Customer Reviews

A Fistful of Dynamite [VHS]

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I hadn't seen this film in years but it was showing the other night when I was at my mother's house. We were both riveted by it and I suddenly remembered seeing thie Sergio Leone movie as a kid and being haunted by the music as well as the plot. The plot involves an Irish revolutionary who is experienced in blowing things up who escapes the law in Ireland, goes on the lam and ends up in Mexico, only to be taken in by a bunch of criminals (the boss played to perfection by Rod Steiger) who nickname Coburn "Firecracker" for his amazing skill with dynamite. The whole bunch is, in turn, caught up in the Mexican Revolution.
I know this was supposed to be a part of a trilogy by Leone but this movie stands alone just fine. Both Coburn and Steiger play guys who are, at first, totally self-interested and then begin to need each other but so slowly that it is completely believable. Nothing seems inevitable in this movie and saccharine, sentimental and schlocky this movie is not.
After watching this, I just wondered: WHY don't they make movies like this anymore, not only full of action and pure macho (there are plenty of those movies still being made) but the kind of male characters that have some depth, heart and believable, unique personalities?

"Duck, You Sucker" (also known as "A Fistful of Dynamite") is one of those films you need to watch a couple of times before you can fully appreciate it. It's another Western epic from Sergio Leone, yet it is extremely different from his famous "Man with No Name" trilogy. Filled with more deep personal conflicts, transformations and revelations, this makes for one entertaining film.

Juan is a despicable thief and sometimes murderer who's not afraid to get his hands a little dirty if it means getting goods and money for he and his family. John is an Irish Revolutionary who has expertise in blowing just about anything up to smithereens. When Juan sees the man in action, he gets the idea that John could help him empty out the bank of his dreams. With Juan's trigger finger and John's dynamite tossing, how could it go wrong? The only thing is Juan ends up getting himself involved in an unexpected revolution that he never wanted to be a part of, and for better or worse the two end up forming a very odd bond and team.

I wouldn't call this my favorite Leone film, but it is one I find myself watching again and again. There's just something very appealing about it, and that's no easy feat when you really set out to have your main guy, Rod Steiger who plays "Juan," to be as despicable and vile as they come. Within the first 10 minutes or so, we see him kill somebody, rob a group of snobs and even rape a woman snob (though the rape isn't violent and is relatively short, it still is rape). I really thought there was no way in hell I would be able to sympathize for a character like that, but I knew there was the great James Coburn who could make the movie work for me. Surprise, Leone really does actually get you to care about Juan as you see him grow and mature through this little quest (he's still very flawed and shallow at times, but the growth and transformation is undeniable). And Colburn, who plays "John," is also not without his many flaws, as he's a tortured soul who can't seem to let go of the past. The two men are absolutely fantastic in their roles.

This new 2-Disc edition of "Duck, You Sucker" includes the complete 157 minute version that wasn't shown in the U.S., which includes a lot of extended scenes and flashbacks (most noticeably the three minute flashback at the end that was usually trimmed down to keep the flow and avoid confusion). The movie looks and sounds great, and if you're afraid the 5.1 surround will ruin the authenticity or credibility of the film, you can always watch it in mono. There are some nice featurettes and a commentary from a film historian, Sir Christopher Frayling.

"Duck, You Sucker" has a great balance of action, comedy, drama and even heart at times. Again, I don't know if I would call this his best film, but it is definitely one of Sergio Leone's more entertaining films. I'd say put this on your list at some point, especially if you're a huge film buff, as it is a very different movie experience. So sit down, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show, but beware if at some point in your living room you hear a fuse and some stranger in the distance yelling, "Duck, you sucker!" -Michael Crane

This film was nearly lost to American viewers for many years. This story is unique in the sense that a renegade Irishman bands with a Mexican rogue and his family amidst the madness of Mexico torn by civil war. There are some brutal moments and some very funny scenes. The feeling of the time is captured as only Leone could do. Some terrific battle scenes and one of the best train wrecks ever filmed. Great dialog and great musical score by Ennio Morricone is both haunting and flowing. Plenty of action and adventure for the hardcore fan of the Italian films. Check it out.

