DUCK, YOU SUCKER (a.k.a. A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE)DIRECTED BY: SERGIO LEONE
WRITTEN BY: SERGIO LEONE, LUCIANO VINCENZONI, & SERGIO DONATI
ORIGINALLY REVIEWED: APRIL 18, 2009
OVERALL SCORE: 7.50/10
WRITTEN BY: SERGIO LEONE, LUCIANO VINCENZONI, & SERGIO DONATI
ORIGINALLY REVIEWED: APRIL 18, 2009
OVERALL SCORE: 7.50/10
Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) is a low life scum who spends his days robbing stagecoaches, killing its rich inhabitants, and raping women with his many illegitimate children. After a successful robbery one day he comes across an Irish dynamite expert, John Malloy (James Coburn). The two get off to a very rocky start, but are quickly thrust into the middle of the Mexican Revolution, one by choice, the other by accident. Seeking out very different things in life, John and Juan become an unlikely but capable team in aiding the Revolution.
From the opening Mao Tse-Tung quote on the troubles of revolution, to the first shot of Juan urinating on group of beetles, it's clear right off the bat this western is not your typical Sergio Leone. Juan is a despicable character, using his family only for his own profit, and having raped a women no more than 15 minutes into the film. John on the other hand, keeps to himself, and only through extended flashbacks do we learn more about his dark past (ala Once Upon a Time in the West Style/Few Dollars More style).
Even for all Juan's faults, he maintains a quasi-Tuco style to life which makes him entertaining, and as the film moves, his character grows into the sympathetic character we find in the films finale. John on the other hand takes a very intriguing, Blondie-esque, trait as the always two steps ahead of the game intellectual character. With neither character we get a solid background, even John's backstory is quite complex, and ambiguous. Yet for all the films characters, it takes a long time to get where it's going. Much of the opening half of the film is spent developing the relationship between John and Juan. How they seek to use each other for personal gain, while Leone spends his time developing a series of gags and situations for them to fall victim too.
Sergio Leone delivers some great directing moments, combining a sort of comical flair for the first hour, while a darker, more painful use of camera work towards the later half. At the backdrop, Ennio Morricone's score is much more quirky than his previous Leone collaborations, but by the end of the film I was completely sold on it. The great weakness of Duck, You Sucker is that its opening hour is just spread far too thin. It's unable to sustain the greatest of interest, but once the PoW scene kicks in, Leone goes into overdrive and delivers a final 1 and a half as good as any I've ever witnessed. It's painful, epic, moving, allowing us to develop a strange connection to these oddball characters, while they themselves grow closer as a pair. A poignant tale on the tragedy of revolution.
The all too often overlooked, Duck, You Sucker, is a powerful and epic tale (despite its title) of two complete opposite characters, and a harsh look at Leone's personal perspective on revolutions.
From the opening Mao Tse-Tung quote on the troubles of revolution, to the first shot of Juan urinating on group of beetles, it's clear right off the bat this western is not your typical Sergio Leone. Juan is a despicable character, using his family only for his own profit, and having raped a women no more than 15 minutes into the film. John on the other hand, keeps to himself, and only through extended flashbacks do we learn more about his dark past (ala Once Upon a Time in the West Style/Few Dollars More style).
Even for all Juan's faults, he maintains a quasi-Tuco style to life which makes him entertaining, and as the film moves, his character grows into the sympathetic character we find in the films finale. John on the other hand takes a very intriguing, Blondie-esque, trait as the always two steps ahead of the game intellectual character. With neither character we get a solid background, even John's backstory is quite complex, and ambiguous. Yet for all the films characters, it takes a long time to get where it's going. Much of the opening half of the film is spent developing the relationship between John and Juan. How they seek to use each other for personal gain, while Leone spends his time developing a series of gags and situations for them to fall victim too.
Sergio Leone delivers some great directing moments, combining a sort of comical flair for the first hour, while a darker, more painful use of camera work towards the later half. At the backdrop, Ennio Morricone's score is much more quirky than his previous Leone collaborations, but by the end of the film I was completely sold on it. The great weakness of Duck, You Sucker is that its opening hour is just spread far too thin. It's unable to sustain the greatest of interest, but once the PoW scene kicks in, Leone goes into overdrive and delivers a final 1 and a half as good as any I've ever witnessed. It's painful, epic, moving, allowing us to develop a strange connection to these oddball characters, while they themselves grow closer as a pair. A poignant tale on the tragedy of revolution.
The all too often overlooked, Duck, You Sucker, is a powerful and epic tale (despite its title) of two complete opposite characters, and a harsh look at Leone's personal perspective on revolutions.
0 better thoughts:
Post a Comment