"If You Want to Live... Shoot!" is a low-budgeted movie middlingly made by Sergio Garrone . A young cowboy , Johnny , is playing in a rigged poker game and when he is accused as trickster he is forced to shoot one of the other deceitful players . The cowboy takes quick leave , as he is framed of murder and subsequently killed by the two-fisted Stark (Giovanni Cianfriglia or Ken Wood) . A bit later on , there shows up Django (Ivan Rassimov) who is also accused as tricky cardsharp , and he kills contenders and a reward for his capture is posted . Django is pursued , chased and wounded , being healed by the McGowan family , and especially by the young daughter Sally (Isabella Savona) who falls for him . But the powerful baron land Marlowe (Tom Felleghy) wants to take the McGowan's farm to build the railway and orders to General Alvarez (Peter White) to carry out a punishment against them . Django , then , seeks revenge , at the same time being relentlessly pursued by Stark . Django is helped by the shrewd as well as mysterious bounty hunter Donovan (as Rick Garret : Riccardo Garrone) . Valiant Django and earnest , experienced gunslinger Donovan join forces to rescue the poor family from the group's vile clutches . Both of whom arrive to establish law and order against the ruthless Marlowe . As astute Django and Donovan unite to terminate a reign of terror carried out by a brutal band of criminals .This below-average Ravioli Western packs thrills , go riding , action , brawls , crossfire and drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . The plot summary is plain and simple : a small town is besieged by a brutal band of bandits led by a villain as well as ruthless owner called Marlowe/Tom Felleghy who takes on the famous Pistolero named Django/Ivan Rassimov helped by an elegant bounty hunter , Donovan/Riccardo Garrone , and along the way they free an abducted beautiful girl . As stubborn and cunning Django along with saintly roving gunslinger Donovan take on Marlowe . The movie has the customary Spaghetti characters , as the violent facing , greedy antiheroes , bloody and spectacular showdowns , quick zooms , extreme baddies but being wretchedly directed in some scenes . It packs an enjoyable and attractive musical score by Mancuso and Vasco directed by L. Gori in Morricone/spaghetti style . And an atmospheric cinematography in Eastmancolor by Sergio Mancori , though a perfect remastering is necessary , being shot in Elios studios and El Lazio Rome . This lowbrow motion picture "If You Want to Live... Shoot!" was regularly filmed by Sergio Garrone and with lots of zooms . Sergio's direction is badly crafted , here he is more inclined toward violence and packs some thrills and action , but especially this exciting Western contains moving shoot'em ups and some gloomy scenes when a family is massacred . Sergio serves as a classic example of a journeyman Italian exploitation filmmaker and freelance screenwriter . As Garrone penned a great number of screenplays and lack-luster films , working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies . He directed this embarrassing western , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career . Sergio went on to helm several other spaghetti Westerns , many of them Spanish co-productions, that include Tre Croci Per Non Morire (1968) , Quel Maledetto Giorno Della Resa Dei Conti (1971) , Deguello (1966) also starred by Jack Stuart , Huracan Sobre Mexico (1967) and his greatest notoriety was the peculiar outing : Django il Bastardo (1969) . In 1974 Garrone directed the horror features as Le Amanti del Mostro (1974) and La mano Che Nutre la Morte (1974) , both of which performed Klaus Kinski . He made and wrote for everything from inferior sex comedies as La Clinica Dell'Amore (1976) , El Periscopio (1979) by José Ramón Larraz , to even Giallo , mystery thrillers such as : L'ultimo harem , La Pagella , Blonde Köder Kür den Mörder (1969) or Killer's Gold . Later on , Sergio Garrone directed nasty Naziexploitation or Porno-Nazis as Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur (1976) and SS Lager 5: L'inferno Delle Donne (1977). And after writing the violent/erotic WIPs (women-in-prison) : Hell Behind the Bars (1984) and Detenute Violente (1984)After successful original ¨Django¨ by Sergio Corbucci with Franco Nero , it was followed by several imitations , rip offs and cheesy copies , such as : ¨Pochi dollar per Django¨ or ¨Alambradas De Violencia¨ (1966) by Leon Klimowsky starred by Anthony Steffen , Gloria Osuna , Frank Wolff ; ¨El Mio Nome e Django¨ (1969) by Ferdinando Baldi with Terence Hill , Horst Frank , George Eastman ; ¨Django Le Bastard¨(1969) by Sergio Garrone with Anthony Steffen , Paolo Gozlino ; ¨¨Django defies Sartana¨(1969) by Pasquale Squitieri with George Ardisson and Tony Kendall ; ¨Ein Pressen Fur Django¨ or ¨Barro en Ojos¨(1971) by Edoardo Mulargia with Anthony Steffen ; and the official sequel titled ¨Il Grande Ritorno¨(1987) by Nello Rossati with Franco Nero , Christopher Connolly and Donald Pleasence .

IF YOU WANT TO LIVE...SHOOT! is a low budget spaghetti western that shouldn't be confused with DJANGO KILL, IF YOU LIVE SHOOT!. This one was put out by Sergio Garrone, who seemed to pump out western after western in the late '60s with barely time to draw breathe. The story is about a cowboy who finds himself on the run after a poker game goes wrong, and his efforts to protect a group of farmers from the usual sinister bad guys. The cowboy is played by Ivan Rassimov, one of my favourite Italian performers, and is named Django in some versions of the movie. Supporting him is Giovanni Cianfriglia, who was fresh off playing a superhero in the SUPERARGO films. The action is pretty decent, but the plot is a little long-winded and bogged down in sentiment, which lowers the enjoyability somewhat.

As an enthusiastic fan of Italian Westerns I must say that I was quite bored with Sergio Garrone's "Se Vuoi Vivere... Spara" aka. "If You Want To Live... Shoot" of 1968 (which is, by the way, not to be confused with Giulio Questi's brilliant and surreal "Se Sei Vivo Spara" aka. "Django Kill, If You Live Shoot!" of 1967 with the great Tomas Milian in the lead). I'm generally not the biggest fan of Sergio Garrone's Westerns, but I admit that films like "Django The Bastard" certainly have their qualities. Furthermore, I haven't seen Garrone's "No Room To Die" yet, which is supposed to be great. In "If You Want To Live... Shoot", however, the boredom unfortunately outweighs the qualities. As many other low-budget Spaghetti Westerns this was absolutely inappropriately given a 'Django' title in German speaking countries. Unlike most of the other unofficial 'sequels' to Sergio Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece "Django", however, "If You Want To Live... Shoot" doesn't even have a real antihero. This Django, who is played by Ivan Rassimov, is more of a typical good guy. An absolutely cheesy love story and Django's relationship to a family of farmers even take this film further away from the typical Spaghetti Western feeling.Nevertheless, "Se Vuoi Vivere... Spara" is not a complete failure. The score is pretty good (but far from great). The film also has some cool, brutal moments. But then again, the film's boring and cheesy parts outweigh the good ones, and the film's 97 minutes seem very long. The movie is at least 20 minutes too long, they just should have left out all the sentimental family stuff, which seems horribly out of place in a Spaghetti Western.All things considered "If You Want To Live... Shoot" is not completely awful, but it's definitely quite boring and a disappointment for a fan of Italian Westerns.