Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Giuliano Gemma is Monty Mulligan, a gambler who’s had a run of bad luck, but is about to get some very good news.

His uncle has left him $300,000. There’s just one catch.

He and his estranged brother — Nino Benvenuti as Ted Mulligan — must spend six months together to split the cash.

So Monty heads West to the town of Big Peak, where his brother lives.

Within hours, thanks in part to Monty’s interference, a big bad bandit named Bad Jim has stolen Ted’s horses and burned his home to the ground.

Now the two brothers are homeless and penniless, so they turn to a life of crime.

They rob a bank and come away with bags full of pennies.

They rob a stage and come away with a pretty blonde (Sydne Rome) who’s so annoying, her father is willing to pay extra ransom if they’ll keep her a little longer.

Will things go better when they try robbing a train? And will they survive six months in order to collect the money?

Giuliano Gemma as Monty Mulligan learns about the proposition in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Nino Benvenuti as Ted Mulligan, welcoming Monty to his frontier cabin in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Review

A better than average comedy Spaghetti — after all, some of the comedies in the genre are barely watchable. This one will have you smiling in several spots, if not laughing out loud.

Bad Jim keeps showing up to foil the Mulligan brothers exploits. At one point, Bad Jim has the brothers stripped to the waist, then has his gang members stand behind a line in a cabin floor and toss red-hot pennies at their naked flesh. Another torture scene, where the brothers are burned with red-hot sticks of wood was apparently cut from most releases.

Torture scenes aside, there are plenty of funny gags. And Sydne Rome helps improve the scenery.

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, thrilled to be the victim of a stage holdup in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Antonio Casas as Barnes, the automobile owner who befriends brothers Ted and Monty in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Directed by:
Duccio Tessari

Cast:
Giuliano Gemma … Monty Mulligan
Nino Benvenuti … Ted Mulligan
Sydne Rome … Scarlett Scott
Cris Huerta … Bad Jim
Julio Pena … Doctor
Antonio Casas … Barnes
George Rigaud … Mr. Scott

Also with: Dan van Husen, Luis Barboo, Victor Israel, Juan Olaguivel, Vicente Roca, Brizio Montinaro, Arturo Pallandino, José Canalejas, Rafael Albaicín, Simón Arriaga,, Joaquin Parra, Alvaro de Luna, Herman Reynoso, Agustin Bescos, Antonio Orengo

aka:
Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid
Sundance and the Kid
Vivi o, perferibilmente, morti
Vivos o preferiblemente muertos

Score: Gianni Ferrio
Songs: “Monty and Ted” by The Wilder Brothers
“December 24th” by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni
“Yes Sir” by Lilian Terry

Runtime: 103 min.

George Rigaud as Mr. Scott, a dad very eager to marry off his daughter in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Julio Pena as the doctor who diagnoses Ted after a nasty tumble in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Memorable lines:

Monty Mulligan, to a passenger as his car belches clouds of smoke: “My car is like a woman. Push her too far, and she’ll boil over.”

Scarlett to Ted: “The way you swing that ax does all sorts of funny things to me.”
Whereupon she’s struck by a wood chip and pretends to be knocked out, so handsome Ted will run to her aid.

Scarlett, helping write a ransom note to her father, a banker: “A thousand dollars?”
Monty: “Yeah. Why?”
Scarlett: “You have kidnapped me for a miserable thousand dollars. If you only wanted a thousand dollars, why didn’t you kidnap the baker’s daughter?”
They settle on $10,000.
Scarlett: “Oh, by the way, I get 30 percent.”

Monty, watching Scarlett help Ted dress: “God made man. And woman uses him. Right?”

Scarlett Scott, as two suiters prepare to square off:
“A duel. They’re going to fight a duel over me. How exciting.”
Barnes: “One of them’s bound to get killed.”
Mr. Scott, eager to marry off his daughter: “Just as long as one of them survives.”

Cris Huerta as Bad Jim, visiting Monty and Ted in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, helping Ted (Nino Benvenuti) and Monty (Giuliano Gemma) write her ransom letter in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Other tidbits:

The movie was released in the U.S. as Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid to capitalize on the popularity of the Paul Newman/Robert Redford film.

Ohio-born Sydne Rome is the American among this cast. It was just her second film. She’d appear on one more Spaghetti, “They Call Him Amen” and gain fame as the star of Roman Polanski’s “What?” (1972).

This marked the last Spaghetti Western collaboration between director Tessari and star Gemma. In 1985, Tessari and Gemma teamed up to turn a comic book hero into a Western in “Tex and the Lord of the Deep.”

Dan van Husen as one of the rangers hired to guard the gold train in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

The lead ranger hired to protect the gold train in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969). Does anyone know who plays this part?

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, spies something appealing in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, watching Ted swing his axe in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Sydne Rome as Scarlett reacts to Ted expressing his love for her in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, examines the new and improved Ted in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Antonio Casas as Barnes, surprised by one of Monty Mulligan’s (Giuliano Gemma’s) ideas in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Cris Huerta as Bad Jim as he and his gang catch up with Ted and Monty again in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Nino Benvenuti as Ted Mulligan, contemplating marriage to Scarlet in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Giuliano Gemma as Monty Mulligan snoops on Ted and Scarlet in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)

Sydne Rome as Scarlett, coming between Ted (Nino Benvenuti) and Monty (Giuliano Gemma) yet again in Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)