I Died a Thousand Times (1955) User Reviews

Perfect Palance

[tomsview · 7/10 · 17 September 2016]

At the time it was made, this film was criticised as being an unnecessary remake of "High Sierra", which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. Maybe they had a point, but this version has such an interesting cast, I'm glad they did.

Jack Palance plays Roy Earle, a career criminal who is released from prison through the machinations of mob boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jnr.) to perform one last robbery at a resort hotel.

He teams up with two inexperienced and impulsive criminals, Babe and Red played by Lee Marvin and Earl Holliman. He also meets two women, one who loves him, Marie, (Shelley Winters) and one who doesn't, Velma (Lori Nelson). Eventually he ends up on that mountainside alone and pinned down by the police.

What an amazing actor Jack Palance was. A big guy, he exuded a sense of danger like few others - he had been a heavyweight boxer before the war and everything about him said he was not a man to mess with. Apart from his look, he was also as intense an actor as Marlon Brando. His Roy Earl is like a coiled spring except when in the company of Velma, the girl with the clubfoot who ultimately rejects him.

Shelley Winters as Marie gives a variation on her Alice from "A Place in the Sun", but she gains sympathy as a woman who is grasping for love and security in all the wrong places.

The other fascinating thing about the film is spotting stars in early roles. Lee Marvin, Earl Holliman and even Nick Adams, the future Johnny Yuma, in a tiny role as a frightened bellhop. Dennis Hopper is also there as an annoying teen.

WR Burnett wrote the story. However Roy Earle's interest in the very young Velma, encouraged by her father was an off touch that remained awkward in both movie versions.

"I Died a Thousand Times" is a good-looking production. In colour this time, with the widescreen process doing justice to the grandeur of the landscape.

Although the film was considered outdated in romanticising a violent criminal like Roy Earle, it's really more of a study of a man whose approach to life and personal code of honour is out of step with the world he lives in.

It's interesting to compare the two versions.

Go back to the same place and remake it..literally

[Panamint · 6/10 · 9 November 2013]

This is a literal remake of Bogart's High Sierra. The same roads, towns and even on the same rocks where High Sierra was made. It is scene-for-scene the same movie. It is almost uncanny in that respect. I felt deja vu all the way through.

On the plus side the wide screen production and beautiful color are worthwhile, as is the good acting here which I think is equal to the original but that is a matter of each viewer's taste.

Lon Chaney Jr. is terrific in his role and more than holds his own opposite the usually scene-stealing Palance. Also a plus is a classic brute thug Lee Marvin performance. You also get very young Nick Adams, Dennis Hopper and Perry Lopez doing good work.

Lone Pine, Whitney Portal Road and the Sierras never looked better and they are the main reason you might want to watch this if you are vulnerable to being put off by the striking literal remake nature of this film project.

Famed Bandit, Former No 1 On FBI List, Pardoned After Eight Years.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 15 July 2013]

I Died a Thousand Times is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by W.R. Burnett from his own novel High Sierrra. It stars Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Lon Chaney Junior and Earl Holliman. A CinemaScope/Warnercolor production, cinematography is by Ted McCord and music by David Buttolph.

It will always be debatable if remaking the excellent High Sierra (Raoul Walsh 1941) was needed or wanted by a 1950s audience? Especially since Walsh had himself already remade it as a great Western with 1949 film Colorado Territory, but taken on its own terms, with great production value and Burnett's personal adaptation taken into consideration, it's a very enjoyable film.

Set up is simple, it's one last heist for Roy "Mad Dog" Earle (Palance) before going straight, but as his attempts to break free from his emotional loner status fall apart, so does the heist and his future is written in blood right up there in the mountains. Heisler and Burnett put Earle up front for character inspection, easing in sympathetic tones whilst ensuring he remains a big physical threat. The air of fatalism is pungent enough and the finale is excitingly staged by Heisler. Cast performances are more than adequate if not comparing to the likes of Bogart and Lupino, while the Warnercolor is gorgeous and the photography around the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine is superb.

While not in the same league as High Sierra or Colorado Territory, that doesn't mean this is a wash out, more so if you haven't seen either of the Walsh movies. If you have, like me (High Sierra is one of my favourite Bogart performances), then comparisons and a feeling of deja vu will obviously infiltrate your viewing experience. That said, there is more than enough here to make it worth your time regardless of comparison and familiarities. 7/10

"I've Watched it a Thousand Times"

[gattonero975 · 5 August 2016]

I recently re-watched this classic on it's own. Because the 1st time I watched it was back-to-back with the original, "High Sierra". Big mistake. The original one with Bogart & Lupino is one of my all-time favorites and watching this remake right afterwards did not help me appreciate it the way it deserves to be.