Although not quite as good as Once Upon A Time In The West and The Good The Bad and the Ugly, this is still a masterpiece and remains Italian cinema's best depiction of the Mexican revolution. Leone's landscape panoramas and his unrivalled close-ups, Morricone's fantasic music (his score is right-up there with his all time best - buy the CD) and great, larger than life performances by Steiger and Coburn contribute to the fun. "Where there's revolution, there's confusion. And where there's confusion a man who knows what he wants stand a good chance of getting it".

My favourites - the scene in which Coburn watches the execution of the revolutionaries intercut with a flashback of killing his best friend (played by Lucio Fulci horror star David Warbeck) in Ireland and the scene in which Steiger robs the bank opening door after door to find revolutionaries instead of money to the accompanyment of a Morricone tune steadily building in crescendo.

But this is the cut PG rated version and is also pan and scanned - the uncut version, which is about 17 minutes longer, was released on laserdisc a couple of years ago and surely DVD is crying out for a widescreen, uncut release. Where is it ?

This movie has been one of my favorites for years. James Coburn and Rod Steiger are great in their roles, expecially Steiger. The story about a Mexican bandit who's drawn unwilingly into a revolution by an Irish explosive expert combines both superb action scenes, great drama, humor and also has a brilliant score by Ennio Morricone. A must for Leone fans and everybody else should try to see it if they get a chance!

A Revolution is when the people who read the books tell the people who don't read the books to fight. Where do the people who don't read the books end up ? DEAD --Juan(Rod Steiger) I recently saw the full version of this film on a cable "western" channel. I'd originally seen it on HBO in around '82 and that must have been the cut version because there were some scenes I just saw for the first time. I also don't remember the Mao quote being at the start of the film back then. I enjoyed this movie just as much almost 25 years later. I still remembered Rod steiger and James Coburns horrible accents that just seemed to make this film more fun to watch (plus it helps them that everyone else is dubbed). Leone was not confined by hollywood constrictions that require most movies to be 1:30 to 1:45 long. He made everyone of his movies in epic, over the top style--Its great that as director he was given the freedom to translate his vision to the screen. Also a great music score. I still have to lookup "The Patriotism" by Baukinan on Amazom!

Finally out on DVD! And with a few new twists from the VHS version, especially the ending -- the final flashback sequence. Of course I got its meaning. Much later after the screening, that is. Will you? A no brainer film like this making me work the final flashback sequence out into the whole of James Coburn's character so that he made some kind of sense in the story. My compliments to Mr. Leone! Incredible acting from James Coburn and Rod Stieger. Yes, Stierger's accent is bad but who cares! The feeling he gives to his character is incredible! Great cinema, many memorable lines, and an enduring film score; one of Morricone's finest. Don't expect anything from this film. It is better that way. Give it room to breath and allow it to take you where it wants to go, and soon you will experience a feeling that you are definately on a ride. And at the film's conclusion you'll have felt as if you had actually been somewhere. If you are a Leone fan this film is not to be missed.
--I can imagine father...
--The people who read the books go to the people who don't read the books and say we want a revolution...
--He acts like a tourist only he's staying...
--I don't want to be a hero of the revolution...
--What about me...

(Re-rated considering the DVD edition; i originally rated the significantly-shorter VHS edition 3 stars.)

Once upon a simpler time, Sergio Leone set out to make a trilogy of films that would be thematically related -- the "Once Upon a Time" films; many people aren't aware of this, even if they know Leone's work.

This film (according to usually-reliable sources), shot under the working title "Once Upon a Time -- The Revolution", was the second of the three (between "...in the West" and "...in America".

While it mostly eschews the heavier-handed Messages of the other two, still not everything in this film is on the surface -- there is subtext in the relationship between the Mexican peasant bankrobber and the fugitive Irish explosives expert.

Rod Steiger (in my second-favourite of his roles) as Juan, the apolitical bank robber drawn into the Mexican Revolution very much against his better judgement and James Coburn, travelling through Mexico by motorcycle carrying enough dynamite under his long duster to redraw the maps if he's shot, both appear to have had a ball making this film.

