. Johnny shoots his way out and also injures Stack.

Then there is a brief meeting on the porch with Stack, the dealer and the sheriff. The following is exchanged. -You realise he has seen through it, the dealer asks. -He will cause trouble for all of us, the sheriff answers.

So now a hunt is on not only for the bounty, and for the origin of Johnny’s gold, but also to shut him up. The sheriff and the dealer are riding with Stack, but then walk out on him, the sheriff telling Stack “our little association has come to an end; the cowboy and the gold are all yours.”

We know by now that the poker games are rigged by Stack for the purpose of one of the players killing another so as to place a or increase the bounty on the formers head for the bounty hunters to collect. Bounties must have become scarce by then. This is pretty outrageous plotline, even for a 1968 spaghetti western. Stack, the dealer and the sheriff are in on it. But how about Johnny? Is he in on it, or is he set up? I think perhaps both. At least there are hints that Johnny knows enough to incriminate the others.

Unfortunately, this plot-line is underexposed in the rest of the film. Who is Johnny? Were there others before him? What is the relation between Johnny, Stack and Donavan? Instead of answering these questions, the film wanders off into a lengthy subplot.

See Mickey 13 s Film Review.

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As mentioned above the plot is pretty thin without any real depth to it, however I found it quite enjoyable much thanks to Ken Wood who always does a great villain role, and Rassimov who does a real good job as the anti-hero. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen him in, probably Cowards Don’t Pray the most.

It is far from Garrone’s best but however it is still very watchable, to me directors like Sergio Garrone, Giuseppe Vari, Ginafranco Baldanello and Mulargia always has some interesting stuff to offer even in their lesser efforts.

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Credits page has been created for Se vuoi vivere… spara (If You Want to Live… Shoot!)

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Cheated Card Player and Alvarez Henchman 1 are Renato Lupi and Giulio Mauroni.

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Thank you @JonathanCorbett