It was quickly pulled from theaters and retitled A Fistful of Dynamite to more closely parallel Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars. The film even begins with a quote from Chairman Mao regarding the violence of revolution. Leone always likes scenes to take their time and Sean's memories are in such slow motion, they almost stop. Synched with long-term collaborator Ennio Morricone's haunting score, these scenes become strangely mystical. Particularly poignant are the flashback sequences. His best moments are when he is observing his surroundings. Please do not use ALL CAPS. Main theme from the Western movie A Fistful Of Dynamite with James Coburn and Rod Steiger The fact that the British version was even called A Fistful Of Dynamite, when it is closer to Leone's Once Upon A Time series, shows how confused the whole affair was. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for A Fistful Of Dynamite (Special Edition) [DVD] at Amazon.com. A Fistful of Dynamite movie (1971) - James Coburn. A Mexican bandit and an ex-IRA explosives expert are drawn into the Mexican revolution. After Sergio Leone exploded onto the scene with A Fistful Of Dollars and its two sequels, which spawned the term "Spaghetti Western", his career developed into a more pensive, cynical mood with Once Upon A Time In The West and this, his "Zapata Western". Released in 1971 as Duck You Sucker the film stars Rod Steiger as Juan Miranda, a peasant-turned-outlaw who befriends an on the run Irish revolutionary and explosives expert John Mallory played by James Coburn. It seems that by being tugged at one end by the director's political standpoint and from the other by the commercial demands of MGM, the movie finds itself pulled in both directions. Along with Leone’s typical trademarks like extreme close-ups of faces and eyes, the blowing up of bridges, and long, languid scenes that are alternately praised for their craftsmanship and criticized for their length, Leone fills the film with comments about war and revolution. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. As an aside, Leone did go with Duck, You Sucker as the title for the initial American release. His facial expressions—helped along by Leone’s vast talents as a director and cinematographer—run the gamut of simple Mexican peasant who knows his place around rich foreigners to no-BS, let me tell you like it is. Great sets, state-of-the-art pyrotechnics and explosion effects; amazing sets, very panoramic; long movie but the story keeps moving; very authentic historical depictions, great insight and gripping accounts into early 20th century Mexico in revolution. He said its by far one of the best things he has gotten this year! But if the Dollars films were seen as violent yet ultimately silly adventure films and Once Upon a Time in the West was seen as at least a step in the right direction with regard to serious filmmaking, A Fistful of Dynamite was a much more mature and darker film. Read Nick Jones's DVD Peter Bogdonavich, fresh from his success with 1968’s Targets, was originally slated to direct, but he and Leone got along like oil and water. Nevertheless, I was fascinated with both from start to finish, especially since Cox and Frayling disagree on several points. Director(s): Sergio Leone. Summary: Sergio Leone's 1972 … The film was Giu la testa, literally, “keep your head down,” a story about a poor Mexican peasant just trying to earn a crooked buck during the Mexican Revolution who is duped into becoming a major player in the revolution. Nevertheless, the film didn’t do as well as had been hoped, though nowadays, along with Leone’s other films, it has undergone a reevaluation and is considered a classic of the western genre. Revised, 3/5/00, with NEW information about the longer cut of Fistful of Dynamite. And it does, in spades. At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. The movie also feels somewhat heavy-handed at times, largely because the dialogue gets clumsy and overly expository at moments. And Duck, You Sucker…oops, I mean Once Upon a Time…the Revolution…oops, you’ll have to forgive me; I mean A Fistful of Dynamite has just such a story. Mike Sutton takes a look at the upcoming MGM release of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dynamite", a fascinating and very personal film which has been grossly underrated. One of the things I enjoy most about films is the stories of how they came to be made. And though Leone proudly stated in press releases and interviews that he was pleased he made cinema for the masses instead of for just a few hundred people around the globe, it was also a sore spot for him that the critics mostly ignored his cinematic offerings, even if moviegoers came in droves to see his pop art. Enter big-name action star James Coburn. James Coburn as John Mallory, explaining to Juan Miranda why there were political prisoners, not money, in the bank they attacked in A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) Rate this movie on film's main page. Review. This is a really nice Blu-Ray package that features the fully uncut version of the film in terrific quality and a plethora of extras to put the film in perspective. By the time he came to make this, Leone was no longer interested in celebratory western films, which glorified violence, and he certainly hated revolutions, or at least the rose-tinted depiction of them by other directors of the time. He shows his gifts for light comedy as in learning to fire a machine gun, for portraying genuine anger, as in his lecture to John Mallory about what revolution really means for the poor, and of genuine sadness as he discovers the mass murder of innocents in the grotto. The fact that the British version was even called A Fistful Of Dynamite, when it is closer to Leone's Once Upon A Time series, shows how confused the whole affair was. While some critics still argue style over substance in the Dollars trilogy, A Fistful of Dynamite—no matter what title it goes under—has much of both. The movie has been released under many titles; Duck, You Sucker! I got this movie for my dad for his birthday as he has always wanted it. HENRI-GORGES CLOUZOT’S INFERNO – The Blu Review, Bruce Willis in HUDSON HAWK Available on Blu-ray From Mill Creek Entertainment, Relive the Magic and Celebrate THE MUPPET MOVIE When it Returns to U.S. Leone wanted Jason Robards to co-star as the Irishman John Mallory but that, too, didn’t work out. Duck You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite) Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1971 / 157 154, 138, 120 min. Over the years, Hollywood has generally shied away from the subject of … Review this Movie. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Date published: September 14, 1972. Leone was not known for making short films and this one runs 157 minutes. Not previously known for his ability to flesh out characters, Leone does an admirable job, making the film a more rewarding experience as a result. There are several other featurettes that help to put Leoni and the film in perspective, including “The Myth of the Revolution;” an interview with co-writer Sergio Donati; a discussion of a Leone retrospective from 2005 with Frayling; a featurette on sorting out all the titles, re-titles, and different versions of the film; a short feature on restoring the film to its original version; a location comparison; trailers; radio spots; and two image galleries. Neither did Malcolm McDowell, who was gaining in popularity but considered still too green by the studio execs. During a re-release it was renamed A Fistful of Dynamite for commercial reasons, to make it the fourth film in The Dollars Trilogy. At the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1913, greedy bandit Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) and idealist John H. Mallory (James Coburn), an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dynamite (Western - O Bom Velho Oeste) Lamenoboy3. This contributed to the film’s poor box office as no one wanted to see a film with such a title. So the film is definitely a darker tone than any of Leone’s Dollars films, but it is not without humor. Bogdonavich insisted this was not a popular American phrase but Leone, who was never fluent in English, was absolutely convinced the phrase was well-known. A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS is set in a grim Mexican border town called San Miguel. Thankfully the film itself is not suffering from an … Since then, however, it has received a more favorable reception: on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 92% rating from 24 reviews; the critical consensus reads "Duck, You Sucker is a saucy helping of spaghetti western, with James Coburn and Rod Steiger's chemistry igniting the screen and Sergio Leone's bravura style on full display".