Customer Reviews

I Died a Thousand Times [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jack Palance plays one of his typecast movie roles as the quiet loner. The only difference here is that instead of being a cowboy he plays a gangster who despite being a stone cold killer has a soft spot for a naive disabled girl. Shelly Winters plays a trampy gangster chick who falls for Jack and despite his rejections manages to change his heart and feelings for her. A great movie for the gangster movie buff with all the old style clothes and cars this movie is one of my favorites. A modern ganster movie with a similar theme is Harvey Kietel's role in Industry City.

I saw this movie back when I was a small kid, at the local theater, double featured with "Pete Kelley's Blues" and sadly, I was too little to appreciate just what I was seeing in Both cases. Luckily, however, I own both these great movies on DVD now. They are Both Great Entertaining Films.

But, this review is of "I Died 1,000 Times". A fabulous remake of "High Sierra", which originally starred Humphrey Bogart; this time around with Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, and Lee Marvin. Great flick from the early wide-screen days, with great mountain scenes, and great imaginative use of color for its time. And of course, a story to knock you out! I searched for many many years, asking everyone about "that movie where they shoot the guy, and he slides down over the mountain and lands by his old green car" and NOBODY knew what the hell I was talking about...the closest I ever got to an answer was "Copper Canyon" with Ray Milland....well, I KNEW Ray Milland was not in the movie, but could not remember who it was. Then, many years later, BANG!, I saw The High Sierra with Bogart and I had a Major heart-stopping revelation...here was THE movie, but in B&W, NOT in color, and I KNEW I was not crazy. Flash forward, again, and LaserDiscs are out, and I'm reading my monthly copy of LaserDisc News, and WHAM, again, here's a flick called "I Died 1,000 Times", with a photo THAT I RECOGNIZED from the movie all the way back when I was a Kid! I snapped up a copy at my local dealer when it came out, and YES, this was it. What a Thrill to see Jack Palance working with Shelley Winters and Lee Marvin...Wonderful.


If you've seen this movie, and remember it, you know what I'm talking about when I say it's a TERRIFIC movie. Those who have NOT, must take my word that it IS. One of the BEST from the great genre of 50's Film Noir Classics, only in TechniColor!

The sad news is that it is extremely difficult to find, and also pricey.....but, worth every penny! ~operabruin

I saw this movie back when I was a kid growing up at the local theater, double featured with "Pete Kelley's Blues" and sadly, I was too little to appreciate just what I was seeing. Luckily, however, I own both these great movies on LaserDisc. They are Both Great Entertaining Films.

But, this review is of "I Died 1,000 Times". A fabulous remake of "High Sierra", which originally starred Humphrey Bogart; this time around with Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, and Lee Marvin. Great flick from the early wide-screen days, with great mountain scenes, and great imaginative use of color for its time. And of course, a story to knock you out! I searched for many many years, asking everyone about "that movie where they shoot the guy, and he slides down over the mountain and lands by his old green car" and NOBODY knew what the hell I was talking about...the closest I ever got to an answer was "Copper Canyon" with Ray Milland....well, I KNEW Ray Milland was not in the movie, but could not remember who it was. Then, many years later, BANG!, I saw The High Sierra with Bogart and I had a Major heart-stopping revelation...here was THE movie, but in B&W, NOT in color, and I KNEW I was not crazy. Flash forward, again, and LaserDiscs are out, and I'm reading my monthly copy of LaserDisc News, and WHAM, again, here's a flick called "I Died 1,000 Times", with a photo THAT I RECOGNIZED from the movie all the way back when I was a Kid! I snapped up a copy at my local dealer when it came out, and YES, this was it. What a Thrill to see Jack Palance working with Shelley Winters and Lee Marvin...Wonderful.

Eventually, it will come out on DVD, I hope, but until then Thank God I have my LaserDisc copy of it (I hope my player never dies!). When the DVD comes out you can BET I'll be one of the first in line for a copy of THIS BABY!

