Poseidon-3 Review of Find a Place to Die

Find a Place to Die (1968)

Clichéd, routine and unmemorable Italian western

[6 February 2007]

This entry into the spaghetti western genre of the 1960's could have used a little more sauce. A married pioneer couple who have struck gold in their mining endeavors, is attacked by bandits. When the husband is pinned under a wagon, the wife (Petit) must ride for help to a nearby settlement. (Oddly, though Petit will be gone for roughly four days, the husband only asks for a gun and a jug of whiskey to sustain him!) Arriving at the settlement, Petit comes across dour ex-Confederate soldier Hunter and a passel of shady types. After a scuffle, and for a fee, Hunter and a few other men agree to go back to rescue Petit's husband even though the territory is teeming with bandits. Along the way, naturally, one of the men makes a play for Petit while she's bathing. It all comes to a head in an abandoned (apparently real) ruin before settling on a moderately happy ending. Hunter, a gifted and handsome actor, is slumming here. He has the distinction of missing out on two of the most beloved and iconic TV shows of the 1960's. He starred in the pilot for "Star Trek", but his wife at the time made him demand a salary that took him out of the running for the series. She preferred to be married to a movie star versus a TV star (even if the movies were like this one??) He was later denied the chance to play Mike Brady on "The Brady Bunch" because the producers didn't believe an architect would be that handsome! So he wound up in some really sub-par features until an accident led to his eventual death. He is okay here, his glorious eyes still sparkling, but the film gives him little or nothing to work with. Petit, an actress with an extensive foreign resume, is adequate, but poorly dubbed. Her brief semi-nude scene is tame by today's standards. Lastretti has his screen debut heralded in the credits, though he provides no particular interest as a reverend of questionable virtue. He did go on to a dozen or so years of film work, however. It's one of dozens and dozens of spaghetti westerns and has very little of distinction to recommend it, save some occasionally interesting settings. The familiar (and grating) type of music score is quite distracting at times.