User Reviews

"A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die" is a quality spaghetti western with a solid cast and an interesting storyline. It is filmed beautifully, with a relatively high production value for a film in this genre.

Alex Cord does a terrific job portraying Clay McCord, an outlaw who is suffering from increasingly debilitating seizures. He is seeking amnesty before his enemies close in on him, but is being too cocky for his own good when he asks for it. Robert Ryan delivers the best performance in the film as the governor of New Mexico. Mario Brega and Arthur Kennedy are also great here.

This movie is very good, but it doesn't stand out to me as being one of the best spaghetti westerns out there. It's lacking too much in style to be in the same league as any of the great ones. It does have some cool spaghetti overtones, but overall it's a bit too much like an American western. This is especially evident in the music score, which is OK as movies go in general, but pretty dull by euro-western standards. The soundtrack kind of reminds me of the music from "The Unforgiven." Although there is an interesting story here, it is told in a manner which is a bit too conventional for my tastes. If a spaghetti western fan and a Hollywood western fan had to watch a movie together, this one would be the perfect compromise.

All of this is not to say that anyone should avoid this film. I did enjoy watching it very much. As I said, it is a very well-done film and I recommend it to anyone who likes westerns, spaghetti or otherwise.

The cast alone tells you this will be a notch above the usual Italian western. Veteran actors Robert Ryan and Arthur Kennedy team up with Alex Cord who, at the time, seemed on the verge of stardom. The result is a movie that's both off-beat and down-beat and yet it'll satisfy those who seek more from a western than just gunplay. Especially interesting here is the character played by Alex Cord. One expects the "hero" in these westerns to be taciturn and introspective, but "Clay McCord" is an extreme example and, surprisingly enough, he's often shone in a passive, even weak position. Much is made of the fact that he fears falling prey to the epileptic fits which immobilized his father, and in these moments of helplessness he's either at the mercy of those who wish to harm him or those who wish to help him. To emphasize his passivity, Clay McCord -- don't you love that name? -- is often shone stripped to the waist as if he were little more than an attractive plaything being put on display. There's even a strong masochistic streak in his nature, most in evidence when he's used as a punching bag by his enemies and then suspended by his wrists and left hanging above the middle of a street. Not only does he often fail to protect himself, but McCord is equally ineffective in protecting those around him. Nearly everyone who helps him is killed.

While "A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die" is far from being a complete success, it has a depth and a tone which sets it apart and causes it to linger in the memory. It's also a good showcase for Alex Cord whose career tended to decline after this point following a few promising years in the mid-1960s. He must have been about 34 years old when he filmed this -- in his physical prime -- and the scene of him hanging by his wrists, bare-chested and sweaty, is a memorable piece of cinematic "beefcake."

Alex Cord stars in this beautifully-photographed Spaghetti Western about a gunfighter with an arm that goes into epileptic fits under pressure. After a local town decides to give amnesty and $50 to gunfighters that give themselves up, Cord strongly considers giving up his run-n-gun lifestyle. But of course there's bounty hunters, bandits and lawmen who don't exactly take a liking to that so Cord is gonna' need a lot of bullets. The action sequences are average for a Spaghetti (good guy shoots a bunch of times, bad guys throw their arms straight into the air and spin around) but the direction is quite good and the storyline is intriguing. Robert Ryan shows up to kick some ass and add some class to the proceedings. 7.5 out of 10

Pleasant and enjoyable Spaghetti Western with lots action , thrills , fights and violence . In Tuscosa, New Mexico, the Governor offers amnesty papers to all outlaws . When outlaw Clay McCord (Alex Cord) learns the Governor of New Mexico has offered a pardon to all who apply for it at the town of Tuscosa , he's intrigued but suspicious about it , but he wants his redemption . Then Clay who suffers from troubled occasional epyleptic and strange spells about his deceased father arrives in a minering village called ¨Escondido¨ with a poster captioning the following : ¨If you ain't wanted Mister , you ain't wanted¨. The village is tyrannically domineed by a ruthless villain , boss Kraut (Mario Brega) , there Clay is healed by the beautiful Laurinda (Nicoletta Machiavelli) .Later on , in Tutcosa , Clay McCord's appearance triggers a violent mayhem , as he clashes with the local sheriff , Roy Colby (Arthur Kennedy) , and other outlaws . The Governor (Robert Ryan) then arrives and attempts to calm the situation , knowing that if McCord asks for amnesty , other outlaws will follow .A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die... That's all McCord gives them! The man with the twisted hand always shoots straight to kill!