If you've seen this movie, and remember it, you know what I'm talking about when I say it's a TERRIFIC movie. Those who have NOT, must take my word that it IS. One of the BEST from the great genre of 50's Film Noir Classics, only in TechniColor! Watch for it!...I AM! ~operabruin

WB, HAS THE WIDE SCREEN VERSION ON DVD;12,29,2009.THIS COLOR MOVIE IS 95% WORD FOR WORD FROM THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC;"HIGH SIERRA"(see my review)
I FIRST SAW THIS FILM WHEN IT CAME OUT. IT WAS IN CINEMASCOPE,THE VHS HAS PAN&SCAN WHICH I
HATE. BUT I LIKE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH I'LL TAKE IT ANYWAY I CAN GET IT.
"PUNKS..JUST PUNKS!!" SAY'S PALANCE THINKING ABOUT HIS HELPERS IN HIS BIG FINAL HEIST.
PALANCE IS A MORE VIOLENT CHARACTER THAN BOGARTS VERSION. BIT PARTS ARE PLAYED BY,
NICK ADAMS,DENNIS HOPPER,LON CHENEY JR,GONZALAS GONZALAS,TOP B FILM ACTORS.
THE SCENE WHERE LORIE AND JACK TALK ABOUT THE STAR'S FROM THE FRONT YARD;THERES A ROLE
REVERSAL COMPARED TO THE SAME SCENE IN"HIGH SIERRA". THE MAIN ACTORS HERE ARE;
SHELLY WINTERS,LEE MARVIN,EARL HOLLIMAN,RALPH MOODY,LORIE NELSON AND A FINE UNDERRATED
ACTOR,PERRY LOPEZ. IF IT EVER COMES OUT ON DVD, I'LL GET IT. VHS WILL DO FOR NOW.
"COLORADO TERRITORY" WITH JOEL MC RAE IS A THIRD REMAKE. MALTINS BOOK RATES THAT MOVIE
3 STAR'S. I just got "COLORADO TERRITORY" (TCM) IT'S TERRIFIC!!! JOEL MCREA AND THE FIRST ADULT
WOMAN ON THE SCREEN I DEVELOPED A CRUSH ON;VIRGINIA MAYO,AND IS SHE HOT!!! (GREAT LEGS)
(MARGARET O'BRIAN, WAS MYFIRST CRUSH, BECAUSE SHE"S ABOUT MY AGE.) ALL 3 OF THESE MOVIES ARE
WORTH THE PRICE!!! 12,9,2009.WB, HAS THE WIDESCREEN VERSION ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just watched "High Sierra" followed by "Colorado Territory" (another remake of "High Sierra") and finally "I died a 100 Times". It's a really good film and very close to the original. The great cast (Palance and Shelley Winters) and the movie locations are making this a very worthy experience.

Recently we watched all 4 seasons from "Prison Break" which instantly reminded me of this old Jack Palance thriller called "House of Numbers", one of my all-time favorite movies from the fifties.
When I watched it again, I noticed it's based on a book by Jack Finney, so I ordered the novel via Inter Library Loan at our local library.
The movie is very similar to the book, only the mean prison guard, Nova, is even meaner in the book.

It's a very fascinating book/movie about two brothers (Jack Palance plays Arnie and Bill). Arnie ends up in St. Quentin and is on death row for killing a prison guard which he supposedly has not done.
Like Wentworth Miller in "Prison Break", Bill manages to get inside the prison in order to try to rescue his brother Arnie. They come up with a very unique plan...

But that's where the similarities with "Prison Break" end. Watch the movie on TCM if you get a chance and definitely read the book. I highly recommend it.

I rated "I died a 1000 Times" with 4 stars, because "House of Numbers" is even better, so I gave that one 5 stars.

Great camera work always featuring subtle shots of the snow capped mountains that play a part in this good ole flick with Jack Palance.It's definetly worth poppin some popcorn and watching.