Duck, You Sucker!
| Duck, You Sucker | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sergio Leone |
| Written by | Luciano Vincenzoni Sergio Leone Sergio Donati |
| Produced by | Claudio Mancini Fulvio Torsella Ugo Tucci |
| Starring | James Coburn Rod Steiger Romolo Valli |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Ruzzolini |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Distributed by |  United Artists |
Release date |  1971 |
Running time | 162 min. |
| Language | Italian |
A Fistful of Dynamite is a 1971 film by Sergio Leone (original Italian title: Giù la testa ("Duck your Head!"); also known as Duck, You Sucker and Once Upon a Time … The Revolution) Leone was known to prefer the title Duck, You Sucker, which he was convinced was a frequently used American phrase. Its plot is centered on two individuals, a poor Mexican bandit (played by Rod Steiger) and an ex-Irish Republican Army revolutionary (James Coburn), who meet during the turbulent Mexican Revolution.
Plot summary
The stagecoach
The movie is set in Mexico at the time of the Revolution. In the opening scene, Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger), by all appearances a poor campesino, is picked up by a stagecoach carrying a group of the wealthy Mexican upper class. The stagecoach driver, thinking it a great joke, lets him ride with these elite snobs who immediately treat him as if he were an animal, talking about him as if he were too unintelligent to understand their cruel taunts. This segment of the film is shown in great detail, and though perhaps a bit over the top, it serves to illustrate one of the root causes of the Mexican Revolution, pointing out the evils of the ruling class and their disdain for the needs of the poor. Soon they drive past a group of poor looking Mexicans, mostly children it appears, and as the stagecoach slows to climb a steep hill the driver orders them to help push. They don't respond to help however, and even begin to put rocks under the wheels which eventually brings it to a stop. Guns suddenly appear and shots are fired killing the drivers and when the smoke clears it is revealed that they are bandits and that Juan Miranda is their leader. They promptly set about robbing the rich passengers of everything they own including most (and in the case of the men, all) of their clothing. They are then bundled into an abandoned cart, tied together, and set rolling down the hill where they eventually land in a pile of mud.
Juan meets John
Soon after, they meet Sean Mallory (James Coburn), an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the run from the British. They proceed to call him a more common name: John, because the pronunciation of his name is foreign to them. Seeing John's skill with explosives, Juan decides to persuade him to join the bandits in a raid on the great bank of Mesa Verde. John in the meantime has made contact with the revolutionaries, and intends to use his dynamite in their service.
Mesa Verde
As they attack the bank as part of an orchestrated revolutionary attack on the army (organized by Dr. Villega), Juan, however, find that the bank has no funds and instead is used by the army as a political prison. Not knowing this, Juan and his family end up freeing the prisoners on their quest for the bank's money, and Juan becomes a "great, grand, glorious hero of the revolution."
Battle in the hills
Later, the revolutionaries are chased by the army in the hills. John and Juan volunteer to stay behind with two machine guns and dynamite. Thanks to John's demolition skills, much of the army's detachment is destroyed while hiding under a bridge, but Colonel Günther Reza who commands a German armed vehicle survives.
Tragedy in the cave
After the battle, John and Juan find most of their comrades, including Juan's family and children, were murdered by the army in a cave. Engulfed with grief and rage, Juan goes on to fight the army outside the cave single-handedly with a machine gun and is captured. As John sneaks to an army camp, he sees executions of revolutionaries by firing squads, named by Dr. Villega who was tortured by Colonel Günther and his men (this evokes memories by John of a similar betrayal by his best friend in London). At another camp, Juan also faces a firing squad, but John blows up the squad with dynamite and they escape on John's motorcycle.
General Huerta's train
Later, John and Juan hide in the animal coach of a train. The train which at the last minute stops to pick up the tyrannical General and Governor Huerta who is escaping too with a small fortune in fear of the arrival of revolutionary forces belonging to Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. On the way, the train is ambushed and Juan kills General Huerta on the train. As the doors to the coach open, Juan is greeted by a large crowd and again unexpectedly hailed as a hero of the revolution.
Colonel Rez' train
After this, John and Juan travel on the train with commanders of the local revolutionaries, and are joined by Dr. Villega who was freed; only John knows of Villega's betrayal. On their travel, they learn that Pancho Villa's forces will be delayed by 24 hours and that, meanwhile, an army train carrying 1,000 soldiers and led by Colonel Rez will be arriving in a few hours. John suggests they rig a locomotive with dynamite and send it head on. He requires one other man, but instead of picking Juan who volunteers, he chooses Dr. Villega. On the ride, John reveals to Villega that he knows about his betrayal. Though remarking that he can still be of use to the cause, Villega ends up feeling guilty and despite John's pleas refuses to jump off the locomotive before it hits the army train. John is able to jump on time, and the army train is derailed and much of it blown up.
Final battle
The revolutionaries' ambush is successful, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot in the back by Colonel Rez. Enraged, Juan riddles the Col.'s body with bullets from his machine gun. As John is dying, he has more memories about his best friend and his girlfriend. The viewer finds out for the first time, that John and his best friend (whom he ends up killing alongside the cops after he points him out for arrest) were both involved in a love triangle with this woman. Juan asks John about Dr. Villega. John keeps the Dr.'s secret and tells Juan that he died a hero of the revolution. As Juan goes to seek help for the dying John, John, knowing his end is near, blows himself up in a great explosion.
