More Dead Than Alive

More Dead Than Alive
More Dead Than Alive
	Movie Poster
Directed by	Robert Sparr
Written by	George Schenck
Produced by	Aubrey Schenck; Hal Klein
Starring	Clint Walker; Vincent Price; Anne Francis; Mike Henry; Beverly Powers; Paul Hampton
Cinematography	Jack Marquette
Edited by	John F. Schreyer
Music by	Philip Springer
Production; company	Aubrey Schenck Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	January 15, 1969
Running time	101 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

More Dead Than Alive is a 1969 American Western film directed by Robert Sparr and produced by Aubrey Schenck. It was filmed at Agua Dulce, California.^[1]

Plot[]

An incarcerated killer named Cain (Clint Walker) is released from prison after 18 years and wants to settle down as a rancher without ever having to touch a gun again. But no one will give him a job and people are after him for his earlier crimes. He finally takes an offer from a showman named Ruffalo (Vincent Price) to perform as "Killer Cain" in his traveling shooting show. However, after 18 years without practice, Cain is not as good as he once was with a gun. Cain tries to find redemption and peace when he falls in love and eventually marries Monica Alton (Anne Francis), an artist from the east who came out west to paint. Yet Cain's reputation continues to dog him as past enemies (Mike Henry) try to settle old scores and a young sharpshooter rival with mental issues in Ruffalo's show named Billy Valence (Paul Hampton) looking to build his reputation by killing Cain.

Principal cast[]

Actor	Role
Clint Walker	Cain
Vincent Price	Dan Ruffalo
Anne Francis	Monica Alton
Paul Hampton	Billy
Mike Henry	Luke Santee
William Woodson	Warden
Beverly Powers	Sheree

Critical reception[]

Reviewer Howard Thompson of The New York Times in 1969 praised the performances of Clint Walker and Anne Francis, but did not care for the movie, saying "More Dead Than Alive is a dogged but dinky little Western with the perfect title." He described Paul Hampton in the role of Billy as an "incredibly poor young actor" and concluded that "the title still fits: 'Dead' western."^[2]