More Dead than Alive (1969)

After serving 18 years in an Arizona prison, "Cain" (Clint Walker) is finally released and wants to start a brand new life. Prior to his imprisonment he was a gunfighter named "Killer Cain" who had gunned down 12 men in his younger days. Unfortunately, things aren't easy for an ex-convict and he has great difficulty finding employment. However, one day he comes across a traveling show headed by a man named "Dan Ruffalo" (Vincent Price) and reluctantly agrees to hire on as a marksmen. This draws the attention of quite a few people, some of whom are not happy that he's making a living off of his former fame. Anyway, Clint Walker puts on his usual solid performance as the strong and silent type who never complains regardless of how unfairly he is treated. The rest of the cast--to include Anne Francis (as "Monica Alton") and Paul Hampton (as "Billy Valance")--play their parts in a satisfactory manner, but it is Clint Walker who carries this film. Even so, this film should have been written to allow both Vincent Price and Anne Francis to display their talents a bit more. Along with that a better ending would have helped as well. As it is this is basically an average western movie. Nothing more and nothing less.

See it – "Even the fastest gun can be beaten. Things are different when the target can shoot back." In this largely unknown western, Clint Walker plays a reformed convict who vows never to use a gun again. Things change when he has trouble finding a job and agrees to become the main attraction of a traveling wild west show. But when the star trick-shooter gets jealous, there could be trouble. This is one of the most unique westerns ever made. It has a great story, a smart script, and a shocking ending. The only problem is that there is a gunfight at the beginning and at the end and nothing in between. If you get bored easily, stay away from this one. Otherwise, enjoy a one-of-a kind western.

In this above-average but gritty western, a reformed gunman named 'Killer' Cain (Clint Walker of "Cheyenne") emerges from prison after serving an 18-year sentence for murder and struggles to earn himself 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 well-made horse opera is that 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, and "More Dead Than Alive" is one of those westerns made when slow-motion violence in movies was in vogue. Certainly, Sparr pulls no punches in this western and 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 told himself never to touch a gun again. Of course, our protagonist isn't fortunate enough for this to happen. He gets a job as a bouncer at a saloon, but he is fired when the owner learns that Cain gave him a false name. Cain is basically a transient who cannot hold onto a job for any length of time, until 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 kid 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 intelligence to survive as a gunslinger. Primarily, he is a hot-headed youngster 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, b up justice never lets up pursuing Cain and nothing of his redemptive acts saves his life. Sparr keeps things moving along at a normal pace until the surprise ending.

Despite its eccentric cast, MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE seems to be forgotten - for one thing, it's not even listed in the Leonard Maltin movie guide, and has never been released on video or DVD. Forgotten or not, it's one strange western! It starts off with a grisly (and lengthy) action sequence where the blood flies, then becomes sedate until near the end, where it suddenly turns grisly and bloody again! Inbetween it's a somewhat meandering but occasionally interesting western, with some bizarre directorial touches (like how many times a cut to another scene is done by someone or something walking straight up to the camera), but all the same has you wondering how this sympathetic ex-gunfighter will end up. You probably won't guess it, considering how the final scene had my jaw slack right open! Probably still worth seeing just for the chance of viewing Vincent Price in a western.