Today We Kill … Tomorrow We Die! / Oggi a me … domani a te! (Tonino Cervi, 1968)

Disappointing spaghetti if you ask me, a predictable story is certainly not a death sentence in this genre and it can be elevated if the film has a couple of unique elements or some bits of greatness, which I thought Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die! would have, but having now watched it I don’t think it has them. The atmosphere, which could have been the film’s strongest point, was sort of sabotaged by a soundtrack I wasn’t awfully fond of, to say the least (admittedly it has a moment or two). Then there’s the cast, all actors I like and all pretty much wasted. Aside from Bill Kiowa the main characters are a colorful batch, but…

For the kind of running time this film has, but even more importantly for its kind of structure, it’s simply too crowded. For the first 12 minutes we only got Bill and at one point in the film there’s a whopping 20 minutes that focus sorely on him and O’Bannion! Add to that all the other parts where only the villains are present and our heroes have precious little time to shine. Only Kiowa gets that chance and while Halsey does fine he’s not exactly great either (and the character certainly isn’t). More than that, when our characters get a little spotlight the scenes focus pretty much only on one of them at the time which leaves almost no time to let them bounce each other off, for some camaraderie or some tension to grow between them (or even to develop some kind or relation with just the leader). They never feel like a gang because the script barely let’s them acknowledge that the others exist.

It’s certainly not all bad, hell I can see why people like it, the acting is great, the locations are too, the final duel rocks (the fairly long wide shot helps build some unexpected tension), Nakadai makes for an unusual presence and maybe if you like the soundtrack the atmosphere works better for you, but ultimately despite the obvious effort that was put in I thought it was merely forgettable entertainment (and compared to some other forgettable entertainment it has several elements that let you think it could be more) - I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this one. And to get back on Preston’s case, I’m really disappointed that I haven’t really liked either of the two SWs I’ve seen of him, he’s really great in them and he has so few roles in his career that I’m afraid I won’t find any films of his that I’ll like.

Yeah I agree with you about Preston. I think he was the best part about the film and he stole the show.

I liked the movie but Brett Halsey’s character was actually the least interesting out of the 5, and Nakadai, I don’t quite know what to make of his performance. He was quite subtle and understated in the Kurosawa films I’ve seen him in, and he basically hams it up like crazy here.

I liked Nakadai’s hammy performance, for me it was a good kind of over-the-top performance (just wished his character had better lines).
The Preston spaghetti western I’m most looking forward to watch is Hey Amigo! A Toast to Your Death, the comments in its thread have caught my attention and Paolo Bianchini’s SWs all look interesting.

I rewatched this yesterday, it must be over 10 years when i saw it last time. It’s a good revenge film but not great, I think biggest problem is that there’s too many characters, first half of the film consist of Kiowa hiring his group but rest of the film is more about him and Spencer and some of the characters don’t have much to do. There’s some great actors and they do good job even if some of them have only minor roles. Halsey is good in the lead looking like Django, Berger has his usual charismatic presence and I love the way Bud Spencer always plays Bud Spencer :slight_smile:
And the film surely looks good, the snowy and autumnal landscapes are something different than we usually see in sw’s. Too bad my VCI dvd is rather crappy quality.

My rating: 7/10

Think their is a fandub on CG better than the VCI disc.

I have a VCI double feature along with Django the Bastard. On the boxcover it says “2 movies, 2 dozen german pistols”.

Weird advertising line. Were the prop guns really made in Germany?

[quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:86, topic:189”]I have a VCI double feature along with Django the Bastard. On the boxcover it says “2 movies, 2 dozen german pistols”.

Weird advertising line. Were the prop guns really made in Germany?[/quote]
Weird. Maybe the guy who made the cover design though these were german westerns?

Probably that is because the Italian firearms company - founded by Armando Piscetta in 1949 - was named JAGER.

Here is a picture of Gemma with dedication to Piscetta : [url]http://imageshack.us/a/img855/8139/giulianojager.jpg[/url]

Just watched this today, thought it was excellent! Felt quite traditionally American tbh, I think I get that feeling from Eurowesterns whenever they decide to be perfectly straightforward with nary a doublecross or backtrack to be found, and that was certainly the case here. Good revenge tale, told very simply. Brett Halsey does well in the lead as a man framed for robbery and murder, and he’s ably backed up by the little crew of badasses he recruits to his cause, most notably Bud Spencer and William Berger but also Wayde Preston and Franco Borelli. This is a great team! Every bit as intriguing was Tatsuya Nakadai as chief antagonist James El Fego. Was he playing the character as Japanese or other east Asian, or was he playing him as aristocratic Mexican or maybe South American? I’m not sure, and the dub wasn’t giving anything away. Not that it mattered, I quite liked interpreting him as being from everywhere and nowhere at once. Very interesting choice.

