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This one certainly lives up to its reputation as the most peculiar Spaghetti Western there is, a quality which makes it unique but not exactly entertaining (the pace is slow and the film somewhat protracted, if never less than fascinating)!

It features an atypical performance from lead Tomas Milian: usually the brash man of action with a humorous streak, here he's the cynical and mostly passive observer who even arrives late for the climax! Apart from the star, Marilu' Tolo and Ray Lovelock, the international cast - including several non-professionals - is unfamiliar but, as director Questi said in the exclusive Audio Commentary, their indelible faces were just what he needed for the film! By the way, in spite of the film's English title, it's not related to the 1966 DJANGO - and, in fact, Milian's character remains unnamed throughout - that spawned innumerable variations but only one direct sequel (made more than 20 years after the original)!

Here, we also find several elements of Gothic horror (Milian 'rising' from the dead, the 'mad woman' character borrowed from "Jane Eyre", the weird prison torture scene involving vampire bats and iguanas, the fiery climax in which the villain's face is covered with melted gold, etc.); besides, Tolo is made-up to look like Barbara Steele and the greedy townsfolk's gory groping into the body of a dying bandit riddled with golden bullets curiously anticipates the zombie films of George Romero! Actually, the film's graphic depiction of violence gave it a certain notoriety which further fueled its cult status; in fact, the bullet sequence and the scalping of an Indian were censored at the time but, curiously, got reinstated for the shortened 1975 re-issue under the name of ORO HONDO (which had been the film's working title)! There's even a scene in which a horse is saddled with a charge of dynamite and let loose among the villains (whereupon we see shots of its intestines and the body parts of the various victims strewn about!) - though, in all fairness, in A PROFESSIONAL GUN (1968) a man was also nonchalantly killed by a grenade in the mouth!!

Other unexpected elements in the film are its religious overtones (apart from Milian's crucifixion, the Indians who help him are mystics while the villainous Hagerman also serves pretty much as a bible-thumping preacher to the community) and the presence of black-clad gay cowboys as prototype Fascists (thankfully, we're spared their gang-rape of Lovelock - here in his film debut! - whose immediate reaction, naturally, is to shoot himself) led by a Spaniard (all dressed in white!) that goes by the name of Mr. Zorro(?!), and who shares a love-hate relationship throughout with a spirited parrot!!

The film also features a good score by Ivan Vandor and Techniscope photography by Franco Delli Colli (though the outdoor night scenes are way too dark!), and the locations - Questi was especially proud of his uncharacteristic white desert - are notable too. Franco Arcalli, an unusual combination of screenwriter and film editor, devises some 'trippy' montages throughout - which, therefore, adds psychedelia to an already eclectic mix of cinematic styles that distinguish this Spaghetti Western!

I opted to purchase the Italian DVD over Blue Underground's R1 edition due to the inclusion here of the afore-mentioned highly informative, full-length Audio Commentary featuring director Questi (who is very modest and actually attributes many of the film's bizarre touches to logical progressions of the narrative - which, needless to say, doesn't entirely convince the trio of moderators who accompany him throughout this engaging discussion!). However, with respect to the otherwise commendable Alan Young Pictures disc, one has to contend with a distracting layer change (in mid-sentence!), at least one other instance of audio drop-out and a baffling reversal, for one line of dialogue, to the English soundtrack (for the record, I watched the Italian-language version with the audio set in its original mono rendition; I tend to scoff at re-mixes of classic films)!!

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 first time I watched this spirited spaghetti western, I was somewhat disappointed after a promising opening thirty minutes of a certain eerie quality. Watching it again the story soaked in a bit more, but I didn't find it all that captivating even with its oddly sprawling and grim nature that ends with poetic justice. It's rather an unconventional effort into Gothic territory, but I found it to go on for too long and completely drag and flounder about after the half-way mark. I was really into it until Tomas Milan's character 'the stranger' made himself at home with the town's occupants. There it seemed to stall, not knowing which way to go and being disorienting. Nothing against Milan's turn, as he was astounding (even if most of the time he feels like nothing more than a passenger), but I guess I expected way too much from this highly regarded genre film. It's weird and unbalanced, as the atmosphere is quite tripped out (wait for the hallucinatory torture scene involving bats) and the maniac violence is sadistically graphic (the restored scalping scene comes to mind) and underneath the surface is a homoerotic edge. It's a boundless and at times wicked mixture. The structure of the psychedelic story is solid (a melodrama leaning on greed, corruption, religion and retribution) and the script squeezes out a morbid sense of humour, while director Guilio Questi infuses some striking images (hanging corpses) and modestly staged shoot-outs. What it seemed to lack though, was a real kinetic edge to its violence. Ivan Vandor's saucy score and Franco Delli Colli's elastic photography shape up well.

"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.

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.