At the time it was made, this film was criticised as being an unnecessary remake of "High Sierra", which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. Maybe they had a point, but this version has such an interesting cast, I'm glad they did.Jack Palance plays Roy Earle, a career criminal who is released from prison through the machinations of mob boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jnr.) to perform one last robbery at a resort hotel.He teams up with two inexperienced and impulsive criminals, Babe and Red played by Lee Marvin and Earl Holliman. He also meets two women, one who loves him, Marie, (Shelley Winters) and one who doesn't, Velma (Lori Nelson). Eventually he ends up on that mountainside alone and pinned down by the police. What an amazing actor Jack Palance was. A big guy, he exuded a sense of danger like few others – he had been a heavyweight boxer before the war and everything about him said he was not a man to mess with. Apart from his look, he was also as intense an actor as Marlon Brando. His Roy Earl is like a coiled spring except when in the company of Velma, the girl with the clubfoot who ultimately rejects him. Shelley Winters' as Marie gives a variation on her Alice from "A Place in the Sun", but she gains sympathy as a woman who is grasping for love and security in all the wrong places.The other fascinating thing about the film is spotting stars in early roles. Lee Marvin, Earl Holliman and even Nick Adams, the future Johnny Yuma, in a tiny role as a frightened bellhop. Dennis Hopper is also there as an annoying teen. WR Burnett wrote the story. However Roy Earle's interest in the very young Velma, encouraged by her father was an off touch that remained awkward in both movie versions. "I Died a Thousand Times" is a good-looking production. In colour this time, with the widescreen process doing justice to the grandeur of the landscape. Although the film was considered outdated in romanticising a violent criminal like Roy Earle, it's really more of a study of a man whose approach to life and personal code of honour is out of step with the world he lives in.It's interesting to compare the two versions.

Okay, so Roy (Jack Palance) gets out of prison (pardoned), heads right back into a life of crime and plans a heist with two dumb bunny hoods along with a moll (Shelley Winters) who he really doesn't want around. There's so many reasons NOT to pull the heist, it's ludicrous to believe they would. In the middle of the heist planning, Roy falls for a "good girl", a cripple who does not return his affections. Then Roy, a well-known, recently freed criminal pulls a heist in full daylight without any disguise or efforts to conceal his identity. Then everyone runs off and Roy runs around in full daylight most of the time planning his escape. Remember, he didn't disguise himself at the robbery! Let's not forget the pooch that is inevitably going to interfere with the plans for either a successful heist or escape? Seriously?

Okay: So it wasn't as good as High Sierra and Palance and Winters are not Bogart and Lupino. But the idiot henchmen in this remake were Earl Holliman and Lee Marvin. Big Mac was played by Lon Chaney Jr. and Palance did a great job and was scarier than Bogie was. I grew up with Holliman and Marvin and the movie was also in color. I guess the best way to put it is this. If you demand the greatest actors and a different script for a remake this is not a movie for you. I (a huge Bogart fan) thought Palance played this role better than Bogie. Better because he was made for it.Put it like this. Who would you rather run into in a dark allay? Palance or Bogie? And since when is Shelly Winters a slouch? I really enjoyed this movie even though it didn't have a great director. I recommend it for Jack Palance fans and hope you enjoy it. Remember. Holliman and Marvin were extremely unintentionally funny in this movie. Gibbs

A real classic, ten out of ten! Every actor is perfect, the screenplay is a haunting succession of suspenseful scenes. Scenes in car and scenes in the mountains are breathtaking. Wonder if this film is already out in DVD, because it must be seen in Widescreen version. Saw this film in the late fifties, maybe three or four times, and never since then forgot it.I remember it was one of the first Warner like cinemas cope features, process called Warnerscope which gave a very neat cinematography. Shelley Winters and Jack Palance deserved an Oscar for their performances.The only thing I could criticize is not having been directed by someone like, say Nicholas Ray, to increase its rhythm and tension.