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Duck You Sucker

Posted by jamesgarvin (A) on August 22, 2007 at 15:16:42

Newly minted release of Sergio Leone's 1971 (released in 1972) film. The film was originally released under the previous title, then changed to Fistful of Dynamite shortly after the release. In France, It was released as "Once upon a Time: Revolution." Talk about a personality disorder. I like the French title best.

The film starts James Coburn as a former member of the I.R.A. who winds up in Mexico in time for the Mexican Revolution (as the special features point out, the I.R.A. was not formed until after the end of the Mexican Revolution.) There, he plies his special skills as demolition expert, when he meets Rod Steiger, playing the Mexican Bandit, who, in tow with Coburn, gets sucked into the Revolution. He thinks he is rescuing treasure - he actually rescues prisoners.

Like The Good, Bad, and the Ugly and Once upon a Time in the West, the score is conducted by Ennio Morricone. Unlike those two films, this film was deeper, more contemplative, and more personal to Leone. According to the special features, the film capsulized Leone's distaste for armed revolution. His father was a Marxist, apparently hiding from the Fascists in Italy during WWII.

The film also utilizes the flashback to fill in some details. This was a technique that Leone used during For a Few Dollars More. In that film, he used the flashback to tell us what happened. In this, he also tells us what happened, but also relies on the viewer to extrapolate information not obvious to apply to the current film. I will admit that there was information that the special features pointed out which I missed. His earlier work seemed to be more about entertainment. This film more about a seasoned director being a little more subtle, relying on the audience to pick up small, but important details to understand not only the story, but also the characters.

While I think I enjoy his earlier films more, I do think that, in some respects, this is his best film, and contains a level of maturity that his earlier films do not display. In those, what you saw is what you got. Here, what you see is what you get only if you are paying close attention.

The special features are very good. A segment from the restorer. One from a film historian discussing the parallels between the content of the film and and Leone's political beliefs, as well as the twenty minutes of film cut from the U.S. release for largely political reasons.

For Leone fans, this is a must own. For those on the Leone fence, this may finally be the Leone film for you.

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Sonic Craft

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