In the autumn of 1900, outlaw Claude Barbee puts his 'retirement plan' in action, attempting to lead his train-robbing gang across Texas to recover a cash stash hidden after a botched railroad heist.
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Too much of everything
Sorry, this movie sucks
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
A lot of fun.
Hardly watch any modern day movies so can't compare it to similar current releases . Although more vulgar , bloody , cruel than a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western they both probably are closer to b s than reality. The viewer may consider this film weird / strange but they won't fall asleep on it , that's why I gave it a 6 which may be slightly generous. A few minor notes ; actors may be hard to understand sometime while they try ( evidently ) real hard to sound like old west , uncouth , vulgar persons with a Southern drawl.....much attention is given to the outlaws having a dirty,grubby ( filthy ?) look which was in contrast to the clean look of the uniforms of the laboring prisoners making a break. In the same scene a guy has on a pair of long johns snow white clean , unusual for this movie .......The bad guys in this movie are a threat to mankind.
I've just seen the UK premiere of this one in Birmingham's 'Mocking Bird Cinema' at the Cine-Excess film conference. I highly endorse it. Its grubby realism grips throughout and the script was earthy and not in the least bit pretentious. Stunning camera work too. Director Duane Graves was even kind enough to give us a Skype chat before the premiere. He has achieved incredible results on a modest budget, in part by managing to get hold of vintage anamorphic lenses and by carefully negotiating free access to his filming locations. He told us his next project is apparently called 'Chill Canyon' - but he's given himself a hard act to follow...
I'm a huge spaghetti western fan and this one took me back to the feel of those oldies. Sure it gets a little silly, sure it gets pretty bloody, and yes it is weird - but it was all part of the fun for me. It flowed well and took me along for the ride. They made a solid movie with hardly any budget and no stars, and with a great soundtrack too. That's impressive.Some people seem to be complaining about its use of different tones that intersect throughout. Have you watched any of the classic spaghetti westerns?? They almost all had comedy, drama, action, violence, and sometimes even a little horror mixed in there. And I'll have to remind you that Bone Tomahawk was ladened with comedy. It's unfair to compare it to Bone Tomahawk anyway just because that is considered by some to be a "horror western," and that's the only other one released in the last few months (years?). I read an interview of the film makers where they said Kill Or Be Killed was made two whole years before Bone Tomahawk even started. So there's no way they were inspired by it or even knew about it probably. If you can handle the fact that it is an independent, and you want a fun popcorn movie set in the old west that tries something new and exciting for a change and isn't your run of the mill story seen 1,000,000 times (ahem, Forsaken, Jane Got a Gun, blah blah), this is well worth your time. You won't be disappointed.
Western theme has seen romanticized story of colorful men striving for a common goal, "Kill or Be Killed" might look like such movie on the surface, but it's far from a romancing tale. It can be as silly as schemes from Looney Tunes, then it turns completely in reverse with murder and rape. It's borderline thriller yet with sprinkle of crazy comedy, which is strangely alluring in its odd way.A group of outlaws is trying to recover their loot from previous heist. Along the way, they will meet incredibly arbitrary people with different ideologies and issues. These are no heroes by any stretch of imagination. In fact, nearly everyone, including the extras and supporting cast, are dysfunctional. The only thing that separates them is the level of severity.The accents used are heavy, each character sounds differently, though some are speaking with highly exaggerated tone and some might be too overzealous in their delivery. It tries to emulate the gritty ambiance of wild west, only for a few characters to show up looking smooth and modern compared to the others. However, one can't fault it for being predictable as it delivers twists and turns by every horse's gallop.Sometimes people would fall dead or go berserk at the drop of a hat. It would have light comedic moments then five minutes later it transforms into thriller grim gory tone. This jarring change translates to the action as well, guys would open fire in comical way, waving guns around while running, yet they would exchange gruesome homicide and attempted violation towards some girls.This is a truly bizarre tale, but there's inevitable draw of the unexpected. If peculiarity is your treasure, you'll find an abundance of it here.