Juan Sayago returns to his hometown after spending 18 years in prison for killing a man, Trueb, in cold blood. When Trueb's son, Julian, hears Sayago has returned to town he demands that Sayago face him in a duel to avenge his father's death. However Julian's brother, Pedro begins to doubt Sayago is an honorless killer after meeting Sayago and spending time with him. Then Pedro hears from his fiancé's father that in realty Trueb had provoked Sayago till he was forced to kill him to preserve his honor as a man. Pedro tells Julián but he is unswayed by these stories and beats Pedro for even suggesting their father was anything less than perfect. Julian continues harassing Sayago by following him around and destroying what's left of his house until finally Sayago is forced to once again face Julian as he did his father to preserve his honor. Sayago kills Julian, and in return, Pedro is forced to kill Sayago.
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. John DeFore on The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a gem of a vintage Mexican Western that feels its moral quandaries deeply". Robert Abele from Los Angeles Times wrote: "Shot in a crisp black-and-white that treasures bleak long shots as much as thrillingly nervous camera movement, "Time to Die" turns the showdown narrative of so many oaters into an actively intelligent, darkly funny and no less suspenseful rumination on the pull of the horizon versus the ill wind at the back." Ben Sachs from Chicago Reader stated: "This was the first feature directed by Arturo Ripstein, and already he demonstrates a refined aesthetic sensibility in his use of curvilinear camera movements to chart the development of interpersonal relationships." Alan Scherstuhl from The Village Voice wrote: "Spare and heartsick, Arturo Ripstein’s 1966 cycles-of-violence western parable Time to Die finds nothing romantic in showdowns and shootouts. It’s a swift slow burn of a film, the story of a man who once got pushed too far with terrible results now getting pushed too far again, with results that are, as the title suggests, sure to be worse. The screenplay may come from novelists — it’s credited to no less than Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes — but don’t look to it for novelistic expansiveness. Ripstein’s debut is pared down, whetted to a cutting sharpness." In 1967, won a "Best Film " award given by the "Mexican Cinema Journalists".
