Don't Turn the Other Cheek!

This movie shares a lot of elements with other Euro-westerns. Those who are very familiar with the genre will recognize similarities to films such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Mercenary, Fistful of Dynamite, The Stranger and the Gunfighter, and other spaghetti westerns. Recognizing these common themes is part of the fun of watching this movie.

The story is full of spaghetti western clichés presented in a fun, tongue-in-cheek manner, yet it still delivers in the violence and action departments as well. We even get to see some of Franco Nero's trademark machine gun wielding slaughter.

The music score is very good. It matches the tone of the film, seems right for a slightly off-beat Euro-western, and definitely works in this movie.

The movie boasts a phenomenal cast with Franco Nero, Eli Wallach, Lynn Redgrave, and Eduardo Fajardo. It would be hard to make a bad spaghetti western with those four playing the main characters, but I do have to say that although this movie was good, I think it could have been better. The acting and direction just seem a little bit sloppy. I suspect that either they were having so much fun making it that they were too relaxed to take their work seriously, or that they just didn't care all that much about the film. I prefer to think that it's the first reason. The US release (which is the version that I saw) also seems to have been edited way too much, probably to make the film shorter. My guess is that the movie is much better in its complete form.

At any rate, I highly recommend this movie to those like me who have seen and liked lots of spaghetti westerns. To them it will be a fun movie. Others might not get very much out of this film.

Long Live Your Death is a western comedy. This film tries to pin down the staples of the genre while being funny, and it has to be said that in doing so it pretty much misses both targets; but thankfully, Duccio Tessari's film is entertaining in it's own right and the central cast is just about talented enough to pull it through. The film takes obvious influence from the greatest of all Spaghetti Westerns; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and it could be said in fact that the film is basically a complete rip of the earlier film. The film takes place during the Mexican revolution. Mary O'Donnell, an Irish journalist, wants to inspire a revolt in Mexico and pays for a revolutionary to be released from prison; but unfortunately the man in question is already dead, so another Mexican is freed in his place. He escapes along with a Prince Dmitri Vassilovich Orlowsky, who has designs on finding some buried treasure. He teams up with the bandit and the two pursue the treasure; one knows the town where the gold is buried, the other knows the location.

It's the central pairing of Franco Nero and Eli Wallach that ensure the film works; neither one delivers their best performance, but the pair is constantly entertaining on screen together. They are joined by Lynn Redgrave (apparently Franco Nero's sister is law) and she dons an annoying Irish accent. Thankfully, her role in the film is rather short compared to the other two. The film does have a sense of humour, and at times it is rather funny (the location of the treasure maps, for example) but it's never overly funny, and I'd still call it more of a western than a comedy. Duccio Tessari (who also directed Giallo classic The Bloodstained Butterfly) packs his film with plenty of action and this does ensure that the film is entertaining. The film only runs for just over ninety minutes and it never gets boring enough to really start dragging, so that's a positive. It all boils down to a decent conclusion and overall, while I certainly wouldn't call Long Live Your Death a classic or a must see; it is at least worth a look.

This film begins in the early 20th century on the American side of the Rio Grande with a Mexican bandit named "Max Lozoya" (Eli Wallach) having been captured, tried and subsequently sentenced to hang the next morning. As it so happens, however, an Irish journalist named "Mary O'Donnell" (Lynn Redgrave) wants to start an uprising in Mexico so that she can get an exclusive story and bribes the local constable "Sheriff Randall" (Horst Jansen) to free a popular Mexican revolutionary named "El Salvador". What she doesn't know is that El Salvador has already been executed and since she doesn't know what he looks like the sheriff convinces "the Warden" (played by Jose Moreno) to allow Max Lozoya to escape in El Salvador's place. In the meantime, a Russian con artist named "Prince Dmitri Vassilovich Orlowsky" (Franco Nero) has learned that Max Lozoya has knowledge of some stolen treasure and masquerading as a priest is allowed entry to the prison to attend to Lozoya's final confession. It's during this time that Lozoya is allowed to escape and Dmitri, quite naturally, goes with him. But even though the sheriff has allowed Lozoya to escape that doesn't mean that he will be allowed to remain free-especially since there is a bounty on his head which the sheriff wants to collect. Not only that, but Mary also wants her revolution which only El Salvador can provide. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, even though it was supposed to be a parody of a number of other famous "Spaghetti Westerns", this was still a difficult film to watch due in large part to the meandering plot. Likewise, I didn't particularly like the rather preposterous action scenes which only served to lower my regard for the overall film as well. In any case, those who enjoy Spaghetti Westerns might like this film but having said that I didn't especially care for it that much and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