This remake actually is good on it's own merit. The original will always be the "better" version for me but this remake is not bad at all. Let me break it down...

Palance's take on 'Mad' Dog Earle was very good. Palance is no Bogie, but he gave the role his own unique touch. And besides, who better than Palance, at the time, to take the role that Bogart made his own. With his sinister visage, Palance brought a different take on Mad Dog than Bogart's. I really got to see this second time around as I revisited this film.

Winters take on 'Marie' was not bad either. Lupino I believe did it better but Winters held her own. I especially liked her Samba dance moves. And her 'I wanna die' scene. She had okay chemistry with Palance. But I feel Bogart & Lupino had more.

Lori Nelson's take on 'Velma' was right on par with Joan Leslie's. And you can actually believe Palance falling for her rather than Winters 'Marie'

Lee Marvin's take on 'Babe' was not bad but Alan Curtis was better. Curtis had the handsome bad boy look and Marvin just looks bad and mean. Curtis you could believe got Lupino out of a club but Marvin taking Winters, nah.

Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez plays 'Chico'. A very Mexican stereotype role. In the original, his was named 'Algernon' and it was played by Willie Best in a very black stereotypical role. I really dislike the scene where Lee Marvin's 'Babe' kicks 'Chico' and makes him fall and thinks it's funny. Gonzalez really has nothing to do but be a servant to Palance and his gang and not much else.

Lon Chaney Jr. as 'Big Mac'. Great casting. He did a great take on the role made famous by Donald McBride. It was so great to see Chaney and Palance together.

Earl Holliman as 'Red'. Not bad but Arthur Kennedy's was way better. Holliman played 'Red' like a good ole dumb country boy while Kennedy's was like a grown-up Dead End Kid, like a Billy Halop. But still it was nice to see Holliman and Marvin want-to-be gangsters.

Perry Lopez as 'Mendoza'. It was okay but Cornel Wilde's was way much better. The scene where Palance tells a "bedtime story" of what happens to guys who talk to much was handle way much better with Bogart and Wilde.

Howard St. John as 'Doc Banton' was very good. Actually just as good as Henry Hull's take on it. I especially like the way Howard looks at Palance when he talks about 'Velma'. Howard's look is priceless.

Ralph Moody as 'Pa'was really good also. Almost just as good as Henry Traver's take. I really liked his scenes with Palance talking about 'Velma'

James Millican as 'Jack Kranmer'. It was really good. Almost as slimy as Barton MacLane's 'Jake Kranmer'. But I prefer MacLane's.

Richard Davalos as 'Lon Preisser' was not that bad. You can see Nelson's 'Velma' falling for Davalos pretty boy. In the original, played by John Eldredge, the spelling was 'Lon Preiser'

In the part of 'Pard', the dog in this one was cute but Zero in the original was way, way much better.

Now as for the unbilled bit parts, these are the ones that stood out for me: Nick Adams as the 'Bellboy' who is so nervous he can't stop shaking the tray with cups on it was memorable. Paul Brinegar as the bus driver who says the funny line "Just like a woman, doesn't know whether she's coming or going." Mae Clarke as Mabel Baughman, really concerned about her daughter and who and what is Palance is all about. Hugh Sanders as her husband was somewhat wasted in a very small bit role. A very young Dennis Hopper has a funny scene as Winter's dance partner. Hopper is drunk and horny and is pushed down by an angry Palance as he gets to frisky and comfortable with Winters. Hopper would have a better and bigger role that same year along with Nick Adams , in the now famous cult film, "Rebel Without a Cause." Dub Taylor as 'ED' the gas station attendant talking briefly with Palance was a nice one. and a couple of Three Stooges foils were also on board. Big Mickey Simpson and Robert Williams. Williams had a more showy and longer role than Simpson's. All in all, a great film just for the cast alone. Don't miss it. Just don't see it back-to-back with the original.

