Aender S
A solid spaghetti western.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/18/24
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Audience Member
Love the movie Great movie
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
12/13/19
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Audience Member
A well paced and entertaining revenge spaghetti. Interesting choice of locations towards the end also.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Pandy 3
[b]F[/b]un, [b]A[/b]mbitious, [b]I[/b]mmediate, [b]R[/b]easonable!!!
Directed by Tonino Cervi and written by himself along with Dario Argento. Its a rather outdated cowboy movie, but the two enemies dispute makes it interesting, as well as the sharp and right on target script. It can be silly and cliche, but also clever with likable acting. Originally the cast speaks Italian, but thankfully for the subbed version and for those who hate reading dubbed version as well.
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Bill Kiowa (Brett Halsey) spends five years in prison, because James Elfego (Tatsuya Nakadai) killed his wife, had him beaten, and left money bags in his house from a robbery to frame him. Bill spend his jail time his revenge and when let lose recruits four of the best gunmen. He shows them money and gains their attention. O'Bannion (Bud Spencer), Jeff Milton (Wayde Preston), Bunny Fox (Jeff Cameron), and Francis "Colt" Moran (William Berger). When Elfego and his gang rob a Bank's coach, Bill and his men follow their tracks in the hope of finding the master thief. They try enter their enemies mind so that to put an end to this old vendetta.
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The story is old fashioned and easily predictable but it has a certain spark, and I also liked the few funny moments in all the seriousness and drama. The source of this is Bud Spencer, alike his other movies, as the easily tempered fellow who joins action with comedy. Plus the ongoing hatred between Kiowa and Elfego can keep one's attention undeniably. They vividly express their anger through body and verbal language and we get to see how it all begun in a short and accurate flashback. The revenge theme is nicely introduced and explained that will leave you satisfied, and the progress it undergoes is worth your patience. In addition you get to see how both sides get to be malicious and clever to lure each other into traps. They try to think ahead and plan each move carefully. The element of surprise exists, but mostly for the characters within.
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The acting is the standardized for all the supportive actors, leaving Halsey and Nakadai to be the main events and the ones that really get developed. Its all about them from the beginning, and the one that will manage to deceive and win this endless battle. Nakadai is very believable as the villain and delivers his lines in arrogance and full repulsion towards his enemy. His facial expressions with the fearless eyes and tight lips pass the message, leaving the opponent scared and puzzled. Halsey is more quiet but equally strong and sharp minded that gives determined shiny eye looks, and he's willing to stretch things until the very end. Each one has his loyal followers, that team up greatly and offer thrilling action scenes.
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The usage of eye close-ups, quick camera shifts of focus, and the rapid increase of the adventurous background music was used to elevate tension and to catch the eye. All these were effective up to a point, but it would have been better if the director utilized alternative techniques each time. In general the music by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino is great, entertaining and even eerie. The pace is good enough and the last half hour is unquestionably the best. A bloody battle in a gloomy forest that lasts and is given to the audience methodically in small effective doses. Pistols, rifles, knifes, rope, a machete, and brains are their weapons of defense. They are playing a deadly game of hide and seek in the darkness of the woods, until dawn. The natural sounds, birds and crows add mystery to the intense atmosphere. The final manhunt alters confidence in both directions. One last confrontation, one internal victory.
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Overall its a decent Italian western, the actions sequences are far from perfect but the semi-bloody violence is appealing. Tthe best performance in here from Tatsuya Nakadai is delightful and he doesn't disappoint at all. Halsey and the rest team up just fine. The direction had potential but lacked imagination. Still its passable and satisfactory enough to be recommended to fans of the genre, pretty much mostly for the final thirty minutes of excitement.
"Don't talk shoot, and shoot to kill!"
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
07/21/11
Full Review
Audience Member
This Spaghetti Western garnered my attention as it was scripted by visionary director Dario Arengto who would later lay claim to fame with is stylistic Giallo pictures. It's a damn shame Dario Argento didn't script more westerns as every one he touched is either epic greatness , as with "Once Upon a Time in the West", or just plain and simple admirable, as with "Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die!" (released in the U.S. with the more forgettable title "Today is Me... Tomorrow You").
We open with a young man getting freshly released from five year stint in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He holsters up, bribes six quick drawers with ten grand each to aid him in his search for the sadistic gang leader that killed his women and set him up.
The plot is the a typical revenge fair aided by healthy dose of "The Magnificent Seven", or perhaps "Seven Samurai" would be more appropriate due to the presence of Tatsuya Nakadai who would gain fame from appearing in Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha". Argento mixes the elements well including little nods to "For a Few Dollars More with Nakadai's villainous character and a scene in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" which is a scene where Brett Halsey buys a pistol is eerily complementary to the famous scene where Eli Wallach obtains his pistol.
Relatively unknown director Tonino Cervi does well and keeps the film moving at a nice pace with it only dragging at a few moments. I do like how he atypically sets the backdrop of the film in a deciduous forest in the fall with te ground covered in leaves as opposed to the blasted desert landscapes of Spain. It's nice every once in a blue-moon for the filmmakers to give the audience a different landscape to keep the films fresh.
The ensemble cast is far better than the average Spaghetti Western. Underrated American actor Brett Halsey (under the pseudonym Montgomery Ford) leads the cast but is overshadowed by the presence of "heavy" weight Bud Spencer and of course the presence of Tatsuya Nakadai and his piercing eyes. Spencer gives one of his rare non-comedic performances so his die hard fans might be disappointed by his more serious potrayl. William Berger also makes an appearance as one of the seven gun slingers but fans of his might find it disappointing that his role is rather small with little dialogue.
So does "Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die!" live up to the Dario Argento co-scripted "Once Upon a Time in the West"? Well no but does any Spaghetti Western? That's the crème-de-le-crème of the genre so a comparison is hard to make but on its own "Today We Kill" is a solid Western with an entertaining revenge plot and a strong cast to boot. Definitely a must see for fans of the genre.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Tatsuya Nakadai in a western, that's about the only reason you would ever want to watch this one. Not bad but very routine stuff, Nakadai pretty much eats the entire screen every time he appears.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
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