ironhorse_iv This movie rarely crack me up. Director Duccio Tessari at least, gave it a try. Long Live Your Death AKA Don't Turn the Other Cheek! Originally titled Viva la muerte... tua! is a 1971 Italian spaghetti western comedy that mostly a send up to more "political" Spaghetti Westerns called Zapata Westerns. Zapata Westerns is the nickname given to a subgenre of "Spaghetti Westerns", dating largely from the mid-1960s to early 1970s, which were set in and around Mexico during the Mexico Revolution (1910 to 1920s), hints the name, Zapata, named after Mexican Revolution leader, Emiliano Zapata. The movie often dealt with overtly political themes of that era. Based on the novel titled "The killer from Yuma" by Lewis B. Patten, and screenplay written by Massimo De Rita and Juan De Orduña, the movie tells the story of a Russian con artist, Dmitri Vassilovich Orlowsky (Franco Nero) whom dress up as a priest, hears from a last confession about a village where a treasure is hidden. He seeks out a Mexican Bandit and mistaken war hero, Max Lozoya (Eli Wallach) who knows more about its precise location. The movie isn't anything new, as there has been a lot of treasure hunting Spaghetti Westerns over the years like 1966's Sergio Leone's masterpiece film, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'. If you replace the American Civil War with the Mexican Revolution, replace the great actor, Clint Eastwood with mediocre, Franco Nero who sounds like he imitates Peter Lorne throughout the film, replace Angel Eyes with pretty, but annoying young red head angel eyes, Lynn Redgrave, replace the amazing music from Ennio Morricone with lousy Elevator music from Gianni Ferrio, then you got this movie. Eli Wallach's Max Lozoya is just a mirror image of plain old, Tuco Ramirez. He just under another name. He adds nothing new to his performance. Even the bait and switch execution mirrors that of Tuco and Blondie. It really feels like rehash stuff. The movie does have some interesting things that were later use or help influence other works such as the priest disguise that came to be used in films like 1974's The Gun and the Pulpit, and 1975's God Guns. Another weird idea taken from this film is the map instructions tattooed on people's bottom; that was used in 1974's Blood Money. The movie is mostly a comedy, as most of its jokes were misses than hit. There were a few funny jokes that I happen to laugh at. Too bad, the movie took its concept way too serious at times, and the film got really dark. Lots of violent deaths, and women and children dying here. How are war atrocity, funny? The action is pretty over the top with examples of people shooting three opponents with only one bullet, people knocking out five opponents with one punch, and a soldier walking off with a toothache after being hit by a bullet. It's cheesy, but entertaining. The movie also has a lot of sub-plots that really goes nowhere. I don't even know, why the writers made Dmitri Vassilovich Orlowsky into a prince. It's hints at his past, with the Russian music playing in the watch, but it's never explain, why he left Russia, and became a con artist. Who knows, if he was really a prince? Another message that kinda get lost is the William Randolph Hearst type yellow journalism as shown by the Mary O' Donnell character. The movie goes have some faults. The movie could had benefited some better landscapes. Jose F. Aguayo's cinematography is average. The camera production are bad, with the camera zooming and out. I can do without the stop-motion beginning with Gisela Hahn. It was annoying as hell. I thought my DVD was skipping scenes. The movie is known for cutting scenes. For the U.S. theatrical release, the film was edited down to 93 minutes, cutting out nearly 17 minutes of footage. Try to find the DVD that contains the full uncut version containing 17 minutes of extra footage not seen in the U.S. theatrical version. Too bad, the uncut footage was never dubbed into English so this footage is presented on the DVD in Italian with English subtitles. The DVD also contains alternate title sequences that is better than the stop-motion, one. The movie might be hard to find, due to how rare it is. It doesn't help that the movie go under many titles. Star Eli Wallach came up with the title "Don't Turn the Other Cheek!" for the U.S. release as he did not like the Italian title. Overall: I can't recommend this movie, unless you liked lots of stupid spaghetti westerns. It's not the worst, but clearly not the best.

ma-cortes "¡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 .

FightingWesterner 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.

The_Void 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.