Production
The movie was written by Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone. Leone was deeply involved with the project from the beginning, but did not originally intend to direct the picture himself. Peter Bogdanovich, his original choice for director, soon abandoned the film due to perceived lack of control. Leone then recruited his regular assistant director Giancarlo Santi to direct. However, Coburn (who had turned down the lead in A Fistful of Dollars just seven years previously) and Steiger refused to play their roles unless Leone himself directed. He agreed, and Santi was relegated to second unit work. Because of these changes, some fans of the film contend that A Fistful of Dynamite is actually two films in one (the first, more humorous part dealing with Mesa Verde whereas the second, more serious part deals with the revolution).
Reception
Compared to Leone's previous film, Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dynamite didn't gain much popularity. One reason for this could be Leone's insistence on using the Duck, You Sucker title, which gave potential movie-goers the impression that the film was a comic western (Duck, You Sucker is a fairly direct translation of the repeated phrase of the film, "Giù la testa, coglione!" in the Italian version). Evidently, Leone was convinced that the phrase "Duck, you sucker" was a popular American phrase, contrary to the insistence of his American stars Rod Steiger and James Coburn that they'd never heard that exact phrase. When the film was trimmed down for a re-release in 1972, it was re-titled A Fistful of Dynamite by the studio, seeing potential in linking this film to Leone's first hit, A Fistful of Dollars.
Although the film is often overlooked in Leone's œuvre, many critics have acclaimed its cinematography, the quirky score by Ennio Morricone, and Leone's focus on character development.
Analysis
Arguably, A Fistful of Dynamite contains more social commentary than any other Leone film. The film opens with a quote from Mao Zedong about the nature of revolutions and class struggle.[1] Throughout the course of the film Leone delves deep into the class differences that shaped Mexico during its bloody revolution. The main villain, Gunter Ruiz (Antoine Saint-John), is presented as a Nazi-like tank commander, complete with an armored car. Throughout the movie there are numerous scenes of execution of revolutionaries by Mexican Federales. These touches were intended by Leone - who grew up in Benito Mussolini's Italy during World War II - to represent a parallel with fascism. The movie was also, despite Leone's left-wing sympathies, meant as a sort of criticism of other left-wing "revolutionary" film makers such as Jean-Luc Godard and the recent spate of so-called "Zapata Westerns" which had predominated in the Spaghetti Western genre. For this, the film suffered a great many edits and cuts. To date, many versions of the film have been released, each one offering previously unseen material.
The film's rugged portrayal of revolution forms an interesting counterpoint to the Red Western, which frequently dealt with the Russian Revolution or Russian Civil War, and portrayed these events in a more romanticised light.
Historical errors
The film contains several anachronisms.
- When Juan is inspecting Sean's belongings he unfurls a flag with "I.R.A." embossed on the background. The IRA were not formed until 1919, during the Irish War of Independence, after the Mexican revolution. The abbreviation should have read "I.R.B." (Irish Republican Brotherhood).
- One of the machine guns used is a German MG 42, which was introduced in WWII.
- Governor/general Huerta was shot with a Browning HP pistol, which was introduced in 1935.
- John's motorcycle is a 1928 model.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| James Coburn | John (Sean) H. Mallory |
| Rod Steiger | Juan Miranda |
| Maria Monti | Adelita, woman in stagecoach |
| Rik Battaglia | Santerna (as Rick Battaglia) |
| Franco Graziosi | General/Governor Huerta |
| Romolo Valli | Dr. Villega |
| Antoine Saint-John | Gutierrez/Col. Günther Reza (as Jean-Michel Antoine) |
| Vivienne Chandler | John's girlfriend (flashback) |
| David Warbeck | John's friend Sean Nolan (flashback) |
| Giulio Battiferri | Miguel |
| Poldo Bendandi | Executed Revolutionary |
| Omar Bonaro | |
| Roy Bosier | Landowner |
| John Frederick | American |
The restoration
In 2003, following the restoration of Leone's far more popular The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, MGM re-released A Fistful of Dynamite, in newer, higher-resolution picture, with an enhanced soundtrack for the complete 158 minute cut. Also, Leone's preferred option out of the many alternate titles, Duck, You Sucker was also reinstated. Like its predecessor, it had a brief arthouse theatrical run in the U.S. and was given a 2-disc DVD special edition package. However, unlike The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, this DVD was not released in the U.S., mostly because of Sony's purchase of MGM and the ensuing change in priorities. The timespan between The Good, the Bad and the Ugly's theatrical and DVD re-release was only a six months (Dec. '03 to June '04), whereas it's over three and a half years between the theatrical and DVD releases for Duck, You Sucker (Nov. '03 to June '07). The two-disc DVD collector's edition was released on June 5th, 2007.
Names of the film
Here is a list of the various titles for this film:
- Giù la testa (primary Italian title, the equivalent of "Duck, You Sucker"; literal English translation is "Down the Head")
- Duck, You Sucker (initial, aborted title from 1971; brought back for the 2003 restoration)
- A Fistful of Dynamite (main English language title; in place from 1972-2003)
- C'era una volta la rivoluzione (original proposed title)
- Il était une fois la Révolution (official French Title)
- Once Upon a Time... The Revolution (English translation of the above two; never used officially)
- Todesmelodie (German title, translating to "Melody of Death")
- Quando Explode a Vingança (Portuguese title for Brazil meaning "When Revenge Explodes")
- С динамитом в кулаке (official Russian title, translating "With dynamite in the fist")
- Garść dynamitu (Polish title, means the same as "Fistful of dynamite")
- Agachate maldito (Spanish title)
References
- ^ Mao Zedong (March 1927), "Report on an investigation of the peasant movement in Hunan". Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, vol. I, pp. 23–29. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 3rd printing, 1975. The quoted passage is: "[A] revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."
External links
- A Fistful of Dynamite at IMDb
- Article on the many versions of A Fistful of Dynamite
- Sergio Leone messageboard
- www.spaghetti-western.net The Spaghetti Western Database