Really good film, anyway. Even a Bud Spencer fisticuffs barfight complete with boinging someone over the head with a bottle and bouncing someone else with his belly couldn’t take anything away from it. ;D

I love this film.

In my opinion the best Brett Halsey film.

A rather average Spaghetti Western and I’m rather afraid Alex Cox’s comments made me expect more than there is. The opening set-up of the film with Brett Halsey rounding up his posse, is banal and something of a waste, as most of the characters (despite the strong cast) are given very little to do. Even William Berger seems subdued here for the most part. It kicks into a higher gear with the introduction of Tatsuya Nakadai, who’s a classic villain. The b/w flashback works very well (and feels indebted to both Leone and Kurosawa) and Cervi seems to take more interest in the proceedings with a well-directed climax, utilising some nicely flashy cutting and good photography of the autumnal forest, providing much needed atmosphere. As Sherp has mentioned, the sustained medium shot as Halsey and Nakadai face each other off is superb and belongs to a better film than this frankly. And then we’re given an almost sentimental, distinctly Hollywood ending which undermines the characters, who were previously shown to be willing to do anything for $5000. The second half is much superior to the first but overall it can’t lift this out of the 3/5 range.

What is the best DVD release? I got the Scandinavian DVD very cheap. I won it on a bid for just over £2. Good deal! The quality of the disc looks good but the best-looking print I’ve seen was the one broadcast on movies4men.

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The best is the new German disc just coming out, but it’s not English friendly.

Ah well, the Scandinavian one is good enough for me.

Pretty much a straight forward revenger, well conceived and well executed with some little used locations (if there’s a sandpit in sight it is well disguised) make Today We Kill a winner. There seems to be a disagreement on the prison warden; our DB has Michele Borelli (is he kin to Franco?), the Spencer-Hill DB Franco Pechini and IMDB both :slight_smile: .

Some sources (and the DB) have Franco Pechini as sheriff. Umm… and there’s another one in the flashback

I did not spot Nazzareno Zamperla, who is credited as maestro d’armi, but Rinaldo’s here with the versatile Riccardo Petrazzi

We have Giancarlo Sisto as the poker player but he seems to me to be the credited Victoriano Gazzara, on the right in Django the Bastard

And then there’s Maria in the flashback; not Dana Ghia (DB)!

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I found them both in old TV Mini-Series: Franco Pechini is with certainty the prison warden, Michele Borelli… none of the above!

He is very likely the flashback sheriff, Bannister in the Italian dub.

Here is the third Borelli in episodes from Luisa Sanfelice (1966) and La donna di cuori (1969):

As for Victoriano Gazzara (also credited as Vic Gazzarra and Victoriano Gazzarra), I’ve been at this for some time a few months ago and all the signs seem to indicate an alias for Giancarlo Sisti.

It’s hard to get a good look at Sheriff Bannister but he looks right to be Borelli

As far as Sisti, yes they are very similar (like twins) but to me he looks slightly different, softer features and the eyes seem different.

Re-watched this one yesterday as part of this year’s Spagvemberfest and was interested to see how I felt about it this time around. The biggest thing that struck me was that the second half, essentially once Nakadai shows up, is so much stronger than the first half when the team is being assembled. This is also the point when they move to the atmospheric wintry/autumnal forest setting too and it is these things which stick in my memory so fondly about the film. So, still an enjoyable ride without a doubt but perhaps slipping a little as the years go by in my list of favourites due to its inconsistency.

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From Scherpschutter’s Review:
It was one of those spaghetti westerns that met with censorship; in most versions a couple of moments that were cut during the flashback sequence are still missing. You’ll notice the cut easily and will understand why it was made.


That part of the flashback and the scene in which Bunny Fox touches the prostitute’s ass are still cut when the movie is shown on television in Italy.

Been a while since I watched this, so I decided to give it another try. Still thought it was a very good film and I enjoyed much as I did the first time.

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