Uccidi o muori

A mysterious wandering fiddler with a past (!) ends up killing a man in self defense, running afoul of a dangerous town big-shot, his sadistic son, and a slew of hired guns, including special guest killer Gordon Mitchell.

Not a bad little spaghetti western, Kill Or Be Killed has nothing new to offer the genre, but is solid enough and has an interesting storyline with plenty of action, nasty villains, and plot-twists to keep things entertaining.

Fans of Italian westerns will probably like this a little more than the average viewer though.

This film begins in Utah with a funeral procession making its way to a cemetery on the outskirts of a small town when suddenly several cowboys appear on a ridge nearby and begin shooting at the coffin. Naturally, all of those in the funeral procession immediately take cover, with one exception-an attractive woman named "Lisa Drummond" (Elina De Witt) who defiantly stands there alone while bullets rip the ground all around her. It is then revealed that she is one of the last survivors of a family which has been decimated by a rival clan headed by Jonathan Griffith (Furio Meniconi) who hates the Drummonds with every fiber in his being. That being said, after shooting up the coffin of Lisa's father, the Griffiths then noisily ride off. The scene then shifts to a stranger by the name of "Jerry" (Rodd Dana) riding into town and, upon going inside the local saloon, produces a fiddle and begins to play. Angry that he doesn't continue playing after a couple of tunes, a drunken young man named "Spot Griffith" (Fabrizio Moroni) becomes violent and begins an altercation which leaves one man dead and the young man and several of his companions lying unconscious on the floor while the fiddle player calmly collects his violin and walks out. Not long afterward, he rides his horse to a nearby ranch and its there that he sees Lisa and her younger cousin "Steve Drummond" (Tony Rogers) working hard on their small ranch. Needing a place to stay for a while, he then offers to help out and she gladly accepts. Meanwhile, having been humiliated in the brawl at the saloon, the Griffiths have begun to scour the area in search of him. But, in spite of their viciousness, Jerry is not who he seems and is much more deadly than any of them could ever imagine. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay Spaghetti Western which bore a certain resemblance to the Clint Eastwood picture "A Fistful of Dollars" released a couple of years earlier. It is not, however, nearly as dark and doesn't quite capture the same level of intensity as the 1964 classic. Be that as it may, while it may not be on the same level, I still found it to be worth the time spent to watch it and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

This spaghetti western tries to cash in on the popularity of A Fistful of Dollars, which it vainly tries to copy from everything from the Eastwood look to the offbeat, but talented music of Morricone. The film fails miserably in both counts. The acting is equally as bad as the original Eastwood film, but the music sounded like it was written in five minutes during a coffee break. Only worth watching as a tongue in cheek parody of the Eastwood films. The unintentional comedy is definitely enough for you to create quite a few laughs.

A stranger enters the saloon. He wears a poncho and reminds me, presumably not accidentally, of Clint Eastwood in "Fistful of Dollars". He goes past several dangerous gunmen, looks the barkeeper in the eye and then - asks if he's allowed to play a little tune on his violin, please? You're right, this isn't exactly repeating what you've seen in a hundred other westerns before. "Kill Or Die" is a well scripted, intelligent, but little known Italian western. The director handles matters a bit conservative, probably preferring American westerns of the 1950s to the Corbuccian close-up ugliness that was en vogue in 1967. Robert Mark plays the hero, Slovenian actor Andrea Bosic plays a very professional sheriff who is cautiously keeping an eye on all suspects, and Gordon Mitchell has a typical guest appearance as a killer in black, devoted to his job ("Where would you like to be buried?") and using the trusted maniacal grin. Thumbs up!