“More Dead Than Alive” (1969) – Worthy Thoughtful Western
I started watching this western and began thinking that it was playing out as another dated take on The Old West that we have seen in countless TV shows and repetitive movies. There was a soundtrack featuring a harmonica, a jailbreak out of a Federal prison, gunplay galore and even some Gatling Gun action. It struck me as being old fashioned in an age where the Western had been electrified and shaken up by a work like Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch". How could filmmakers fall back on all the old, reliable cliches of The Western genre and expect the audience to even care?
As it turns out, "Alive" and "Bunch" were released in the same year. I don't know which, in essence, was seen first by the public but "More Dead Than Alive" impressed me as its story unfolded. Clint Walker plays a recently released convict known as Killer Kane who has spent 18 years in prison. As he sheds his shackles, he is left with an even more daunting sentence: What can a man convicted of multiple murders and who has only known life as an outlaw get by in this new world? What job will he be able to find, how will he live, how is it possible to shed the image the public has of him as being a person who has snuffed out others' lives?
It proves to be a very hard ride for Walker who can't keep even the most menial of jobs for long and is shunned by society in general as being a dangerous man.
Vincent Price has a nice appearance as a travelling sideshow operator who gladly invites Killer Kane to be his featured performer in Price's Shooting exhibition. Even in this element of handling guns, Walker is met with strong opposition by the child like psychotic teenager Price was previously using as his featured shooting star.
Another similarity to "Bunch" is the observance of newly emerging technology such as a phone and bicycles. The times have certainly changed since Kane went to jail and the remaining movie chronicles his struggles to survive in his new environment and live down his bad name.
Definitely worth a viewing!
I started watching this western and began thinking that it was playing out as another dated take on The Old West that we have seen in countless TV shows and repetitive movies. There was a soundtrack featuring a harmonica, a jailbreak out of a Federal prison, gunplay galore and even some Gatling Gun action. It struck me as being old fashioned in an age where the Western had been electrified and shaken up by a work like Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch”. How could filmmakers fall back on all the old, reliable cliches of The Western genre and expect the audience to even care?
As it turns out, “Alive” and “Bunch” were released in the same year. I don’t know which, in essence, was seen first by the public but “More Dead Than Alive” impressed me as its story unfolded. Clint Walker plays a recently released convict known as Killer Kane who has spent 18 years in prison. As he sheds his shackles, he is left with an even more daunting sentence: What can a man convicted of multiple murders and who has only known life as an outlaw get by in this new world? What job will he be able to find, how will he live, how is it possible to shed the image the public has of him as being a person who has snuffed out others’ lives?
It proves to be a very hard ride for Walker who can’t keep even the most menial of jobs for long and is shunned by society in general as being a dangerous man.
Vincent Price has a nice appearance as a travelling sideshow operator who gladly invites Killer Kane to be his featured performer in Price’s Shooting exhibition. Even in this element of handling guns, Walker is met with strong opposition by the child like psychotic teenager Price was previously using as his featured shooting star.
Another similarity to “Bunch” is the observance of newly emerging technology such as a phone and bicycles. The times have certainly changed since Kane went to jail and the remaining movie chronicles his struggles to survive in his new environment and live down his bad name.
Definitely worth a viewing!
 – Worthy Thoughtful Western')){kind=link}
Comments