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19 reviews in total

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13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Better Than Average "B" Western, 20 November 2005

Author: BachlorinParadise from United States

More Dead Than Alive turns out to be a surprisingly entertaining and fairly well-acted B movie.

Clint Walker gives his typical "gentle giant" performance as Killer Cain, a convicted murderer who is released after 18 years in prison. After a senseless prison shootout in the beginning of the movie, you expert this film to be nothing more that a "shootem-up". However, once Walker's character is released from prison, the movie becomes a well-acted drama about such topics as prison reform, parole, murder, hero worship, forgiveness and the desire for fame.

More Dead Than Alive's best performance is from Horror King, Vincent Price as Dan Ruffallo, a carnival barker with a traveling gun show. It's one of Price's best latter career performances.

The kicker in More Dead Than Alive is the shocking surprise ending. So, if you're a fan of Clint Walker or Vincent Price, More Dead Than Alive is the film to see.

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11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
If you seek an offbeat western..., 7 September 1999

Author: rj-27 from Warren., MI

I saw this film many years ago on TV and have never found it in any video store but would be well worth the rental fee for an evenings entertainment, if I could ever find it. Such is the impression it left me with. Around this time period, the Hollywood western had reached its nadir, what with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid et al, and was on its way out. I can think of a couple other offbeat westerns that appeared around this time, but nothing quite like this. For one thing, you have Vincent Price in it! Vincent Price in a western?! This is not a horror film, but it does have an interesting story line with good pacing, tight direction and an unexpected ending. Clint Walker, a much under-appreciated actor, plays a former gunfighter trying to live in peace apart from his past. Price heads a traveling quick draw show that comes into town and this is where the fun begins. Anne Francis is the love interest, Paul Hampton (whatever became of him?) is very effective as the young gunfighter wannabe. Do not miss this if you get the chance.

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
An unusual Western, 14 April 2005

Author: Tony Rome from Long Island, New york

This is a most peculiar western film. Clint Walker plays the role of Cain, a man released from prison after a 20 year sentence. The passing of time is touched on when Cain sees many new inventions such as a bicycle. His reputation seems to follow him everywhere he goes, and he can't hold a job very long. His only choice is to exploit his past evil life, and join a wild western shooting show run by a showman named Ruffalo, played by Vincent Price. I would recommend this film to any film fan that enjoys strange or Avant Garde Films. Price seems to believe that he is in one of his American International (AIP) horror roles like House of Usher or Pit and The Pendelum. The acting plays as if each actor believes they are in a different film. The movie was released by United Artists in 1968. It is not available on VHS or DVD, but it does show up on TV from time to time on Encore Westerns. I believe that MGM owns the United Artist catalog. They should restore this film and release it as part of their Avant Garde cinema series. I give the film ***1/2 out ****.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Dreadful back-lot western..., 30 June 2010

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Clint Walker, still trying to find his niche as an actor post-"Cheyenne", plays a reformed gunslinger in 1891 Arizona who is set free after 18 years in jail; unable to find work because of his reputation, he takes a job with a low-rent traveling western show. This is the old plot about the once-legendary, now-rehabilitated killer who is constantly put in harm's way by folks hoping to boost their profiles by challenging him. As a young hotshot with a bitchy-sinister stare, Paul Hampton gives one of the most excruciating performances I've ever seen. His overacting is made all the more noticeable by Walker's solemn, funereal under-playing (as if he were going to the gallows any minute). If you do watch, see if you can figure out why the early jail-break sequence takes place AFTER a group of prisoners have already been hanged. The title, presumably a twist on the old "Wanted-Dead or Alive" ploy, is mildly condescending in this context--although it serves to describe the film's handling accurately. * from ****

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
This is my kind of western....., 24 February 2007

Author: bellybutton1221@yahoo.com from Texas

The title is misleading (as though it's some kind of zombie horror film), but this is definitely my kind of western. It's dark, sadistic, and action-filled. Clint Walker fans won't be disappointed, and I love the ending. Vincent Price seems to be having a great time in his role, and although Mike Henry is underused, he does a great job with his small, but important role, playing one of the villains. Hampton looks the part, but tends to overact a little (though not to the extent some have said) and ultimately he does well. I would rather have seen a tougher-looking guy in his role, such as Dean Smith, but it's not that big an issue.

