DVD Review: A Fistful of Dynamite Special Edition

Sir Christopher Frayling features prominently on these discs, on this, another Leone classic. Frayling (author of Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death & Once Upon a Time in Italy and Spaghetti Westerns) has always been entertaining and educating with his never-ending knowledge on, one of his favourite subjects and his favourite director. Leone had been running away with success after success. His ‘Dollars’ trilogy made international stars of most of his cast and crew, and a higher budget was offered with each successive film. Stars he had once wanted in his earlier efforts were now affordable, and also they paid attention. Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson both worked on ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, arguably the best western ever made. And now James Coburn - at the height of his career- and Rod Steiger star in ‘Duck, You Sucker !’ (to give it its premiere title) which became the most political and humorous of his western outings.

Sadly, the political content of the movie, came like a hammer blow to it. The film had been given different titles in different countries. In English language countries, it was entitled ‘A Fistful of Dynamite’ to tie in with the ‘Dollars’ trilogy, whereas in France it became ‘Once Upon a Time in a Revolution’ (which coincidently was the screenplay's original title) to tie in with the recent success of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’. ‘Duck, You Sucker !’ was Leone’s own translation of the Italian ‘Giu La Testa’ and was his favourite. The film was shown as such at its premiere and in the US initially, but the title was quickly changed. With each title change, the content was changed as well. In the US, 22 minutes including the implied rape and the nudity that ensued were initially cut to assure a PG rating . It is dark by Leone’s standards, starting with a quote from Mao Tse-Tung (which was cut from most prints) but is also very humorous. This tackles the glorious myth of the west and stabs Italian politics as well. It also has a terrorist (or partisan depending on your point of view) as one of the main characters. The message here is that revolution breeds chaos and the poor always die for the rich and powerful. Bold moves indeed from the Italian director.

Rod Steiger plays Juan, a father of a band of bandits who rob the rich wagons as they roll past. Steiger jumps on a coach that has some bourgeois, constituting something like a scene from Pasolini or Bunuel's scathing best, where the peasant is looked down upon from the upper class noses. James Coburn plays John, an ex-IRA member who is looking for another fight or cause to believe in. We hear 'Sean, Sean' in Morricone’s score which is a reference to the flash back sequences for Coburn’s John that there is personal ghosts that is haunting him. The last flash back, which suffered in the many of the cut versions, makes sense of his personal tragedy and why the references are constantly made to Sean in the score. Thankfully in this print this scene is intact.

These two meet and they become involved in the upheaval of Mexico going through its revolution and police-state dictatorship. Juan is out of his depth here. His initial aim was for a bank robbery but he becomes more and more entwined with the political turmoil. When they rob the bank in question Juan finds that it is filled with political prisoners instead of the gold of his dreams. Here, the difference is that for the first time in a Leone film we have a buddy movie, in which both Coburn's and Steiger’s characters change because of the interaction with each other.  Leone seemingly had always looked upon himself as a maker of epics, an Italian David Lean, and I do not argue with that fact. The climatic train crash however does bear more than a resemblance to Lean’s 'Lawrence of Arabia’s' set piece.

This is a marvellous movie, flawed yes, and at times a little disjointed but has some of Leone’s darkest and most mature moments. Here there are consequences of a gunshot. Gone is the machismo of boys’ own stories of the ‘Dollars’ trilogy. Here there are mass firing squads, massacres, battle sequences, main characters haunted by their past and a more melodic Morricone which is more attune with the animal trilogy of Dario Argento of the early 70’s than his previous Leone westerns scores. In April 2004, the guys at MGM pulled out all the stops with the re-issue of 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' and they have done so here again. On disc 1, the movie has been restored to Leone’s original vision, cleaned-up in a never sounded better print (sound options in both English and French 5.1), with an encyclopaedic commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling which is a marvel and worthy of the price alone but disc 2 has some gems as well. On Disc 2, are the documentaries. ‘The Myth of Revolution’- with Sir Christopher again - covers much the same ground as his audio commentary on disc 1, and for those not willing to do the commentary, this is a marvellous and entertaining 21 minutes. Next we have Sergio Donati, writer of many of Leone’s movies including the westerns, speaking candidly about his dear departed friend and their time working together on this movie in the short but lovingly ‘Sergio Donati Remembers ‘Duck You Sucker’.

the missing torture scene

‘Sorting Out The Versions’ is exactly what it says, and it looks at the myriad of versions (although not mentioned here in any depth) and the mammoth task they had of compiling the version on disc 1. This should be viewed with ‘Restoration Italian Style’ for a deeper understanding of the different cuts. Some scenes are shown as stills as they are not in existence or were not fully shot, including the most talked-about cut scene with the torture of Dr. Villega. ‘Once Upon a Time in Italy’ is a preview of the up-and-coming Leone exhibition that will take place in July of this year at the Autry National Center’s Museum of the American West in Los Angeles's historic Griffith Park.

Leone, Steiger & Coburn

‘Restoration Italian Style’ is a short tech feature on the restoration of Leone’s westerns released through MGM, with nods to this release and the previously mentioned ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ as well as the 2 other releases that will accompany this one to the DVD shelves; ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ and 'For a Few Dollars More' (for additional info on these please check out our database and their individual reviews). John Kirk again explains the idea behind this release, basing it on the original concept from the 1996 restoration in Italy, pointing out that the main challenge was to get all the footage from all the different versions and then remastering in 5.1 from the previous mono elements. This must have been a painstaking process for Kirk's team. The original ending is also a bonus. ‘Location Comparisons, Spain, Italy & Ireland 1971 – 2004’ is a nice little touch too, showing clips from the movie and still shot comparisons of today. A grainy theatrical trailer, 6 crackly radio spots and a ‘Photo Gallery’ with loads of black & white and colour stills from the movie end this impressive second disc. The little stick of dynamite as a curser looked more like a little chilli but still is a nice touch.

This is another near faultless release from MGM and we should get out our 6 shooters, crank up the volume and escape for an afternoon with this release. Available from Amazon.UK and is intended as part of a boxed set later in the year, as of yet no US release has been announced.