An unnecessary and lesser remake of High Sierra with color as its bait

[bmacv · 7/10 · 28 June 2003]

`Mad Dog' Earle is back, along with his sad-sack moll Marie, and that fickle clubfoot Velma. So are Babe and Red, Doc and Big Mac, and even the scenery-chewing mutt Pard. The only thing missing is a good reason for remaking Raoul Walsh's High Sierra 14 years later without rethinking a line or a frame, and doing so with talent noticeably a rung or two down the ladder from that in the original. (Instead of Walsh we get Stuart Heisler, for Humphrey Bogart we get Jack Palance, for Ida Lupino Shelley Winters, and so on down through the credits.) The only change is that, this time, instead of black-and-white, it's in Warnercolor; sadly, there are those who would count this an improvement.

I Died A Thousand Times may be unnecessary – and inferior – but at least it's not a travesty; the story still works on its own stagy terms. Earle (Palance), fresh out of the pen near Chicago, drives west to spearhead a big job masterminded by ailing kingpin Lon Chaney, Jr. – knocking over a post mountain resort. En route, he almost collides with a family of Oakies, when he's smitten with their granddaughter; the smiting holds even when he discovers she's lame. Arriving at the cabins where the rest of gang holes up, he finds amateurish hotheads at one another's throats as well as Winters, who throws herself at him (as does the pooch). Biding time until they get a call from their inside man at the hotel, Palance (to Winter's chagrin) offers to pay for an operation to cure the girl's deformity, a gesture that backfires. Then, the surgical strike against the resort turns into a bloodbath. On the lam, Palance moves higher into the cold Sierras....

It's an absorbing enough story, competently executed, that lacks the distinctiveness Walsh and his cast brought to it in 1941, the year Bogie, with this role and that of Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon, became a star. And one last, heretical note: Those mountains do look gorgeous in color.

Freedom 's just another word for nothing left to lose.

[dbdumonteil · 6/10 · 15 November 2010]

The problem with this movie with such a beautiful title is that it is a remake ,nay a re-remake, if we remember that Raoul Walsh remade his "High Sierra " as a western ," Colorado Territory", which almost surpassed the original Film Noir.

The most interesting side of the screenplay (in the three versions)is the Roy/Vilma relationship ,which reminds you of one of king Lear's daughter.Vilma is one of those rare characters whose behavior is thoroughly unpredictable :who could believe that the sweet tender romantic girl watching the stars in the sky at night would turn into the vulgar gal dancing the night away with her snob new pals?In "Colorado territory" ,Vilma (Julie Ann)even tries to give her benefactor away to the marshal to get the reward !Vilma ,as far the hero is concerned,means a conventional life ,with a housewife ,all that Mary (Shelley Winters) can't give to him;the actress is as good as usual but Ida Lupino was more moving in "High Sierra".Jack Palance,cast against type ,does a good job too,but it is not easy to take on

a Humphrey Bogart's part.

Destined To Fail

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 1 March 2014]

"I Died A Thousand Times" is a very faithful remake of Raoul Walsh's "High Sierra" (1941) which famously starred Humphrey Bogart as the professional bank robber Roy Earle. This time around, Jack Palance plays the role in a style that's far more menacing than Bogart's portrayal and the most striking differences between this film and its predecessor is that it contains less sentimentality and is presented in colour and CinemaScope. The presence of bright colours and numerous open spaces is interesting because they give the movie a visual style that's radically different to most 1950s film noirs and pre-empt some of the characteristics which would later become prevalent in neo-noirs.

After crime boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jr.) pulls a few strings to secure the release of Roy Earle from prison, the experienced bank robber travels across country to take charge of planning and carrying out the robbery of some jewellery from a Californian resort hotel. On his way, he meets the Goodhue family who are travelling to L.A. and the attractive 19-year-old Velma (Lori Nelson) catches his eye.

When he arrives at the group of cabins where he's supposed to stay until the hotel heist is carried out, he meets Babe (Lee Marvin) and Red (Earl Holliman) who have been hired as his accomplices and Marie Garson (Shelley Winters), an ex-dance-hall girl who Babe had recently brought to the camp. Earle is unimpressed with his accomplices who he immediately recognises as being inexperienced and unreliable and also disapproves of Marie staying with the group. He is pleased, however, by the presence of a mongrel dog called Pard despite being warned that the dog had brought bad luck to his three previous owners.

