Main Cast: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson, Lee Marvin
Release Year: 1955
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
Plot
I Died a Thousand Times is a scene-by-scene remake of the 1941 crime-drama classic High Sierra. Jack Palance steps into the old Humphrey Bogart role as Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, the ageing bank robber who intends to pull off one last heist before retiring. Sprung from prison by likeable crime boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jr.), Earle is commissioned to mastermind the robbery of a resort hotel. His partners in crime include the hotheaded, immature Babe (Lee Marvin) and Red (Earl Holliman), as well as "inside man" Mendoza (Perry Lopez). Also along for the ride is Marie (Shelley Winters), a dance-hall girl whom Babe has picked up. Marie falls in love with Earle, but he has eyes only for Velma (Lori Nelson), the club-footed daughter of a farmer (Ralph Moody) whom Earle had earlier befriended. Intending to use his share of the loot to finance Velma's operation, Earle goes through with the robbery, only to be thwarted by the ineptitude of his partners, the treachery of the late Big Mac's successors, and, finally, the fickle Velma. With the faithful Marie by his side, Earle makes a desperate escape into the High Sierras, but fate is still against him. Essentially an itinerary of what has previously "clicked" in High Sierra, I Died a Thousand Times makes a few concessions to changing tastes and mores; the stereotype comedy-relief character played by black actor Willie Best in the original film, for example, has been replaced by the more "acceptable" (at least by 1950s terms) stereotyped Mexican played by Gonzales-Gonzales. While the 1955 film cannot match the excellence of its 1941 role model, I Died a Thousand Times works pretty well on its own terms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Edward Carrere - Art Director, Moss Mabry - Costume Designer, Chuck Hansen - First Assistant Director, Stuart Heisler - Director, Clarence Kolster - Editor, David Buttolph - Composer (Music Score), Gordon Bau - Makeup, Ted D. McCord - Cinematographer, Willis Goldbeck - Producer, William L. Kuehl - Set Designer, Charles Lang - Sound/Sound Designer, W.R. Burnett - Screenwriter, W.R. Burnett - Book Author
I Died a Thousand Times is a scene-by-scene re-remake of the 1941 popular film High Sierra, which was based upon a novel by W.R. Burnett and starred Humphrey Bogart as Earle.
The film marks the third motion picture appearance of Dennis Hopper's six-decade career, and Nick Adams makes an uncredited appearance as a bellhop in the film.
The picture tells of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle (Jack Palance), an ageing bank robber who intends to pull off one last heist before retiring.
Sprung from prison by crime boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jr.), Earle agrees to plan the robbery of a resort hotel. His partners include the hotheaded Babe (Lee Marvin), Red (Earl Holliman), and Louis Mendoza (Perry Lopez), as the "inside man." Along for the ride is Marie (Shelley Winters), a dance-hall girl whom Babe recently met.
Marie falls in love with Earle, but he is more interested in Velma (Lori Nelson), the club-footed daughter of a farmer (Ralph Moody) whom Earle had earlier befriended.
Intending to use his share of the loot to pay for Velma's needed operation, Earle goes through with the robbery, only to be thwarted by the ineptitude of his gang, the treachery of the late Big Mac's successors, and, the fickle Velma.
With the still faithful Marie by his side, Earle makes a desperate escape into the High Sierras, but noir fate is against him.
Background
The stereotype comedy-relief character played by black actor Willie Best in the original film has been replaced by a Mexican stereotype played by Gonzales-Gonzales.
Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, did not like the remake, specifically the screenplay and its inadvertent message, and wrote, "Somehow it isn't quite as touching as it was fourteen years ago. Not by a lot-—and the trouble is not wholly Mr. Palance...But the reason this film is not so touching is because it is antique and absurd—-the kind of glorification of the gunman that was obsolescent when High Sierra was made. It is an insult to social institutions and to public intelligence to pull this old mythological hero out of the archives and set him on a mountain top again. The pretense is so blunt and sentimental that it makes the whole thing a total cliché. And the acting does not greatly improve it...It is obvious that High Sierra has come to pretty low ground."[2]
