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A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die
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A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: August 18th, 2015.
Director: Tonino Valerii
Cast: James Coburn, Telly Savalas, Bud Spencer
Year: 1972
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The Movie:
Directed by Tonino Valerii, the same man who gave us Day Of Anger, A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die teams him with James Coburn, Telly Savalas and Bud Spencer for a film that borrows more than a little bit from The Dirty Dozen.
The film follows Colonel Pembroke (James Coburn), a Union soldier who feels completely and rightly responsible for the takeover of Fort Holman. He failed in his duties and he's looking at a court martial because of it. In order to fix what he's broken, he comes up with a simple but plausible plan to take Fort Holman back using the skills of only a few men - not by choice, no, out of necessity. There are only a few people available and/or willing to help him and he has only Eli Sampson (Bud Spencer) and a half dozen criminals on his side to make this work.
Given the location of Holman, it would definitely be a boon to the war effort to get it back into Union hands but it won't be easy. However, given that it's under the control of Confederate Major Frank Ward (Telly Savalas), the same man who killed Pembroke's son, he's bound and determined to make it happen no matter the cost…
This one benefits from a great premise and a few remarkable action set pieces but gets bogged down with some pacing problems, the obvious one being the long stretch of the movie's running time taken up by the journey to the fort for the finale to take place in. There isn't a whole lot that happens here. It's nicely shot and pretty to look at and it has some nice music. The characters look cool and Coburn doing what Coburn does so well carries this chunk of the movie but it's a little dull and it is, quite frankly, too long. When we get to the fort and start building towards the big finish, the movie definitely lights up and takes off and the final fight that we all know is coming definitely does pay off. It's just a shame that there wasn't less emphasis on unnecessary exposition and more emphasis put on action to help create more tension where the movie needs it most. We know early on that most of these guys are cannon fodder and so while it's all well and good to see them bond on the journey, once we're at the destination it almost doesn't matter.
As to the acting, it's good enough to compensate for the pacing flaws. Savalas gets to chew some scenery here and the movie is definitely fun whenever he's on screen. He's in fine form here and the movie really wouldn't be the same without him. Bud Spencer is a bit goofy but it's hard not to like the guy but the real reason most will be drawn to the film is for Coburn. Fresh off of his stint working with Leone on A Fistful Of Dynamite, he's great as the lead. When so much of the movie basically revolves around his one man quest for redemption, it's interesting to see how his character evolves over the course of the events in the film and Coburn does a great job bringing his all of this to his performance. The movie also benefits from a good, if never great, Riz Ortolani score and some genuinely impressive camera work.
Note: the version of the movie contained on this disc runs exactly ninety minutes in length. A few years back in 2006 Wild East released a DVD (now long out of print) containing the longest possible version of the movie clocking in at one hundred and fourteen minutes. That version of the movie also featured someone who wasn't James Coburn dubbing James Coburn's character. The version represented on this disc, while noticeably shorter, does feature Coburn's actual voice.
Video/Audio/Extras:
A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 2.35.1 widescreen. The first few minutes of the transfer and the end credits are taken from an analogue source and they don't look good at all. Thankfully the rest of the transfer is much nicer, though still never perfect. Detail is better than DVD but never amazing, color reproduction can vary pretty drastically from one scene to the next and grain looks unusually thick in spots, pointing towards the use of an older master. There's also minor print damage evident throughout as well as some obvious dirt and debris. However, it's watchable and it's better than what we've had before, while still leaving plenty of room for improvement.
Audio is handled by an English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track. There are no alternate language options or subtitles. The audio quality is decent enough. Things are fairly well balanced, dialogue stays clean and clear and there are no problems here.
Aside from static menus and chapter selection we a trailer for the feature and a trailer for Navajo Joe.
The Final Word:
A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die is a reasonably entertaining knock off of The Dirty Dozen set in the old west. It never quite lives up to its potential but Coburn is a lot of fun in the least and Spencer and Savalas are able to hold their own as well. Kino's Blu-ray does not include the longer cut of the film, unfortunately, and the transfer leaves some room for improvement even if it is noticeably better than what we've had on home video before.
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