Earle meets the Goodhue family again by chance when he's in the process of preparing for the heist and on discovering that Velma has a deformed foot arranges for her to have an expensive operation to enable her to walk normally again. Despite being warned that she already has a wealthy young boyfriend, Earle hopes that his kindness will make her fall in love with him. Her operation is a great success but Earle's plan fails as Velma firmly rejects his proposal of marriage. The gang go ahead with the hotel robbery which goes disastrously wrong and things don't improve later as Earle gets shot and double-crossed before the story eventually reaches its spectacular conclusion.

A combination of factors contribute to the sense that Roy Earle's endeavours after he left prison were always destined to fail. The misjudgements he made relating to Velma and Pard were down to his own poor judgement but the selection of his accomplices and the circumstances that led to him being double-crossed were clearly outside of his control. Jack Palance is impressive as the tough criminal and the supporting cast is also consistently good.

"I Died A Thousand Times" won't eclipse "High Sierra" in the minds of anyone who's seen the original movie but it's still an interesting remake and judged purely on its own merits, worthy of positive recognition.

Asphalt Jungle meets Lassie

[trimmerb1234 · 6/10 · 21 July 2009]

Nobody could match Jack Palance as a fearsome heavy and here, playing a freshly sprung ex-con lead bank robber, his authority over a couple of "punks" - junior gang members - including later-to-be star heavy in his own right, Lee Marvin, is powerful and utterly convincing. Nice details early on such as when presumptuous Marvin attempts to grab at the plan for the caper and 6'4" Palance without a word or look just brushes him aside with a sweep of the arm promises much - but little ultimately is delivered. Enter "Pard" the mongrel mutt to the accompaniment then and later of cutesy music. The furry friendly creature, loyal to the last, refuses to budge from the screen to the very end - unfortunately.

This seemed symptomatic of the movie's uncertain tone - veering from tough as nails crime caper to family fare. Who was to blame? Was it Palance who possessed a face and physique that uniquely qualified him to be the ultimate brute always wanting to demonstrate a reassuring sensitive thoughtful side?

Aww, come on. It's better than that.

[kalismandaniel · 8/10 · 15 December 2010]

People love to trash movies that are re-makes of classics. They seem to think that there is some disrespect intended if the remake is anything less than a masterpiece. I'm sure that the makers of this film only intended to revive an excellent story, and had no idea that a lot of armchair cinephiles, 50 years later, would consider them audacious for doing so. After watching I Died A Thousand Times, I read all the negative reviews and decided to watch High Sierra again so I could compare them. I decided that each film has it's strengths.

B&W vs Color: I love black and white. 8 out of 10 films I watch are in B&W. So, if I have a prejudice, it is against color. But when a color film is beautiful, it's very beautiful. This film definitely has its moments. Its palette ranges from subtle, (lighting in a hotel hallway) to glaring, (pumps at a gas station). All gorgeous. The shots of mountains are stunning.

One thing about color film which applies to this comparison, is that it is harder to make a good drama in color than in black and white. There is less in B&W to detract from the actors' performances. Orson Welles said that there were no truly great performances in color, and that's why he shot in black and white well into the 1960's. Comparing a B&W drama to a color is a little like apples and oranges. Color films just have a lot more to deal with, and this film does a good job of it.

Performances: In the 14 years that separate these films, there was a shift in popular acting styles. In crime dramas of the 30's and 40's characters were drawn in broader strokes. The characters were almost more "types" than individuals. When Bogie played Philip Marlowe he was playing an archetype of the hard boiled detective, and personality took a back seat. The fact that characters tended to be more 2 dimensional, made any glimpse into their personalities more effective when it came. It also gave the films an almost mythic or operatic feel. But color films of the 50's and 60's had to have more depth to the characters. Winters and Palance succeed in this. A good example is the scene in the car when Roy Earle is telling Marie about Velma. When Palance tells Winters that Velma is a pretty girl and that she is "decent", you plainly see the underlying shame and heartbreak in Winter's face. The same statement seems to just roll off of Lupino. I'm not trashing Ida Lupino, or Bogart. I love them both, and Lupino does a great job and looks fantastic, in that screen goddess way. But I was more engrossed by the performances of both Palance and Winters than by their earlier counterparts. Where Bogie was aloof and cool, Palance was a snarling madman with a tender underside.

I think that goes to the core of why I liked the later version. It just had more impact for me. I was pulled in from the first scene by the beautiful photography, and was more engrossed throughout than I was with High Sierra. That's not to say I preferred it to High Sierra. I feel that, even though they were exactly the same story, they were very different kinds of films and each had their differing strong points.