In the elliptical way that Leone often approaches things, this film is the story of the redemption of a man who has given up on himself -- the cynical Irish fugitive begins to realise that, despite his claim that "...in the end, all I believe in is dynamite", he DOES care what happens to "the little people" and that he is willing to fight and die for them. And it is the story of the radicalisation of a non-political non-intellectual as he is forced to see, first-hand, the abuses of the system and the casual mistreatment of the common man that he has managed to avoid looking at so far.

And it ends with the question that everyone who actually thinks must ask, if only rhetorically, when others can no longer guide and protect us and we must fly or fall, sink or swim on our own merits.. -- "But what about me?"

And, as always, Leone's masterful protrayal of confrontation and violence, physical and moral, is evident -- particularly the scene in which the bandit and the Irishman set out on their own to stop an armoured cavalry column that is pursuing the fleeing revolutionaries, or the confrontation on a locomotive loaded with explosives between the Irishman and a leader of the Revolution who (known only to the Irishman) has cracked under pressure and caused the deaths of men from his cadre...

The Morricone score, of course, is wonderful -- particularly the sly little quotes from "A Little Night Music" in the middle of something else entirely.

About time this movie came out on dvd. I was starting to think it wouldn't! Another excellent spaghetti western from the master himself, though a bit different from what we're used to. As far as the plot goes, we have Juan(Rod Steiger) as a Mexican bandit with his sights set on a bank. Fate crosses his paths with Irish demolitions expert, John(James Coburn), who's a wanted man for his revolutionary acts in Ireland. Together they set out to rob this bank, but instead end up heroes in the Mexican revolution. Though this is Leone's genre, the movie is quite different than his previous four westerns. It has some humorous moments, but the movie is rather grim and doesn't show the Mexican revolution in the heroic light as many other westerns do. Most of Leone's playfulness is gone. There is a lack of the lone, nameless gunfighter that we're used to seeing(which means there are none of those legendary quickdraw showdowns). We have two central protagonist that don't achieve that mythic status like Eastwood and Bronson. Both are antiheroes and you grow to like them over the course of the movie, but they are scumbags for lack of a better term. Early in the movie Juan rapes a woman! There's no larger than life villain either. There are two guys that play the villain role, but only because the enemy needed a figure to represent itself. There's alot more profanity this time around, and Leone has now discovered squibs for some of the bloody gunshot wounds. There seems to have been a decent budget on this movie because some of the battle scenes are very impressive. Leone still shows us he knows how to compose a shot. There's one scene showing four trenches full of Mexican revolutionaries getting executed that is breathtaking. Naturally, Leone takes his time in telling this story. His movies tend to be paced kinda slow to pull you in. He hated the fast pacing of Hollywood movies. Coburn and Steiger give excellent performances. I've always liked James Coburn and never thought much one way or the other about Steiger, but this movie changed my mind about that. His role is pretty much the same as Eli Wallach's Tuco from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Just imagine a movie where Tuco is the main character and that should give you a good idea. Fans of Lucio Fulci should keep an eye out for David Warbeck in a small role in James Coburn's flashback scenes. So all in all, a great western. Maybe not for everyone, and maybe even some Leone fans may not care much for this one, but it definitely deserves to be seen.

This film disappointed many Leone fans when it came out, because it is not a shoot 'em up like his earlier films. It has plenty of action but is much more cerebral and a character study of two men who are changed by their association with the other. Both try to use the other for their own gain, but in the end, become much wiser and better friends, despite the fact that they start off as enemies.

It has some very valid things to say about leftism and revolutionaries that are as timely today as in 1972.

Yes, Steiger's accent is horrible. He sounds like he is trying to imitate Pacino in Scarface, which came out 10 years later. Coburn's accent is laid on pretty thick. But, once you get past that, and you can, it really is an astounding piece of film making. Something you don't see anymore. While big budget films of today are long on spectacle, they have very little to say that isn't obvious or lame. This film is both intelligent and awe inspiring in some of its sequences.

Further, it's full of subtly and nuance. Something you'd never see in an American film of this scale. Highly recommended. I can watch this film every year without bordom.