This is a good S. W. plenty of action , shootouts , fist-play and with an interesting character : an outlaw who suffers epileptic fits which plagued his father as well . An above average Spaghetti Western with usual ingredients , a violent confrontation among bandits , an amnesty and eventually a complex chain of happenings leading to a shoot-out with McCord, Colby, and the Governor on one side while a band of outlaws comprise the other . Stars Alex Cord who plays efficiently the deranged gunslinger , and , even did all of his own stunts . He sought a Hollywood a hard way to success and he found one via his equestrian skills in the early 1960s starring some TV Westerns . Steady work came to him on such established western TV series as Laramie (1959) and Branded (1965) and that extended itself into acting roles on crime action series as Route 66 (1960) and The Naked City (1958). Gaining a foothold in feature films within a relatively short time, he starred or co-starred in more than 30 feature films, including Synanon (1965), Stagecoach (1966), Stiletto (1969) and Mafia (1968). After his film career declined in the late 1970s he turned to action adventure overseas with this notorious "spaghetti western" : A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (1967) and the British war drama The Last Grenade (1970) and later commercial interest was drawn from his title role in Grayeagle (1977). In Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire (1967) movie appears usual support actors who took part of hundreds of Spaghetti or Paella Westerns as Italians : Mario Brega, Gianpiero Albertini , Enzo Fiermonte , Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia , Spartaco Conversi , Fortunato Arena, John Bartha, Alberto Dell'Acqua , Ottaviano Dell'Acqua , as Spaniards : Lorenzo Robledo , Antonio Molino Rojo , Aldo Sambrell , Daniel Martin , José Canalejas , Francisco Sanz and José Manuel Martin .

It contains an original musical score by Carlo Rustichelli , it is sensitive and rousing as well , this is one of the best soundtracks of the genre . Likewise, a colorful and evocative cinematography by Aiace Parolin, shot on location in Desierto de Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain and De Laurentiis Studio, Rome, Italy . The motion picture was professionally directed by Franco Giraldi . This Italian writer/filmmaker (and Sergio Leone 's assistant director) so consistently mixed the good with the mediocre that it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . He directed four Westerns with abundant touches of humor (Seven guns for the MacGregor -1966- , 7 women for the MacGregor -1967- ) and one serious and violent (A minute to pray , a second to day -1968- ) . Rating : 7/10 , acceptable and decent movie that will appeal to Spaghetti Western buffs .

Alex Cord plays Clay McCord(how apt!), an outlaw who has traveled to New Mexico on the promise of amnesty given by its governor(Robert Ryan). Unfortunately, Clay gets challenged by the local sheriff(Arthur Kennedy) who doesn't agree with the governor's plans, and decides to use Clay to lure other outlaws to the state, so that he can deal with them all at once. This leads to a big showdown at the end.

Not bad western is clearly based on the style of the Sergio Leone westerns, and is a decent attempt at doing so, though of course is not as stylish or memorable. Good cast, and an interesting character detail of Clay having epilepsy like his father, which sometimes makes him vulnerable.

I caught this for the first time a few nights ago on television. I expected to only tune in for a few minutes, but found myself intrigued by the movie. I ended up watching it all and found it surprisingly compelling. The acting by the three American leads was quite good, especially that of Alex Cord. He plays a gunslinger with quite a degree of vulnerability. Very different from how most of them are portrayed in westerns. He ended up in several situations where he was at the mercy of the bounty hunters. The final shootout between the three leads and the bad guys was very good, as was the scene where the doctor digs a bullet out of Clay McCord. Somewhat gruesome, but realistic. I must admit that, despite my initial misgivings at watching a "spaghetti western", I ended up enjoying this film quite a bit. I would recommend it to anyone who likes westerns.

A Minute To Pray,A Second To Die is a good spaghetti western that I enjoyed watching. This story is taken from the point of view of the outlaw. Alex Cord plays a outlaw gunslinger that grows tired of his occupation and life of violence and in the process of trying to hang up his guns and get amnesty for his crimes, he must deal with both law enforcement and the criminal element to achieve a future peaceful life. This film is approached differently than most westerns of it's times and it gives Alex Cord a chance to play up his character's flaws. Our hero/lead is not really a good guy, but he has some redeeming decent qualities compared to most of the other characters in the film. The west is portrayed here in a very dark fashion, life is cheap and most of the people live in squalor and misery or are completely ruthless and amoral scum. Robert Ryan shows up later and gives the film a lot of class and a bad ass character with unwavering integrity. I found this to be a very interesting B movie that was approached differently and enjoyed it quite a bit. A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die is also a song from Buffalo Hardcore legends Zero Tolerance. ZT was Buffalo, NY's answer to bands like Leeway or CroMags, so if you are a fan of NYHC or thrash metal, than Zero Tolerance is a band you should check out. Oh, the film... A Minute To Pray,A Second To Die is a nice spaghetti western and worth checking out regardless of your taste in music.