For Jack Palance Fans

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 18 May 2011]

This is a movie you will enjoy very much if your a fan of Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Shelly Winters or the cast. Turner Classic movies ran this movie immediately after Humphrey Bogarts classic High Sierra recently. When you watch this one after the classic 1941 Raoul Walsh production, you immediately realize they are the same film.

While it is nice to have color, in reality Walsh in many instances uses better camera angles. As far as comparing the casts, comparing Bogart in one of his best roles to Palance is a win-win as they both are great performances.

I think one of the reasons Walsh is better is that Walsh had already directed a movie where the hero's were not exactly heroes before High Sierra. I highly recommend checking out Walsh's Dark Command which broke the mold for western movies much the way High Sierra & this remake break the mold for gangster movies.

Mad Dog gets a parole from jail so that Big Mac can use him to pull of one last big heist. The characters are revealed to the viewer much like peeling skins from from an Onion. When you reach the core of each character, your really glad you stuck around for the story.

Jack Hates Shelley.

[charlesw-1 · 5/10 · 25 October 2021]

I love Shelley Winters in almost everything she does.

However she is miscast.

So miscast, in fact, it throws off Jack Palance's performance.

Jack is a master at snarling and showing contempt.

It is what we like about him as a King-Heavy.

Here though, in every scene he wants to punch her in the face.

He knows that we know he can do better than Shelley Winters.

We want him to.

Their lack of chemistry is a pall over the whole story.

Like I said: Love them both, just not together.

"He's Going to Die Anyway--He'd Rather Have It Like This!"

[davidcarniglia · 8/10 · 21 September 2018]

Pretty good 'scenic resort' noir. The color is used to great effect for the vistas, as well the swanky mid-century interiors. As much as I liked Bogart the High Sierra original, Palance gives a commanding performance as Earle.

Lee Marvin character stands out as a disgruntled underling to Palance. Chaney plays a convincing real-life monster as the crime boss; Winters does an authentically loyal 'dame'. Perry Lopez's Mendoza is a major player as well. Unfortunately, the other Hispanic character is a stereotypical happy-go-lucky servant kid.

A bigger deal was the Velma subplot. Does she have to be handicapped for Palance to fall in love with her? It's already established that his character sympathizes with the vulnerable (the little dog, the Mexican boy). It's good that she doesn't want to marry him; he rescues her, in a sense, by paying for her operation, but he doesn't own her. She's still "grandpa's little girl." Still he tries to control Velma as well as Marie (Winters).

Chaney's unexpected death creates a complication. The pace picks up from that point; suddenly, it's survival that's at stake, not the money. The chase scene really pays off. The action winds to its climax on tbe slick, snowy mountain road, Palance's car barely making the curves. There's no stunts here, the two motorcycle cops are highly-skilled riders getting the most out of their bikes in unsafe conditions.

Palance's last stand works as well as Bogart's in the '41 version. One thing the majestic landscape can do is show the literal isolation that the wanted man faces. Very enjoyable later noir. This could've been a bit better with more Lee Marvin and Lon Chaney, and a little less of the homespun subplots.

See the original....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 23 January 2013]

Roy Earle is a professional criminal--one of the toughest and best at his job. When he is unexpectedly released from prison, it is because someone big wanted a big heist and they pulled strings to get him. On his way to the location of his new partners up in the Sierras, he meets a very poor family and befriends them. He also later befriends a cute little dog. Both these acts of kindness are very atypical for such a hardened man and, sadly, BOTH end up causing him nothing but grief in the end.

I am a film purist when it comes to remakes. My opinion has always been that if the original film is great, it shouldn't be remade--remakes are only for films with SERIOUS flaws that can corrected in the remake. So, I am a VERY difficult sell for a film like "I Died a Thousand Times", as it's a remake both of the classic Bogart picture "High Sierra" as well as Joel McCrea's "Colorado Territory"==and both films have a higher IMDb rating as well.

"I Died a Thousand Times" turns out to be an extremely well made film--mostly because it is practically an exact copy of "High Sierra" and because Jack Palance was quite nice in the lead. The only major differences is the wonderful color film stock--it looks great because of the wonderful mountain locations. As for the acting, it's about on par with the original. So, if it offers no real major advantage, why not just see the original--especially since it stars Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino and is a classic. This 1955 version could have become a classic--if the story had been original. Good but see the original!

See Colorado Territory for a remake

[camille-05424 · 4/10 · 2 January 2020]

Joel McCrea in Colorado Territory is a remake of High Sierra with a western story line. It is much better than this particular remake. Check it out and compare.

