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| A highly explosive, elaborate and amazing poster for Sergio Leone's Duck, You Sucker! |
Duck, You Sucker!, written by Luciano Vincenzoni (Orca (1977)), Sergio Donati (Mr. Hercules Against Karate/Ming, Ragazzi! (1973)) and Italian master co-writer/director Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in the West/C'era Una Volta il West (1968)), is a very different Leone film compared to his earlier westerns. It is his 6th film and last work in the genre, and it's a wild mix of genres and styles, immensely entertaining and majestic in scope, - a real treat for all cinephiles.
An IRA-dynamite expert and a Mexican outlaw join forces during the Mexican revolution and form a friendship.
Duck, You Sucker! manages to blend potent political issues (though Leone has proclaimed that he did not aim for any political messages) with fun and thoughtfulness and romance. At turns, it is a political revolutionary tragedy, a melodrama and an action-packed buddy film. - It is nothing if not an unlikely combination, but Leone and Co. somehow manage to pull it off and create one of the master's best films.
Rod Steiger (On the Waterfront (1954)) is a lot of fun with his Mexican accent, and James Coburn (Hudson Hawk (1991)) is equally likeable with his sunburned, horsey face as the Irishman, and many of the scenes, - often very grandiose and picturesque, - are staged brilliantly.
Ennio Morricone's (Footloose (1979)) score is another weighty reason for the transcendental force of the film, although there are times, - as in the Irish flashbacks, - when his experimental avant-gardism goes a little too far for my taste.
No matter, - Duck, You Sucker!, A Fistfull of Dynamite, - whichever title you prefer, - is a film I certainly can't but love.
Related post:
Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho
Listen to the main theme of the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2 bil. Italian Lira (Italy only)
= Uncertain
[Duck, You Sucker! premiered 29 October (Italy) and runs 157 minutes. Conceived during the time of student protests and a surge in the left wing across the Western world, Leone wanted the film to deconstruct the romanticized nature of revolution and show that "revolution means confusion." He did not intend to direct it himself, and Peter Bogdanovich, Sam Peckinpah and Giancarlo Santi were in talks to direct before Leone was pressured into assuming the job himself by Steiger, who otherwise refused to star. For the Irish part, Clint Eastwood, Malcolm McDowell, George Lazenby and Jason Robards were considered before James Coburn was cast. Eli Wallach sued when he passed on work to star in the film and was replaced by Steiger without compensation. Filming took place in Spain and Ireland on an undisclosed budget. The film was 'moderately successful' in Italy, where it grossed 2 bil. Lira. Almost 5 mil. people paid admission to see it in France. The film was refused classification and effectively banned in Mexico for conceived offensiveness to Mexicans and the Mexican revolution until 1979. It is unclear whether the film was commercially successful, although I suspect that it was, - westerns being all the rage across Europe at the time and this being grand and topical to boot. Duck, You Sucker! was the first, and rather peculiar, American title for the film, as Leone thought that it was a colloquialism in the American language, - as well as very near the Italian title, which translates to, 'duck your head'. A Fistful of Dynamite was later used in most re-releases of the film, as the original American title was found to have been ill-conceived. Leone won the David di Donatello (Italy's Oscar) Best Director award for the film. He only made one more film: Once Upon in America (1984). Steiger returned in Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971), Coburn in The Carey Treatment (1972). Duck, You Sucker! is fresh at 90 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Duck, You Sucker!?
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