In short, this is a dark, action-packed unique western, and I'm delighted that it's now on DVD in widescreen.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE (Robert Carr, 1969) **1/2, 22 May 2011

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Although I am a big fan of Westerns, the totally unfamiliar crew behind this production had me worried that it was going to be a listless affair and the routinely-staged prison riot at the beginning did not help matters any! While the end result is nothing to write home about, it is a sufficiently interesting and satisfactory mix of age-old and newly-emerging traits in the genre to keep one watching.

What we have here is a typical story of a convict released after a long term in jail and being met by hostility and challenge once his true notorious identity is discovered; having said that, since he had spent 18 years in jail, I wonder how some of the characters he came across once outside managed to recognize him! The central role is played by Clint Walker who, after a beating inside a mine, gets looked after by painter Anne Francis(!) and hired as a performing gunfighter by traveling showman Vincent Price; this was his second Western outing after the inferior THE JACKALS (1967; which had been a plodding remake of William A. Wellman's 1948 classic YELLOW SKY).

So far so old-fashioned: however, things get less predictable upon the introduction of the youthful characters of Walker's hot-headed, trigger-happy predecessor in Price's tent (who eventually guns down his employer in an unheralded bloodbath) and a mysterious stranger who keeps following Walker around and, shockingly enough, executes him right in front of Francis' eyes for the murder of his father (one of Walker's much-touted 12 victims). Even if the film is (surprisingly) available on DVD, I got to see it via a pan-and-scan transmission on the MGM Cable TV channel.

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7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Not your average western, 25 May 2001

Author: Dixie Carson from Nashville, Tennessee

This is a western with great direction and a very good cast. It's not your run of the mill shoot'em up. I saw this movie many years ago and have not forgotten it. I have searched high and low for it, but, cannot find a copy anywhere. It's worth the watch!

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
" Didn't anyone ever teach you, . . never holster an unloaded gun? ", 25 April 2011

Author: thinker1691 from USA

There are many films which the great actor Clint Walker made and a few became the foundation for the rest. In this film, which is one of his best, called " More Dead than Alive " is directed by Robert Spar and written by George Schench. It relates the unusual story of a multiple murderer, called Cain, (Clint Walker) who has paid the standard price for murdering several men, by serving nearly twenty years in prison. Now that he's out, he finds a job with Dan Ruffalo's (Vincent Price) wild west show. Earning honest money, Clain decides to capitalize on his infamous legacy while at the same time trying to go straight. Unfortunately, Cain's past is slowly creeping in on his peaceful life-style and it only a matter of time before it catches up to him. At the same time, Clain tries to teach Billy Valence an envious and arrogant reputation-seeking gun-slinger (Paul Hampton) not to make the same mistakes he made. The story is a moral one which has influence many a writer and director in the following movie years. For Walker, the least we can add is that this film has become a Classic. ****

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
More Dead Than Alive, 25 May 2010

Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Luke Santee's boys slip inside a fort(using caskets to hide in!)to rescue his brother out of a hanger's prison. Luke's brother is denied his chance to escape thanks in part to a prisoner named Cain who is soon let out as a rehabilitated man.

Living a life outside bars without using a gun again, however, won't be an easy task. More mellow, with no interest in picking up a Colt, as proposed by traveling showman with cat-like grin, Dan Ruffalo(Vincent Price, in a wonderful change of pace, in a rare western role)for a role in his shooting gallery, Cain really wants to go legitimately straight, but in comes Luke Santee to make his life miserable. Roughed up by Luke and his men, no work available for released cons, Cain will have his hands full.

Cain befriends a painter named Monica(the beautiful Anne Francis; Forbidden Planet)while encountering her in an abandoned town. Unable to hold a job due to his notorious reputation, he finally decides to join Ruffalo. Ruffalo has in his possession a Colt with 12 notches depicting the number of men Cain killed during his outlaw days before 18 years behind bars.