Stands on it's own to a degree

[Dfree52 · 21 May 2011]

To begin with, I haven't seen HIGH SIERRA in years, though I do remember most of it. Therefore, I was able to watch it with an objective eye, not constantly comparing the two films.

It does offer panoramic vistas of the mountains and the desolate surroundings. I think the leads, particularly the love triangle of sorts (Marie is involved in two) are to me what sets it's apart from HIGH SIERRA.

SPOILER AlERT We know that Marie (a very good Shelley Winters) is a fallen angel. She's a dance hall girl who's run off to the mountain cabin resort with Babe (Lee Marvin) as the gang Red (Earl Holliman) awaits the right time to pull off it's caper once Roy (Jack Palance) arrives and assumes leadership. But Marie isn't going to be anybodies girl, she's the prize of the Alpha Male of the bunch. Even though he repeatedly tells her he doesn't want her around, lust finally wins out.

In the second triangle, Marie finally meets her rival, the presumed virginal Velma, a young woman whom Roy's opened up a new life for but springing for surgery to correct a club foot. Though Velma's previously rejected him and he's on the lam, he drops in one more time. Interesting that Velma is dancing up a storm with her young friends and Marie begins to wiggle around suggesting this is the proper way to dance (and maybe do other things)? Velma is Roy's embodied fantasy, a life he's longed for while languishing for years in prison. Though, her second rejection is callous, the second time a woman tells you to get lost usually is. He fools himself into believing he can have her and provide that kind of life. He rejects, then warms to Marie because she's a reflection of him...cheap, unrefined, desperate and living for the moment.

Palance reveals both Roy's foolish sentimentality and his vicious streak. When he confronts Babe for slapping Marie, he takes great pleasure in beating the daylights out of him. This act, just like in the animal world, where the strongest males will fight over who gets the female(s) confirms not only Roy's place, but Marie's too. Palance is more brutal than Bogie (who's Roy was only violent when necessary). Palance will back hand a man, rather than speak to him.

These factors I feel were better expressed here.

I Died a Thousand Times (1955)

[MartinTeller · 6/10 · 3 January 2012]

Going into this, I didn't know it was a remake, but within 10 minutes it was clear. Almost exactly a beat-for-beat remake of HIGH SIERRA. It's in color and widescreen, not that that adds much... the original film didn't have great cinematography, but the more claustrophobic frame gave it a little extra tension. Also, they swapped out a black stereotype for a Mexican stereotype. I guess that's supposed to be progress. Other than that, it really is practically identical to the original. The major difference, of course, is casting. I like Jack Palance, but he doesn't have the world-weariness or charm of Bogart. Likewise, I'm very fond of Shelley Winters, but what she does best is playing pathetic, and this character can't be pathetic. You just end up wanting Palance to ditch her. I don't want to be too harsh on this film, though. It's just that I felt like I'd already seen it (twice, even) and the update doesn't do any real updating. A competent but pointless endeavor, stick with Bogart and Lupino.

Why remake?

[CTfans · 6/10 · 19 May 2011]

This is a remake of High Sierra with Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lapino. Not quite as good as the original, although it has obviously talented, and great actors. It makes you wonder why they would remake a classic like High Sierra with minimal changes just 14 years later. One interesting difference between the original and this movie... In High Sierra Willie Best plays a stereotypical comical black man (Algernon) in a servile role at the camp. The remake had a comical Hispanic (Chico) played by Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez. Both are incredibly insulting by current standards. It makes you wonder about the changes in the culture from 1941 to 1955.

Color! Widescreen! Remake? Yeah, but why care?

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 10 December 2019]

Hollywood studios have been remaking their classic films since the silent era, and for Warner Brothers to remake the 1941 crime noir "High Sierra" by adding Technicolor and widescreen was a wise move. Stars Jack Palance and Shelley Winters were Academy Award nominees when they appeared together in this above-average remake. The color photography and super wide screen which really allows you to get into the action is absolutely gorgeous. The film even has a slight 3-D effect to it, making it all the more gripping. That doesn't mean that it's better than the original black and white version of the W.R. Burnett story, but the technical aspects add a different dimension to the film that makes it one of those seat handw cleansers that will keep you glued to the screen from start to finish.

