On paper, this spaghetti western must have looked like it would work magnificently. It had a budget, three big stars heading the cast (James Coburn, Telly Savalas, and Italian star Bud Spencer), music by the legendary Riz Ortolani, and the still fresh DIRTY DOZEN plot premise. However, the end results are somewhat lacking. I think the reason why the movie doesn't work is a combination of its script and the direction by Tonino Valerii. Despite its premise suggestion there will be a lot of action, there actually is almost no action until the movie's climax. And the action that does happen in the climax seems somewhat humdrum and routine. It doesn't help that the part of the movie leading up to the climax is more often than not very low key. I would only recommend this spaghetti western to die hard fans of the genre.

This film stood on my must-see list for one reason, namely the three major names in the cast and particularly because I'm an enormous fan of Telly Savalas' naturally malignant charisma. I should have guessed, however, that Savalas' part here is not much more than an small supportive role during the last half hour and that everything else isn't worth sitting through, neither. "A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die" is a poor, dull and forgettable hybrid between Spaghetti Western and (Civil) War movie that steals ideas and stylistic aspects from numerous classics but doesn't contribute the slightest thing itself. Director Tonino Valerii carefully watched all the blockbuster hits that got released during previous years (like "The Dirty Dozen", "The Wild Bunch", "The Great Escape", "The Magnificent Seven"…) and mishmashes a familiar story of a group convicted criminals that are offered the choice between the noose or fighting along in a battle to re-conquer a lost fortress. Colonel Pembroke gave up the fortress all too easily and, in order to avoid total loss of dignity, he embarks on a crazy mission to reclaim it with an 8-headed posse of outcasts that he promised a gold treasure that isn't there. James Coburn, who looks like he's been sleeping under a bridge for two years, depicts the anti- hero Colonel, Bud Spencer – in a largely non-comical role – is one of his henchmen and the great Telly Savalas is the evil Confederate Major they have to chase out of the fortress. "A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die" is incredibly long and tedious, especially because it's mainly derivative plodding during the first hour and a half. The trek towards the fortress is full of clichéd obstacles and macho arguments, while the final battle is dire and unspectacular. Being an Italian western from the early seventies, there's an unforgivable shortness of violent action, filthy bastard characters and general nastiness.

A group of conscripted convicts formed by seven condemned , already destined for death row, are drafted to go on a near-suicide mission and attempt to recapture a Missouri fort called Fort Holzman . They must carry out the objective and reconquest the keep with the understanding that if the Confederate don't murder them, the Union Army won't, either . A two-fisted U.S. ex-officer and the ambitious drifters , join forces to rob a lot of gold located into an impressive fortress where is supposedly hidden a treasure , 500.000 dollars in gold bars taken from a Confederate bank . In the hands of hardboiled director Tonino Valeri and a tough-as-leather cast headed by the commander James Coburn , as a troublesome U.S. Army official , that's all the plot that's needed to make one rip-roaring Spaghetti Western flick. Coburn's mission is two-fold and in ¨Dirty dozen ¨ style : first turn his prisoners into a fighting unit and then turn them loose on a Southern fortress occupied by Confederate soldiers commanded by cruel Major Telly Savallas . His crime-minded characters include Bud Spencer as a chronic malcontent, Benito Stefanelli as a ready-to-blow psycho, Hugo Fangareggi as a lame-brained convict , and Reinhard Kolldehoff as Union sergeant, among others . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky relationship with their leader. The final part is all action, as the culprit commandos wreck havoc and then run for their lives. Despite the fact that few of the "heroes" survive the bloodbath, the message here isn't that war is hell. Rather, it seems to be: war can be a hell of a good time... if you've got nothing to lose . Pretty good S.W. about a relentless and exciting dangerous mission set against spectacular scenery of Almeria. The relentless assignment is set against strong environment, risked mountains and hazardous trails . The dangerous pursuit includes a numerous group formed by a motley cast . It will be a long and dangerous pursuit with continuous risks . This Western is superior than subsequent entries because it displays stirring adventures, shootouts, riding pursuits and is pretty amusing. It's an exciting SW with breathtaking final showdown between the protagonists and their enemies full of explosions , machine gun and deaths . James Coburn is very fine, he ravages the screen, he steals the show as Union colonel seeking revenge . Telly Savallas as a cruelly baddie role as confederate officer is terrific , subsequently the would play similar roles in other Spaghettis . Furthermore, appears usual secondaries of Italian/Spanish Western as Benito Stefanelli , Francisco Sanz , Jose Suarez and of course special mention to Bud Spencer in a serious role . The film blends violence, blood, tension, high body-count and though the first part is slow moving , however is quite entertaining. There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing a shootout or stunt every few minutes. There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and excellent production design with a magnificent scenario plenty of barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and a fine set on the final scenes . The musician Riz Ortalani composes a nice Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score . The film is well shot in Texas Hollywood-Fort Bravo, Almeria, Spain with a breathtaking set design at the impressive fortress which was made by Julio Molina for ¨the Condor ¨ movie , one of the best ever created and where were posteriorly filmed several Spaghetti as ¨ Blind man ¨, ¨ A man called Noon¨ and ¨Conan the Barbarian¨. Nevertheless, today the fort has been partially crumbled and only remain some ruins .Tonino Valeri's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and too much action especially on its ending part . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa , reflecting marvelously the habitual Almeria outdoors . The picture is well directed by Tonio Valeri , an expert on Western as proved in ¨The hired gun ¨ , ¨My name is nobody ¨ with Fonda and Terence Hill , ¨The price of power ¨ with Giuliano Gemma and Van Heflin , ¨The day of anger ¨with Lee van Cleef and ¨ Taste of Killing¨ with Craig Hill and George Martin .

You know, I must have missed something here because this story just didn't make much sense. During the Civil War, Union Colonel Pembroke (James Coburn) surrenders his position at Fort Holman to Rebel forces, and once court martialed, makes an offer to Major Charles Ballard to take the fort back with a handful of men. When asked why he surrendered in the first place, he stated that it wasn't important, so we never do find out. Huh?With five outlaws saved from the gallows, and a soldier thrown in for good measure by the Major, Pembroke makes his way back to Fort Holman, dangling a five hundred thousand dollar promise of hidden gold to his rag tag band. Curiously, it seemed to me that once the bullets started to fly, Pembroke lost more men than he started out with, but then again, I wasn't counting. In what looked like the complete reverse of the situation at the end of "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid", it appeared that Pembroke's bunch had the entire Rebel garrison at Holman surrounded, managing to destroy everything in sight while picking off a swarm of soldiers who never seemed to be seeking cover from all the gunfire. Holman's commander, General Ward (Telly Savalas) must have figured that being this close to the end of the flick, he might as well take Pembroke's sword to end it all. The set up seemed to suggest that Ward and Pembroke were mortal enemies, but if they were, I'm not going back to find out why.The print of the film I viewed probably didn't help matters any, it was a cheap DVD I picked up for a buck, and was quite dark and muddy throughout. I will give credit though to Pembroke's military ally Eli Sampson (Bud Spencer), he got an awful lot of mileage out of the old, hey the War is over gimmick. As for the half million in hidden gold - nope, it never turned up.