If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

James Philbrook is Sam, an aging man who has turned an old fortress in California into a home where he lives.

He’s out hunting one day when gunfire breaks out. A young man has been ambushed by three others.

Sam rescues the badly wounded young man and takes him home, turning him over to the care of his wife Moira (Paula Pattier).

Well, the young man named Jimmy (Alejandro de Enciso) recovers and decides to stay at the farm for a while, helping Sam harvest corn to repay his debt.

Before long, Sam comes to regard Jimmy as the son he never had.

Sam’s much younger wife is growing fond of Jimmy too, but in a much different way. She suspects handsome young Jimmy could give her the child her oft-drunk husband never has.

Meanwhile, the three bounty hunters — Kramer (Frank Brana), his brother Tex (Jose Canalejas) and Roy (Francisco Nieto) — are still on the hunt for Jimmy. And they’re terrorizing the countryside in their search.

Back at the farm, Moira is growing increasingly desperate in her attempt to get Jimmy to return her affection.

She’s fallen in love with the young man, who fends off her advances because he wants to remain loyal to Sam.

Besides, he’s hoping to marry Lucy, the padre’s pretty daughter, the girl who keeps driving her carriage past the cornfield where he works.

James Philbrook as Sam, returning home with a badly wounded young man in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Alejandro de Enciso as Jimmy, about to rush to Sam’s defense in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Review:

A late Eurowestern that’s a bit different than most because the focus is on the evolving relationships between Sam, Jimmy and Moira.

In that respect, it’s similar in tone to “Liberty 9, China 37” (1978), the film in which Clayton Drumm (played by Fabio Testi) acts on his attraction to the much younger wife (Jenny Aguilar) of the man who gives him refuge (Warren Oates).

Most of the violence here is provided by the bounty hunters on Jimmy’s trail, though in the 83-minute print I viewed you never really learn why they’re so hellbent on their mission.

Tex is the most brutal of the three. He’s had his tongue cut out at some point, is prone to fits of madness and particularly vicious to women. Let’s just say Jose Canalejas isn’t very convincing in that role.

For Jimmy, the experience at Sam’s ranch is a full-circle moment. He’s wanted back in Arizona because a woman wound up dead, supposedly at the hands of a husband jealous of her advances toward Jimmy.

Paula Pattier as Moira, desperately trying to seduce the young man who’s come into her home in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Clara Urbina as Lucy, admitting to her pastor father that she’s smitten with Jimmy in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)>

Directed by:
Jose Maria Elorrieta
as Joe Lacy

Cast:
James Philbrook … Sam
Alejandro de Enciso … Jimmy
Paula Pattier … Moira
Frank Brana … Kramer
Jose Canalejas … Tex, Kramer’s brother
Francisco Nieto … Roy, bounty hunter
as Paco Nieto
Ernesto Vanes … Sheriff
as Dan Forest
Cristono Almodovar … John, deputy
Rafael Cores … Alex, saloon owner
Maribel Hildalgo … Rosanna, saloon girl
Alonzo Vaz … Padre
Clara Urbina … Lucy, padre’s daughter
Rafael Vaquero … John , farmer
Maria Nevado … Mary, John’s wife
Antonio Almoros … Williams
Gilberto Moreno … Informant
Gonzalo Tejel … Bill, barman

Also with: Francho Bruno, Sally Puertas, Romualdo Oliva

Runtime: 83 min.

aka:
Si quieres vivir… dispara

Music: Javier Elorrieta

Frank Brana as Kramer, leading of a trio of bounty hunters determined to track down Jimmy in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Jose Canalejas as Tex, a bounty man prone to fits of madness in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Memorable lines:

Pretty girl in carraige: “I still don’t know your name.”
Jimmy: “You can call me Mr. Nobody.”

Alex, saloon owner: “Hey, friend, that woman is private property.”
Kramer: “Really? Then get the transfer papers ready.”

Sam to Jimmy: “Pride is important, son. It turns a pauper into a king.”

Francisco Nieto as Roy, one of Kramer’s fellow bounty men in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Ernesto Vanes (Dan Forest) as a sheriff who deliberately sends the bounty men in the wrong direction in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Trivia:

This marked the final film for James Philbrook, who headed to Europe to make films following a long TV career in the U.S. From Lebanon, Pa., he died in 1982 at age 58.

Paula Pattier has just two other screen credits, according to IMDb and this marked her biggest role. She also appeared in “Vampires of Vogel,” released the same year.

The film was actually released after its director, Jose Maria Elorrieta, died in 1974 at age 53. He was also the initial director of “Vampires of Vogel.” His other Eurowesterns included “Massacre at Fort Grant” (1964) and “Fury of the Apaches” (1964).

Paula Pattier as Moira, nursing Jimmy (Alejandro de Enciso), the young man her husband has brought into their home in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Rafael Vaquero as John and Maria Nevado as his wife Mary, farmer’s Kramer and his men harass in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Maribel Hildalgo as Rosanna, the saloon girl who doesn’t consider herself private property in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

Alejandro de Enciso as Jimmy and Clara Urbina as Lucy, planning an engagement in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)

James Philbrook as Sam, forced to watch his wife being manhandled by Tex in If You Shoot … You Live (1975)

Alejandro de Enciso as Jimmy, trying to fend off the advances of Moira (Paula Pattier) in If You Shoot … You Live! (1975)