118 minutes...was claimed on the DVD......but it only runs 98. The 20 minutes cut seems to have made a very choppy...rather unabsorbing film out of what apparently..with the INTENDED..(but chopped off here) ironic ending.. some nice bits..and a very good performance by Robert Ryan..a wonderful actor...could have been at least a pretty good film. As it is now...it's confusing.....and discordant...and exceptionally ordinary..a harkback, visually & musically, to the Hollywood carbon copy Westerns that Italy used to churn out before the 3 Sergios started weaving their magic. It was nice to see Arthur Kennedy & Ryan shoot it out with the bandits at the climax...and Alex Cord had a few good moments of action...other than that...a very forgettable film.

Those countless spaguetti westerns were entitled in most of the time with title like this, however it didn't apply on it, no one pray before dying, there a priest in early scenes, maybe it would explain so weird title, to access the US market they used to contract old american actors to enhance and try open up such valuable market by the the way with modest success, instead becomes affordable a large range of news countries, the movie is an average atempt to make something of US's alikes but both actors already too old to engagement and to improve this flick spaguetti,let see it easily, but don't expect too much!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.25

This Spaghetti Western uses three American lead actors which takes away a little of the typical spaghetti aura. The plot is about an amnesty that the governor of New Mexico gives to all willing criminals to provide them a chance to start a new life. Usually this kind of opportunity is limited to past events but in this film it seems more like a licence to kill because even new crimes (like e.g. threatening the governor) are forgiven. The story is an endless chain of killings where nearly every character has only the purpose to deliver more carcasses. Only the few leads have stamina. Clay McCord is haunted by nightmares related to a childhood event where unsurprisingly he killed a lot of people. In the middle of the everlasting mayhem this kind of reflections lack credibility. Compared with similar films like e.g. BANDIDOS none of the characters in this film was likable for me.

Apart of the weak content which targets certain customers this film is well shot, sets are somewhat detailed and the acting is average.

4 / 10.

Carcasses galore do not a better movie make. Some guy with an unnamed palsey like affliction in his hand goes around blowing people away by the dozen. For an example he rides into a camp, shoots about fifteen people and next is seen riding off on their wagon. He must have needed a wagon.

We get a flashback scene wherein the principal is seen as a boy of around nine kneeling over his father in the street while his dad is having an attack of the obviously genetic palsey. Ten or so men stand around and laugh at the boy's father in derision. The kid gets mad and grabs a gun and shoots them all dead. We are supposed to presume the kid goes on with the business of growing up without answering any repercussions from having committed this mass murder in the middle of town. Uhh...ok. Right. That could happen.

This movie plays like a Sergio Leone copy done by an elementary school drama club. When in doubt, shoot some characters.

The most unrealistic aspect of this film is that there is no way the main character would have been able to travel around on horseback carrying that amount of lead ammunition required to kill as many as he does. Hey, maybe thats why he needed the wagon.

Back when the Italians were making their so-called 'Spaghetti Westerns', studios often obtained the services of non-Italians to play the leads in their films. The idea was that these B-list foreign actors would increase the marketability of the films abroad and folks like Rod Steiger, Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef were often seen in these movies. In "Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire", Alex Cord, Arthur Kennedy and Robert Ryan starred...and it was unusual to see that many American actors in one of these films.

Cord plays Clay McCord, an outlaw who is headed to Tuscosa, New Mexico Territory. Why? The territory has just approved an amnesty for criminals. In other words, if they sign a document promising to obey the law, their past crimes will be forgiven. But Cord realizes this might just be too good to be true...and that's exactly the case. Scum-bags, bounty hunters and the like plan to kill these outlaws before they get to the city...and in McCord's case this actually occurs IN Tuscosa...mostly because the Sheriff (Kennedy) is a jerk. But when the Governor (Ryan) arrives and swears the support the amnesty, McCord MIGHT just stand a chance.

Like you'd expect, this movie is extremely violent...as are nearly every Italian western. Lots of remorseless killings are the norm in this one and they seem to take precedence over the plot at times. Add to that a very simple plot and you have what amounts to an exciting time-passer and not much more.

By the way, I really liked Ryan's performance....very low key and convincing.

I saw this movie over 20 years ago and had rather fond memories of it. Catching again on Cinemax this month, I realized how little discernment I had about films back then. This is an utterly ordinary spaghetti western, with absolutely nothing noteworthy about it. Script, direction, acting, photography are all a big blah. Stick with the Sergio Leone westerns!