The details are basically the same as far as the story is concerned. Roy Earle is a convict freed due to the influence of local crime boss Lon Chaney Jr., Determined to utilize him to rob a fashionable mountain resort. He befriends the troubled Shelley Winters, a bar girl from L.A. desperate to escape her past, falling in love too easy in a way that will obviously destroy her life even further. There's also Lori Nelson, a transplant from Ohio driving with her farming family for a new life, needing an operation for a leg injury, and briefly distracting him from his mission.

Another future Oscar winner, Lee Marvin, has a supporting role as a vicious member of the gang, brutal to Winters and maliciously tripping Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez for absolutely no other reason than the fact that he's a nasty bully. Of course he gets his comeuppance, and I found myself applauding that scene after what he does to the innocent Pedro.

Some might call Gonzales Gonzales's character a bad example of how Hispanics were stereotyped, but you can't help but be entranced by his charm and easy-going attitude and humor, and especially his affection for the little Benji type dog that ends up becoming Roy's best friend. He certainly has more spirit and heart than most of the white characters in the film, and he steals every scene that he is in. Real life grandson, actor Clifton Collins Jr., has kept his legacy alive, and once you see him, you certainly can't forget him.

The pairing of Winters and Palance is as memorable as the original pairing of Lupino and Bogart. Winters may be playing a variation of the characters that she had started playing in "A Double Life" a decade before (and continued with "A Place in the Sun"), but she is truly heartbreaking to watch as she realizes what fate lies in store for both her and Palance. He shows every aspect of Roy's character, and even though it is obvious what will happen, there is definite sympathy for him in spite of the bad things he does. Sometimes it is necessary to remake the classics with advanced technology so audiences can later appreciate the films they were based on, and Warner Brothers did a good job with this one.

They're All Wasted

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 18 September 2013]

Beginning in the Early Fifties Movie Studios discovered that they needed something, anything to pry Audiences from their Living Rooms and that Hypnotic Box called Television. It was not going to be an easy task. Well, they decided, we at least can give them Color and widen the Screen to seemingly endless Vistas.

So they thought adding WarnerColor and Cinemascope was enough to cheat a little and remake a virtual Scene by Scene, Line by Line Movie called High Sierra (1941), a famously popular Bogart Movie Directed by Raoul Walsh.

Despite a strong Cast it was not to be. Most of the Players are unremarkable and some like Lee Marvin are totally wasted barely registering. The whole thing seems uninspired and has very little Life and if you have seen the original this one will make you feel a little cheated. Its not Bad it just has no reason to exist.

Palance climbs the High Sierra

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 31 August 2015]

Unless you count the western version of this story that Warner Brothers did with Joel McCrea in 1948 entitled Colorado Territory, I Died A Thousand Times is the second version and updated remake of Humphrey Bogart's classic High Sierra. Whole scenes are lifted word for word and other than a bow to the updated technology of the Fifties, like the use of helicopter by law enforcement in the final shootout.

If you are a fan of Bogey than you know exactly how this is all going to end. Jack Palance is a stellar substitute for Bogart and in the Ida Lupino part steps Shelley Winters as the hard luck girl brought along by Palance's two confederates Lee Marvin and Earl Holliman who attachs herself to Palance. Unfortunately Palance realizes too late that Winters is who he is meant for.

Ironically Palance as the star here would in 16 years in Monte Walsh wind up in support of Lee Marvin as their box office positions had changed considerably.

Warner Brothers didn't water down this remake an iota right down to the casting of bit players. And a good bonus is the color cinematography. Fans of the original will not be disappointed.

You won't Die

[Richie-67-485852 · 7/10 · 1 August 2015]

This is entertainment and it holds well. A decent story line and insight into the weak criminal mind of yesteryear. Stealing, lying and cheating anyone can do but becoming a criminal that is good at it is not found here. Still, as you watch, the movie makes you wonder what you would have done as it presents a series of choices that can give different endings. The one presented here brought closure to the movie but back then, it could turn out any which way. He could have gotten the loot, the girl and lived happily ever after and then some. Perhaps he did? Hollywood had the final say. Bogart did this flick too and he is a joy to behold in the part. Recommend a snack of your choosing, a tasty drink and enjoy the scenery where this was filmed and the time-out from your own little world and get into this one

Dames and dogs don't mix

[kevinolzak · 4/10 · 12 November 2023]