"¡Viva la Muerte... Tua!" - Italy (original title) or "Don't Turn the Other Cheek" - USA title or ¨Viva La Muerte Tuya¨- Spanish title , is an amusing Western plenty of action , shoot'em up , humor and fun . A radical journalist , A Russian prince , A Mexican bandit team up seeking a cache of gold . They turned a fun filled fight for gold into a riotous revolution . A spaghetti/Paella/Schnitzel western in which three adventurers join forces during the Mexican Revolution . It deals with a man calling himself Prince Dimitri Vassilovich Orlowsky (Franco Nero) who claims to be a Russian prince as he is aware a treasure has been hidden in Mexico territory , and along with a redheaded Irish girl named Mary O'Donnell (Lynn Redgrave) who wants to foment a peasant revolt in Mexico enlist other rogue character , a selfish bandit locked in Utah . Both of them , reunite the help of a humorous Mexican outlaw named Lozoya (Elli Wallach) , by saving him from a death sentence in Fort Yuma . Wallach pretends to be a Mexican folk hero named El Salvador . The trio teams up and crosses the border, the two men seeking a loot while the Irish reporter goes after her Mexican revolution . Lozoya has the key to the treasure , but Nero knows where the other half of the map is , both of whom seeking a lost gold located in Piedras Negras and confronting a cruel Mexican general (Eduardo Fajardo) .

This Zapata Western displays noisy action , thrills , stirring adventures, shoot'em up , riding pursuits and is pretty amusing . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shots or stunts every few minutes . Funny and thrilling screenplay by Massimo De Rita and Juan De Orduña , also producer , and based on the novel titled "The killer from Yuma" by Lewis B. Patten . This is an acceptable S.W. full of action , shootouts , fist-play and some touches of humor in charge of Elli Wallach character . Wallach portrays similarly to his popular "Tuco" character from ¨The good, the ugly and the bad¨ . Elli Wallach is very fine, he ravages the screen as a seedy bandit , he hits , shots and runs ; plus jokes , laughs , he's a complete show . While Franco Nero as a Russian prince is a type of selfish adventurer of the West , an elegant and resourceful ¨Bon Vivant¨ , being stunningly played by Franco Nero . Eduardo Fajardo as a cruelly baddie role as Mexican general is terrific , subsequently the would play similar role in other Spaghetti , mainly directed by Sergio Corbucci . In the movie appears usual support actors as Spanish : Victor Israel , Lorenzo Robledo , Jose Jaspe , Jose Moreno , Tito Garcia , Rafael Albacin , as Italian players : Mirko Ellis , Marilu Tolo , Gisela Hahn and German : Horst Janson and Dan Van Husen who acted as secondary in many Spaghetti . It's a co-production Spanish-Italian-German and of course shot on location in Almeria and Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy that is well photographed by Jose F. Aguayo , though is necessary a fine remastering because the film-copy is washed-out . There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and excellent production design , a magnificent scenario on the villages , ranch , forts and barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets filmed in Almería, Andalucía , Spain . As always , the musician Ennio Morricone, composes a nice Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted and splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and lively score .

This Italian writer / filmmaker Duccio Tessari so consistently mixed the good with the mediocre that it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . He wrote several Western as ¨A fistful of dollars ¨, ¨A train to Durango ¨Seven guns for McGregor¨ , ¨The return of McGregor¨ . He directed five Western with abundant touches of humor as ¨Vivi o Preferibilment Morti¨, ¨Don't turn the other cheek¨ and ¨Zorro¨ with Alain Delon and of course ¨Ringo ¨and sequel , mostly starred with his fetish actor Giuliano Gemma . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable movie that will appeal to Spaghetti Western buffs .

Bandit Eli Wallach and European con-man Franco Nero are in turn, set up, mistaken for, and masquerade as a flamboyant Mexican revolutionary and his military adviser, a Russian prince! The two know the partial whereabouts of a stashed fortune, but find it hard to get away from radical Irish journalist Lynn Redgrave long enough to go look for it.

A typical, quirky Italian political western, Don't Turn The Other Cheek isn't as good as Sergio Corbucci's Companeros (also with Nero) or the fantastic (and non-comedic) A Bullet For The General starring A Fistful Of Dollars Gian Maria Volante.

It's still a lot of fun though, with loads of action. Wallach and Nero have great comedic chemistry and should have been in more pictures together. On the other hand, with the exception of a few key scenes, Redgrave doesn't really have much to do.

One other familiar face is Nero's Django nemesis Eduardo Fajardo playing the film's number one heavy.