Clint Walker, still trying to find his niche as an actor post-"Cheyenne", plays a reformed gunslinger in 1891 Arizona who is set free after 18 years in jail; unable to find work because of his reputation, he takes a job with a low-rent traveling western show. This is the old plot about the once-legendary, now-rehabilitated killer who is constantly put in harm's way by folks hoping to boost their profiles by challenging him. As a young hotshot with a bitchy-sinister stare, Paul Hampton gives one of the most excruciating performances I've ever seen. His overacting is made all the more noticeable by Walker's solemn, funereal under-playing (as if he were going to the gallows any minute). If you do watch, see if you can figure out why the early jail-break sequence takes place AFTER a group of prisoners have already been hanged. The title, presumably a twist on the old "Wanted-Dead or Alive" ploy, is mildly condescending in this context--although it serves to describe the film's handling accurately. * from ****
Review of More Dead Than Alive
