In this above-average but gritty western, a reformed gunslinger 'Killer' Cain (Clint Walker of "Cheyenne") emerges from prison after serving an 18-year stretch for murder and struggles to earn an honest living. Veteran television director Robert Sparr's turn-of-the-century oater "More Dead Than Alive" functions as a morality play about redemption and poetic justice marred by a downbeat Old Testament ending. Essentially, the theme of this low-budget, but polished horse opera is you reap what you sew. In other words, what goes around comes around. Sparr is sparing with his use of slow-motion violence, but the death scenes are rather gritty. Nevertheless, watching Vincent Price die from multiple gunshots to the chest is something that you don't always see. "More Dead Than Alive" is one of those late 1960s' westerns made when slow-motion violence in movies was in vogue. Certainly, Sparr pulls no punches in this unrelenting western. Unfortunately, he doesn't conjure up the level of suspense required to generate a foreboding atmosphere, especially in the first gun battle.
Walker is thoroughly sympathetic as the ex-convict who wants to do nothing more than settle down with the lovely Anne Francis rather than ride the owl hoot trail. Life is particularly cruel to Cain, who grew up on an army post and rarely saw much of his father, and he finds it even more difficult to follow the straight and narrow. Initially, when he left prison, he vowed to never touch a gun again. Of course, our protagonist isn't fortunate enough for this to happen. He lands a job as a bouncer at a saloon, but he is fired when the owner discovers Cain lied about his identity. Cain is basically a transient who cannot hold onto a job for any length of time because of his past. Things change when he meets the savvy and sagacious Dan Ruffalo (Vincent Price of "The Last Man on Earth") who puts him to work in his 'Wild West' traveling, 'shoot'em up' sideshow. Mind you, Ruffalo's current attraction, a swift-drawing, sharp-shooting teen named Billy Valence (Paul Hampton of "Women of the Prehistoric Planet"), isn't pleased when Ruffalo replaces him with Cain. Ironically, Valence can shoot the wings off a gnat at thirty paces, but he doesn't have the savvy to survive as a gunslinger. Primarily, he is a hot-tempered youth who understands nothing about being a gunslinger. In a sense, the relationship between Valence and Cain is the stereotypical relationship between an older man, a mentor, and a younger man. Meantime, Cain meets a beautiful young lady, Monica Alton (Anne Francis of "Bad Day at Black Rock") when she is painting a ghost town. Eventually, they become a couple, but justice never lets up pursuing Cain, and none of his redemptive acts saves his life. Sparr keeps things moving along at a brisk pace until the discouraging finale.
"More Dead Than Alive" opens in 1891 with a botched prison break. Villainous Luke Santee (Mike Henry of "Rio Lobo") sneaks into the prison, along with three other gunmen, all concealed in pine boxes stacked atop another, destined for the four corpses of the inmates awaiting hanging. The prisoners struggle to escape, but the sentries wield their Gatling guns with terrifying accuracy. Ultimately, abandoning all efforts to rescue his younger brother, Santee scrambles over the wall with bullets nipping at his heels. Throughout the violent pyrotechnics with guys armed with guns swapping lead, blood is held to a minimum. Nothing after this elaborately orchestrated battle between prison guards and inmates with its double-digit body count tops it. Cain sits out the prison break and emerges from prison not long afterward. Eventually, the only job that he can hang onto is working for Ruffalo. Between stints in the sideshow, Cain and Monica Alton (Anne Francis of "Bad Day at Black Rock") have an on-again and off-again romance. Meantime, Cain makes a mortal enemy of Ruffalo's hired shoot'em up star Billy Valence. Ironically, Billy is a better shot than Cain, but he makes the serious mistake of forgetting to reload his gun after he has fired it. When Santee challenges him to a gunfight, Billy whips out his six-gun, but the hammer repeatedly clicks on spent cartridges. Santee blasts away at him. Indeed, the rivalry between Billy and Cain is egged on by greedy Ruffalo. The sideshow owner warns Valence that he lacks the nerve to kill. Frustrated with Ruffalo's preferential treatment of Cain, Billy fills Ruffalo with half-a-dozen slugs, and Sparr films Vincent Price's death scene in slow-motion for maximum impact. Throughout this 106-minute sagebrusher, we see a well-dressed, Eastern-looking dude Karma (Craig Littler of "Barquero") riding into virtually every frontier town that Cain has left. As always, the gent questions everybody about Cain's whereabouts.
"More Dead Than Alive" looks like a television western. Everything looks like it was lensed around Vasquez Rocks, a distinctive chain of mountains that appear lope-sided the way they slant up out of the desert. Hundreds of television shows and made-for-television movies were filmed on or near this location. Clint Walker made this movie between "The Dirty Dozen" and "Sam Whiskey." Some of the dialogue in George Schenck's screenplay stands out, especially an exchange between Billy and Cain about getting shot in the back. Billy asks, "How come nobody went for your back. You're a big enough target?" Replies Cain, "Well, a fella did once, but his aim was low. I've got a scar on my ass to prove it." The first line that stands out is uttered by a man about to be hanged. "Hurry up, fat boy," the convict grouses, "I've got a date in Hell for dinner." Philip Springer's mournful orchestral soundtrack is a liability, particularly Irwin Levine's lyrics for a maudlin song "The Messenger." It is bad enough that this song is warbled over a hanging sequence, but it is even worse that Sparr repeats it at the end. The worst thing about "More Dead Than Alive" is its heavy-handed message. Again, the ending is depressing.
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