James Coburn reportedly regarded the 1972 Italian western *A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die* as a film he would prefer to forget, describing it in a 1997 interview as an “Italian macaroni western”. The article presents the film as an unusual but minor detour in the career of an actor otherwise celebrated for roles in films such as *The Magnificent Seven* and *The Great Escape*, and later recognised with an Oscar for *Affliction*.

Directed by Tonino Valerii, the film stars Coburn as a disgraced Union colonel who recruits condemned prisoners to retake a Confederate-held fort and restore his reputation; Telly Savalas and Bud Spencer also appear. It was Coburn’s second Italian western after Sergio Leone’s *Duck, You Sucker!*, made during a period when American actors increasingly worked in Europe, but it left less of an impression on him. Two English-language versions exist: a roughly 112-minute cut with another actor dubbing Coburn, and a shorter US version restoring his voice with altered music and dubbing.