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tinybrokenman
Reviews
Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire (1967)
Excellent example of a Spaghetti Western that suffered at the hands of the U.S. censors
There are a number of reviews that comment on the cast of this film. Suffice it to say that Alex Cord plays a strong lead opposite Robert Ryan and Arthur Kennedy. What concerns me is that many of you may not be aware of the (at least) two existing versions of this film. In the U.S. version Clay McCord gains amnesty from Governor Lem Carter and then rides out of town redeemed. I agree that ending is less than satisfying. However, in the original Italian cut Clay McCord rides out of town (weaponless as he has turned in his pistols to the Governor) and is bushwhacked by the bounty hunters that have been slowly depopulating the bandit town of Escondido. The Bounty Killers are excited at the prospect of splitting the $10,000 reward but are disappointed to find McCord's amnesty agreement in the corpses pocket. As they ride away one is heard to comment,"If this amnesty keeps up I'm gonna start hunting buffalo !" . This alone takes A Minute To Pray...A Second To Die and places it on an even playing field with movies like Keoma and The Big Gundown. As the end credits say in the Italian cut "FINE".
Communion (1976)
The 12 year old Karen is killed (in the church!) on the day of her first communion. Is her sister Alice the killer?
I may be biased in my rating of this film for the simple reason that I saw it for the first time when I was ten and it scared the hell out of me. The young Brooke Shields is the perfect first victim for this movies killer, played as a whiny, attention-hogging, momma's girl. The murder of Karen in the back of the church and the discovery of her still burning body in a window seat by a screaming nun just can't be beat. A previous reviewer has said that the reveal of the killer brings the story back into the realm of the mundane, I would disagree. The early attacks by the killer are grisly and when the killer is revealed the grimmer aspects of the story are just heightened. I think the killer has to be revealed because the intense scrutiny of the young Alice as the potential killer has become too much for the viewer to bear at that point. After the reveal we are allowed to feel a deeper worry that not only might the killer get away with it, this obviously disturbed girl may end up taking the rap. I love this movie and I still jump when the priest takes it in the neck at the end.