A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE
DIRECTOR:
Sergio Leone
CAST:
James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Romolo Valli, Franco Graziosi, Maria Monti, David Warbeck, Rick Battaglia, Antoine Saint-John, Antonio Casale and John Frederick.
REVIEW:
Sergio Leone’s second post-“Dollars” trilogy epic is yet another big, ambitious film. When compared to his earlier works, it does fall short, but is still one of the greatest spaghetti westerns – perhaps one of the greatest films – ever produced.
Mexico, 1914: The nation is under control of Dictator General Huerta. As the peasants erupt into revolution, we meet Juan (Rod Steiger, “Waterloo”) a petty crook out robbing stagecoaches. He meets ex-IRA demolition man John (James Coburn, “Midway”) and recruits him to help break into the biggest bank in Mexico. In the process, the two free over 150 political prisoners, and Juan is turned into a hero of the Revolution. The rest of the film follows John’s flashbacks (featuring an impossibly young David Warbeck) to revolution-ridden Ireland and explains just why he has come to Mexico to join the peasants; and Juan will come to realize that there is more than life to greed when the Mexican Army takes a toll on him personally.
All start off by saying that, unlike most of Leone’s others work, this is in no way meant to be an action/adventure story. It’s a drama, with a major social message, and if you’re looking for lots of stylistic gunplay, you will be in for a letdown. The script, by director Leone along with collaborators Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, is packed with memorable, gritty material. The first scene, introducing Juan, is a rather brutal expose of class distinction. As the barefoot, smelly “peasant” Juan boards a stagecoach filled with well-dressed American gluttons, they verbally abuse the Mexican people as bluntly as anyone can imagine; they’re in for a surprise, though, when Juan turns out to be something more than he looked like!
While the first act of the film is funny and lighthearted, it takes a major turn when the camera captures both the spirit and destruction caused by the Revolution. At its heart, this film is truly an allegory of Marxist control of a free people. The Mexican soldiers are in league with the Russian KGB or the Nazi SS, who line up civilians in alleyways and massacre them with machineguns and rifle barrages. Everyone is affected by the war going on around them, whether they want to be left out or not.
Coburn and Steiger are excellent throughout the proceedings. Steiger is always the louder, boisterous of the two. At first he seems like a dimwit with no driving force in his life besides greed and pure self-satisfaction. Later, we learn how he views the Revolution in a great scene where he erupts as John. Steiger is a character the audience can relate to throughout, and when he decides to join the revolution, one cannot agree with him more. Coburn is the more mature character, and while not as loud and scene-chewing, he’s really the more important of the two. An idealist, John has migrated to Mexico solely to rid the nation of a dictatorship – that’s all he cares about, live or die. His flashbacks to Ireland mirror his relationship with Juan, and will add credence to his final encounter with Dr. Villega (Romolo Valli).
Technically, “A Fistful of Dynamite” always looks and sounds great. Ennio Morricone’s score is really the third star of the piece, as usual. Here, his music is “ultra-weird”, as Leonard Maltin comments in his film guide. Each character has their own theme, combining distorted lyrics, beautiful women’s voices, and Morricone’s usual combination of rare instrumentation and natural sound. Giuseppe Ruzzolini’s cinematography and Nino Baragli’s editing work hand in hand. The close-ups of mouths, faces and eyes during the opening stagecoach sequence are literally brilliant, truly giving a sense of snobbery and pomposity to the aristocratic passengers. There are not as many lengthy, drawn-out visual sequences as we have come to expect from Leone, but that does not really matter here, because this is a movie about the story, not necessarily the style in which it's told.
The film’s action sequences are sparse, but excellently executed. A massacre of Mexican soldiers as they try to cross a giant bridge is intense and well-staged, with lots of close-ups of dying bodies and one final colossal explosion, the reality of which is never totally comprehendible until the final concluding shot. Even this sequence pales in comparison to the final train wreck (staged by Antonio Margheriti) is just awesome and 100% real.
“A Fistful of Dynamite” is one of the truly great spaghetti westerns, pulled together by a great director, excellent acting by the leads and executed by a top-notch crew. If you are looking for an entertaining drama, this is not to be missed. Unfortunately, the North American home video prints are still cut, so try to get a copy of the Region 2 DVD from MGM or spot this on Turner Classic Movies once in a blue moon.
Sgt. Slaughter’s Rating:
5 Bullets
