Jack Palance

Shelley Winters

Lori Nelson

Lee Marvin

Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez

Lon Chaney Jr.

Earl Holliman

Perry Lopez

Richard Davalos

Howard St. John

Olive Carey

Ralph Moody

James Millican

Bill Kennedy

Nick Adams

Chris Alcaide

Fay Baker

Larry J. Blake

Nesdon Booth

Paul Brinegar

Joe Brooks

Mushy Callahan

Mae Clarke

Tom Coleman

John Daheim

Steve Darrell

Don Dillaway

Darren Dublin

Myrna Fahey

Ed Fury

Howard Hoffman

Dennis Hopper

Shep Houghton

Larry Hudson

Carol Kelly

Carey Leverette

Peggy Maley

Philo McCullough

John McKee

David McMahon

Dennis Moore

Howard Negley

Wendell Niles

Monty O'Grady

Gil Perkins

John Pickard

Paul Power

Richard Reeves

Hugh Sanders

Jeffrey Sayre

James Seay

Mickey Simpson

John Stephenson

Dub Taylor

Herb Vigran

Max Wagner

Charles Watts

Robert B. Williams

Gus Levene

Edward Carrere

William L. Kuehl

Gordon Bau

Lee White

Chuck Hansen

Edwin B. DuPar

Moss Mabry

John Prettyman

Eugene Busch

Russell Saunders

Charles Lang

Maurice De Packh

Al Alleborn

W.R. Burnett

Willis Goldbeck

Clarence Kolster

Stuart Heisler

Ted D. McCord

David Buttolph

Crime

Thriller

I Died a Thousand Times

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

Famed Bandit, Former No 1 On FBI List, Pardoned After Eight Years.

I Died a Thousand Times is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by W.R. Burnett from his own novel High Sierrra. It stars Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Lon Chaney Junior and Earl Holliman. A CinemaScope/Warnercolor production, cinematography is by Ted McCord and music by David Buttolph. 

It will always be debatable if remaking the excellent High Sierra (Raoul Walsh 1941) was needed or wanted by a 1950s audience? Especially since Walsh had himself already remade it as a great Western with 1949 film Colorado Territory, but taken on its own terms, with great production value and Burnett's personal adaptation taken into consideration, it's a very enjoyable film. 

Set up is simple, it's one last heist for Roy "Mad Dog" Earle (Palance) before going straight, but as his attempts to break free from his emotional loner status fall apart, so does the heist and his future is written in blood right up there in the mountains. Heisler and Burnett put Earle up front for character inspection, easing in sympathetic tones whilst ensuring he remains a big physical threat. The air of fatalism is pungent enough and the finale is excitingly staged by Heisler. Cast performances are more than adequate if not comparing to the likes of Bogart and Lupino, while the Warnercolor is gorgeous and the photography around the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine is superb. 

While not in the same league as High Sierra or Colorado Territory, that doesn't mean this is a wash out, more so if you haven't seen either of the Walsh movies. If you have, like me (High Sierra is one of my favourite Bogart performances), then comparisons and a feeling of deja vu will obviously infiltrate your viewing experience. That said, there is more than enough here to make it worth your time regardless of comparison and familiarities. 7/10

English