A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (Italian title Una Ragione Per Vivere E Una Per Morire, also known as Massacre at Fort Holman) is a 1972 Italian Spaghetti Western movie starring James Coburn, Bud Spencer and Telly Savalas.
Branded a coward for surrendering his New Mexico fort to the Confederates without firing a shot, a Union colonel attempts to redeem himself by leading a band of condemned prisoners on a suicide mission to recapture it.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Col. Pembroke first appears with his hat tipped forward over his eyes—seemingly asleep—and ignoring someone trying to talk this. This is almost identical to how the character Britt is introduced in The Magnificent Seven (1960). Both characters were played by James Coburn.
- Bald of Evil: Telly Savalas plays Major Ward, the insane commander of Fort Holman and personal nemesis of Colonel Pembroke. He intends to rule the area around Santa Fe as his personal fiefdom if the Confederacy wins the war.
- Bayonet Ya: While they are Storming the Castle, Piggot is killed by a Confederate soldier with a bayonet. Another soldier attempts to stab Pembroke with one, but Pembroke wrestles it off him and stabs him with it.
- Boxed Crook: Pembroke recruits six prisoners about to be hanged to help him capture Fort Holman: promising them their freedom if they survive.
- Colonel Badass: Colonel Pembroke escapes from a Confederate POW Camp and makes his way back into Union territory, despite being branded a coward and wanted as a traitor. He then gets himself arrested to be taken into a Union fort commanded by an old friend of his. He then assembles his own team of Boxed Crooks to undertake a Suicide Mission to retake the impregnable fort he surrendered, and kill the major he surrendered to.
- Dramatic Ammo Depletion: Sgt. Brent fires his Gatling gun at Col. Pembroke's feet; demanding to know where the hidden gold is. When Pembroke doesn't answer, he goes to shoot him but the Gatling gun runs dry. Brent quickly changes clips, but the delay gives Eli time to bring his own Gatling gun to bear on Brent and gun him down before he can fire again.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Eli enters Fort Holman dressed in a Confederate uniform and posing as a messenger.
- Exact Words: It is eventually revealed that the reason why Col. Pembroke surrendered Fort Holman without firing a shot was because Maj. Ward had his son and was threatening to hang him. After Pembroke surrendered, Ward kept his word and did not hang his son. He shot him.
- Gatling Good: While Storming the Castle, Pembroke's men mange to capture several of the fort's Gatling guns and use them to mow down many of Confederate troops.
- Get into Jail Free: Col. Pembroke allows himself to be arrested for looting and carrying a weapon in the military zone so he will be taken into the fort where he will be able to speak with Maj. Ballard.
- Got Volunteered: After he collects his 'volunteers' off the gallows, Col. Pembroke opens Sgt. Brent's tunic and yanks the jeweled cross off his neck. He shows the cross to Maj. Ballard, who recognizes it as the cross that Pembroke's wife always wore, and therefore that Brent stole it. Ballard then tells Pembroke "Sergeant Brent also volunteers for the mission".
- How We Got Here: The film starts with Pembroke and Eli standing in the aftermath of the massacre at Fort Holman. An Opening Scroll then gives some details and says that what follows is the true story, and then the film then flashes back to before the mission started.
- I Have Your Wife: It is eventually revealed that the reason why Col. Pembroke surrendered Fort Holman without firing a shot was because Maj. Ward had his son and was threatening to hang him. After Pembroke surrendered, Ward kept his word and did not hang his son. He shot him.
- Improvised Screwdriver: When Eli is locked in Maj. Ward's quarters, he uses a letter opener to start unscrewing the hinges on the door.
- Inn of No Return: Pembroke and his men encounter a family of seemingly religious homesteaders who invite them in to share a meal and stay the night. However, while searching the farm Will finds the body of the their missing member MacIvers in the barn with his throat cut. The amount of possessions stored in the barn indicate the family has been robbing and murdering travelers for some time.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Eli is telling the townsfolk that the Confederate mortar is out of range when a shell explodes in the street behind him. He then amends his statement to "almost out of range".
- Laughing Mad: Sgt. Brent snaps and starts laughing insanely while machine-gunning enemy soldiers who are attempting to surrender.
- Obfuscating Disability: Con Man Eli claims to be veteran of the Union army who lost a leg in the war. He beats a hasty retreat when a blacksmith tries to test his claim by hitting the 'fake' leg with a hammer.
- Opening Scroll: Following a scene showing the aftermath of the massacre at Fort Holman, an opening scroll purporting to be an article from the Joplin Gazette several years after the event is used to segue into How We Got Here.
- Phony Veteran: Eli pretends to a veteran who has lost a leg in the war to try to con people out of food. Which unit he claims to have serve with changes depending on who he is talking to.
- Put Their Heads Together: Eli does this to a two man Gatling gun crew when he storms their position, before throwing their unconscious bodies down the stairs.
- Recycled In Space: It's The Dirty Dozen...in The American Civil War!
- Shy Bladder: Eli pretends to suffer from this when he is caught sneaking around the fort after dark. He then has to go through an elaborate charade of pretending to take a leak so the sentries don't get suspicious.
- Storming the Castle: The film climaxes in a battle scene with Col. Pembroke and his small group of Boxed Crooks attempting to take the 'impregnable' Fort Holman from the Confederates.
- Stout Strength: Eli is the largest of the Boxed Crooks and is constantly insulted being called fat. However, he is also strong enough to lift up a man in each hand before slamming their heads together. Since he is played by Bud Spencer, this comes as no surprise.
- Suicide Mission: Col. Pembroke recruits his squad of Boxed Crooks literally off the gallows, telling them that there is a very good chance they will not survive the mission to take an impregnable fortress full of Confederate troops:Col. Pembroke: Gentlemen, I can promise you nothing, except a chance to die honorably, and possibly live. In any case, freedom at the end.
- Surrender Backfire: After most of his men have been massacred, Maj. Ward surrenders to Col. Pembroke; handing over his saber to Pembroke and reminding that of the rules of war regarding the acceptance of surrenders. However, he has misjudged the level of Pembroke's personal hatred of him and Pembroke stabs him with his own saber.
- Throw-Away Guns: After Maj. Ward surrenders to him, Col. Pembroke pulls the trigger on his revolver, only to have the hammer fall on an empty chamber. With a resigned expression on his face, Pembroke tosses the empty gun aside. And stabs Ward with the saber he had just surrendered to Pembroke.
