A Fistful of Dynamite

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A Fistful of Dynamite
Original version poster
Directed by	Sergio Leone
Produced by	Claudio Mancini Fulvio Torsella Ugo Tucci
Written by	Luciano Vincenzoni Sergio Leone Sergio Donati
Starring	James Coburn Rod Steiger Romolo Valli
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	1971
Running time	162 min.
Language	Italian
IMDb profile

A Fistful of Dynamite is a 1971 film by Sergio Leone (original Italian title: Giù la testa; also known as Duck, You Sucker and Once Upon a Time … The Revolution). Its plot is centered on two individuals, a poor Mexican bandit (played by Rod Steiger) and an ex-IRA revolutionary (James Coburn), who meet during the turbulent Mexican Revolution. The movie was written by Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone. Peter Bogdanovich was the original intended director, but the film ended up in Leone's hands. Because of this switch, some fans of the film contend that A Fistful of Dynamite is actually two films in one (the first part dealing with Mesa Verde whereas the second deals with the revolution).

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).

A close relative of Lawrence of Arabia in terms of scenery, A Fistful of Dynamite boasts awesome color cinematography and beautiful, rich shots of the desert landscape.

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 hijacked 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.

Running times of the film range from 121 minutes (1972 version), 138 min. (1989 home video cut) and 154 min. (1994 "uncut" laserdisc version) to more recent and more complete versions of 160 and 162 minutes (the latter version being available only in Italian). Much to the disappointment of fans, a number of the aforementioned versions have omitted pivotal scenes, most notably that of the final flashback (some films only list the shortened flashback, if at all).The film does contain a historical error.When Juan is inspecting Seans belongings he unfurls a flag with I.R.A. embossed on the background.The I.R.A. were not formed until 1919, during the The Irish War of independence,after the Mexican revolution. The abbreviation should have read I.R.B.,Irish republican brotherhood.

A Fistful of Dynamite features a number of Leone trademarks, including close-ups on eyes and mouths and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone.

1 The Restoration
2 Names of the film
3 References
4 External links

[edit] 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. 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. A 2-disc DVD collector's edition is scheduled for release on June 5th, 2007.

[edit] 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 (inital, 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 "Song of Death")

[edit] 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."