How you situate Sergio Leone’s epic, acerbic A Fistful of Dynamite within the filmmaker’s larger body of work just might depend on which title it bears when you watch it. The original Italian title, Giù la testa, is probably best rendered by the thematically appropriate Keep Your Head Down, but Leone insisted the film go out under the looser translation Duck, You Sucker! It’s a line that recurs several times throughout the film, one that Leone insisted was authentic American slang of the era, though clearly it isn’t any such thing.
The replacement title A Fistful of Dynamite attempts to link it with Leone’s earlier A Fistful of Dollars, but this one gets far darker and more serious than the more “innocent” tales of adventure that form the Dollars trilogy. Probably the most appropriate title was the one applied to it by the French: Once Upon a Time…...
The replacement title A Fistful of Dynamite attempts to link it with Leone’s earlier A Fistful of Dollars, but this one gets far darker and more serious than the more “innocent” tales of adventure that form the Dollars trilogy. Probably the most appropriate title was the one applied to it by the French: Once Upon a Time…...
- 3/18/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
More mysterious than ever, Sergio Leone’s ode to (condemnation of?) revolution is said to be the centerpiece of his three ‘Once Upon a Time’ movies linking western violence to the modern age of brutal politics and ruthless gangsterism. Crudeness rubs shoulders with sad, beautiful images as Leone takes on a theme he claimed not to like very much. The writers Donati and Vincenzoni show him the way, while James Coburn and Rod Steiger bring to life the non-narrative moments of what becomes a broad, mural-like epic.
Duck You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite)
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / 157 154, 138, 120 min. / Giù la testa, A Fistful of Dynamite, Il était une fois … la révolution / Street Date March 6, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Maria Monti, Rik Battaglia, Romolo Valli, Antoine St-John, Vivienne Chandler, David Warbeck.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Film Editor: Nino Baragli
Art Direction: Andrea Crisanti
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Sergio Leone,...
Duck You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite)
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / 157 154, 138, 120 min. / Giù la testa, A Fistful of Dynamite, Il était une fois … la révolution / Street Date March 6, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Maria Monti, Rik Battaglia, Romolo Valli, Antoine St-John, Vivienne Chandler, David Warbeck.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Film Editor: Nino Baragli
Art Direction: Andrea Crisanti
Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Written by Sergio Leone,...
- 3/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Fabio Testi, Cristina Galbó, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Günther Stoll, Claudia Butenuth, Camille Keaton, Maria Monti, Giancarlo Badessi, Pilar Castel, Giovanna Di Bernardo, Vittorio Fanfoni, Marco Mariani | Written by Massimo Dallamano, Bruno Di Geronimo | Directed by Massimo Dallamano
Movies that are described as “giallo” normally tend to depend on certain hallmarks, with the black-gloved killer killing their victims with a sharp knife. We as the audience follow the detective on their mission to hunt down this killer, with the inevitable big shocking finale. With What Have You Done To Solange? we get a film that does stick to these tropes quite heavily, but also subverts this very expectation to make the movie more memorable than most other films of this type.
When a sadistic killer is preying on girls at a Catholic school for girls the eyes of suspicion fall on a handsome teacher who is having an affair with one of the students.
Movies that are described as “giallo” normally tend to depend on certain hallmarks, with the black-gloved killer killing their victims with a sharp knife. We as the audience follow the detective on their mission to hunt down this killer, with the inevitable big shocking finale. With What Have You Done To Solange? we get a film that does stick to these tropes quite heavily, but also subverts this very expectation to make the movie more memorable than most other films of this type.
When a sadistic killer is preying on girls at a Catholic school for girls the eyes of suspicion fall on a handsome teacher who is having an affair with one of the students.
- 12/17/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
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