1955's "I Died a Thousand Times" was a rather lukewarm second remake of the 1941 "High Sierra" (preceded by Raoul Walsh's 1949 "Colorado Territory"), from the same author, W. R. Burnett, best remembered for an early credit on Howard Hawks' 1932 "Scarface." Casting Jack Palance in Humphrey Bogart's role of paroled convict Roy Earle was a good choice, as well as the color scenery on location in Lone Pine as well as Mt. Whitney (shooting titles were "Jagged Edge" and "A Handful of Clouds"), but the production sinks like a stone with the insufferable Shelley Winters as a more whiny moll than the lovely Ida Lupino. The plot is virtually identical, Earle sprung from the slammer by dying gangster Big Mac (Lon Chaney) to headline a Tropico hotel jewel heist, going up against greenhorn henchmen, a dame, and a bad luck pooch named Pard, while alternately taking a shine to a pretty young girl with a club foot (Lori Nelson). An undeniable asset for the viewer is spotting the huge number of up and coming stars in the making, from veterans Dub Taylor and Lee Marvin, to newcomers Earl Holliman, Nick Adams (as a nervous bellhop), and Dennis Hopper (in his screen debut). In for only one scene as the doomed Big Mac, with a bad heart and shot kidneys, Lon Chaney is clearly typecast in drunk mode, just as he was playing Robert Mitchum's father in Stanley Kramer's still unreleased "Not As a Stranger," garnering sympathy as only he can as a man facing death with a defiant shrug and another slug.

Wrong Title for A Great Film ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 24 May 2011]

This film, a remake of the Bogie classic "High Sierra" was excellent because it deals with a deep character study.

As usual, Shelley Winters was wonderful. She is especially at the top of her game when she plays nervous, frustrated individuals calling out for attention while totally lost in her environment.

Winters was equally matched by a tremendous Jack Palance performance. As vicious as he is depicting, the man shows some heart by taking an interest in a crippled girl only to be spurned for his efforts. Seething after this, he has no regrets whatsoever about the life of crime he has chosen.

It is interesting how Palance describes the up and coming criminal as not having what it takes. He comes from the old school. Ironically, Roy Earl (Palance) knew what it would take to make a successful heist; but at the same time he knew what pitfalls would ultimately lead to disaster. He is himself a victim when his robbery attempt goes awry through no fault of his own.

THIRD TIME'S A CHARM...IN COLOR...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 1 July 2021]

This is the third remake of High Sierra (directed by Raoul Walsh & then directed again by him as a Western named Colorado Territory) from 1955. This time Jack Palance is Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle, a recently paroled inmate asked by an old boss, played by the original wolfman Lon Chaney, to do a big job at a hotel. His crew consists of Earl Holliman (from Police Woman), Lee Marvin & their girl played Shelly Winters. On the road to his destination, Palance nearly gets into a car accident w/some old timers (& their lame granddaughter who has a bum foot) who he befriends & visits throughout the course of the story. Palance tries to keep his rowdy crew in line, soon joined by an inside man, a front desk man played by Perry Lopez (Chinatown), & as the heist comes closer, all the disparate elements of the yarn come together as the robbery is successfully pulled off (but in this type of story there are curves & twists to it), the lame girl gets an operation & Palance has to get away w/the goods or will he? If you know the previous treatments, you know where the story is going but seeing this tale told in widescreen Technicolor w/familiar actors playing the characters from W. R. Burnett's tale is a lot of fun. Co-starring Dennis Hopper in a small role as a partygoer & genre vet (& former Bubbleyum bubblegum spokesperson) Dub Taylor as a gas station attendant.

I Died a Thousand Times watching it...

[Levacher · 4/10 · 20 July 2003]

I wanted to see it because of two reasons. One, it was the remake of High Sierra with Bogart, two, the Bogart part was played by Jack Palance, whom can play dramatic roles with some subtility, as in The Big Knife.

But now I wonder why they decided to shoot this remake. The film follows the same plot as Hig Sierra; only here, the actors don't care, the director is lost in his thoughts, and who knows what the producer was thinking. Jack Palance is getting bored looking at Shelley Winters and Shelley Winters is asking herself what she's doing in this film. I don't even want to compare her to Ida Lupino in the same role. And of course, they had to use the dog story again! They surely could have come up with some different ideas. Perhaps the color makes it nice to see the same location where they shot High Sierra, but that definitely doesn't add any quality to the film.

It's a waste of time if you've seen High Sierra before. Otherwise, why not see a pseudo-film noir. As for me, I'd rather die than see it one more time...