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Kill, if you live shoot! (1967) is a crazy western. I've never seen such a weird film (besides El Topo). Tomas Milian plays a double crossed man who is saved by two indians. They make him gold bullets so he can avenge his dead friends and punish those that did him wrong. That's just the beginning! I heard stories about this film but I never believed them until after I saw the movie. I was surprised by the authenticity in some of the situations that the characters were put through, but others were so out of placed. This is a strange hybrid of action, horror, comedy and drama. I loved this movie, It'll grow on you after repeat viewings. I strongly recommend this film.

A+

P.S.

Unlike Django, the English and Italian soundtracks are nearly identical, no loss in the translation.

Bandit Tomas Milian survives an impromptu execution by double-crossing partners. Crawling out of a pit, he's nursed by two Indians who ascribe mystical reasons for his not dying. Soon he tracks the others to a strange town where inhabitants strung up the gang and took the gold, which another violent big shot is willing to kill to possess.

I don't quite get what others say about this being "surreal" or "hallucinatory", as the film appears to be pretty straight-forward to me. It's weird, but it's not Eraserhead or Alejandro Jodorowsky weird.

It's more along the lines of an artiste tying to make a political statement about capitalism, using shocking, violent imagery to attract the attention of the bourgeois and perhaps make the movie attractive to the art-house and grind-house crowds.

Although pretentious, this stays interesting throughout, with a good performance by Milian. However, teen-aged Ray Lovelock's implied gang-rape by Zorro's (Yeah, that's the villain's name!) horribly-dressed goons was a bit silly and gratuitous.

"If You Live, Shoot!" offers an intense diversion for fans of the Spaghetti Western. It goes on for quite a long time, and gets dull on occasion, but it's also noteworthy for its content. It's on record as one of the most utterly nasty of all SWs, with plenty of bright red movie blood and depictions of sadism.

It's actually not particularly surreal most of the time, telling a rather linear story of The Stranger (Tomas Milian), who was double crossed by his partners in a heist, and shot & left for dead. The opening credits see him emerge from his grave, and two Indians (Miguel Serrano and Angel Silva) witness this. They vow to stay at his side and assist him, under the condition that he tell them what it's like on the "other side".

However, this isn't really what you would call a revenge saga. Soon, The Stranger is getting caught up in greed and corruption in a small town known to Indians either as "The Field of Anguish" or "The Unhappy Place" (depending on which version you're watching). He gets involved as a few warring factions try desperately to lay their mitts on the gold snatched by The Stranger & gang.

Co-writer / director Giulio Questi ("Death Laid an Egg") takes his time telling the story, but does populate it with some enjoyably despicable villains, such as Oaks (Piero Lulli), Hagerman (Francisco Sanz), Sorrow (Roberto Camardiel), and Bill Templer (Milo Quesada). There's an especially fun comeuppance for one of them. Add to that an atmospheric score by Ivan Vandor, two beauties (Patrizia Valturri and Marilu Tolo), and a sense of mysticism, and the results are generally agreeable. The handsome young Milian has charisma sufficient enough for one to remain invested in his character. Ray Lovelock of "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" fame also appears.

Good entertainment overall, and worth a look for any SW completist.

Seven out of 10.

Spaghetti western with Tomas Milian as "The Stranger", who is left for dead and buried in the desert after being betrayed by his former compadres. He's "resurrected" by a pair of odd Native medicine men who agree to assist the Stranger as long he imparts the wisdom he's gained from being in the spirit world. They end up in a small town where various factions are fighting over bags of gold dust.

Also featuring Roberto Camardiel as "Sorrow". This is a bizarre western even by spaghetti standards. It's violent, bloody and outrageous. The "hero" uses bullets made of gold, so if someone survives a shooting, others try to tear them apart to get to the valuable nuggets inside their bodies. The oddest aspect to the film may be the "Sorrow" character, a portly bearded rancher with a small army of gay gunfighters in his employ, all wearing matching uniforms. The script is a mess, and the direction by Giulio Questi is uneven, but cult film fans may enjoy seeing this for the uniqueness of it. Oh, and it has no characters named "Django", or any connection to other films with Django in the title.

The Stranger (Tomas Milian) arrives in the town known by the local Indian tribes as "The Unhappy Place" to see the bodies of his recent partners in crime hanging in front of him. Flashbacks have already revealed that he had been betrayed and left for dead by the gang, led by Oats (Piero Lulli), following a theft of gold from the army.

The two most prominent townsfolk, Tembler (Quesada) and Hagerman (Sanz) have split the stolen gold between them, and are keeping it hidden from Sorrow (Camardiel), a larger than life bandit whose "muchachos" dress all in black and, lets say, presumably enjoy the pleasures of men. Throw into the pot the mysterious figure of Hagerman's imprisoned wife, who beckons the Stranger from her cell window, and you have a very strange, yet apt, setting for this highly entertaining and frankly bizarre movie.

In fact, this film is straight out of horror territory, from the Stranger's first screen appearance - clawing his way out of an open grave - until its bitter ending. The mood is ably assisted by Ivan Vandor's score, which adds suitable suspense and tension, particularly during the scenes portraying Hagerman, his wife and her relationship with the Stranger.

The cast is quite superb, particularly Sanz in the part of the treacherous Hagerman. Milian meanwhile plays the Stranger role competently but fairly static without the mysterious charisma of a Nero or Eastwood. I am a huge fan of Milian, but much prefer to see his characters portray a little more humour (as he does so brilliantly in Face to Face and the Big Gundown, to name just two performances).

At times graphic (like the notorious scalping scene, or the sight of Oaks' body being torn apart by the locals desperately clawing at the gold bullets within his barely alive body), at times obviously low budget (such as the scene in which the Stranger is tortured, by being subjected to blood sucking bats and other creatures), but captivating throughout. One of the "must view" euro-westerns, in my view.