Young sharpshooting Billy, very talented with a gun, who had idolized Cain, with dreams of living the life of a gunfighter, is the star of traveling show. Billy resents Cain(Ruffalo has a particular interest in him due to his draw of the crowd, bringing in big profit), and wants to upstage him, always engaging in intense arguments, often attempting to cause a gunfight.

MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE carries that familiar theme of a man trying with all his might to escape his past, a past which haunts him wherever he goes. We see at the conclusion that maybe there's no way to avoid fate..a son, father, retired marshal still holding a grudge, there'll always be someone appearing out of the blue looking for revenge.

Through the only friendship he's able to develop, with Monica, Cain could just maybe find the peace he's been looking for. He wants to help build a place with Monica as the two eventually fall of love.

Billy, really immature even if he's good with a gun, is psychotic and unstable and it's only a matter of time before he'll be confronting Cain for a duel..interesting decision by the filmmakers, though, to go in a different direction with Cain getting the upper hand against his young rival.

Particularly brutal is Price's fate, in slow motion, like a mutt in the street. I must say that I hated the music used in this movie, the upbeat score seems more suited for a slapstick comedy than a serious western about men with guns. Odd structure, too, setting chapters in the film through different seasons, also moving the pace a bit faster, eliminating chunks of story, like specific passages of time when life wasn't exactly kind to Cain(the plot is uninspired when it comes to the relationship between Cain and Monica, although Francis does what she can with a rather underwritten role). I also found the song which opens and closes the film particularly dire..it's a Dimitri Tiomkin knock-off that doesn't exactly work for this film, and, if anything, sounds really outdated and corny. Plenty of bullets and blood, though, including a spirited brawl between Cain and Luke within the old buildings of the abandoned town. Billy whimpers and sobs when anyone puts him in an uncomfortable position, and his fate shows how pathetic he is when the gun isn't available for use. I think the major flaw of the film is the diminishing of Luke Santee's character after setting him up in such a way at the beginning. Clint Walker is rather a bore, if I were to be truly honest, but he's a beefcake so I can see why he was used in the role of Cain. Paul Hampton really steals the film in the most colorful part of Billy, a certifiable headcase who stirs the pot, the one behind animosity, always a needling prick. Mike Henry is Luke Mantee, a mean criminal who isn't someone you hope to cross hairs with.

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3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Entertaining and different take on the western theme, 20 July 2008

Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England

More Dead Than Alive might not do much for a lot of western fans, and the reason for that is that it's so different from the rest of the genre. The western hero is meant to be big, strong, uncaring and a real sharp shooter; and in this film, that is everything that our central character used to be, and now he's going straight. For that reason, it might be more advisable to go into this film expecting more of a drama than a western as that's essentially what it is; a drama set in the once-wild west. Our central character is a man named Cain, who earned the nickname 'Killer Cain' thanks to the twelve notches on his revolver. After eighteen years behind bars, the killer is released but while he's no longer on the run from the law; he faces a different challenge as the West that put him behind bars is not the West that he's being released back into, and he quickly discovers that getting a job with his reputation is not the easiest thing to do. The only man who wants to employ him is circus ringmaster Ruffalo; but Cain lacks practise and the young assistant Billy is a better shot.

Aside from provide a different sort of western, the film also tries to do a few other things and unfortunately there just isn't time for it all. There's a romance angle which stems off the main plot and that doesn't get nearly enough time spent on it, while the action sequences we do get feel more like an afterthought. My main reason for seeing this film is undoubtedly the presence of the great Vincent Price, who gives a memorable performance in a supporting role. Clint Walker takes the lead role and while it's not a standout performance and he looks a little young and clean to have been behind bars for eighteen years; he does make for a likable lead. Paul Hampton is a real standout, however, as the cocky young villain of the piece. The film provides good entertainment for the duration and it's not exactly taxing stuff, which ensures that the film is always enjoyable enough. The ending was a bit of a disappointment to me as certain characters were killed by the wrong people; but all in all, this is a memorable film and is recommended if you want a decent hour and a half of entertainment.

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