A Fistful Of Dynamite
Leone was known to prefer the title Duck, You Sucker!, which he was convinced was a frequently used American phrase. Its plot is centered on two individuals, a poor Mexican bandit (played by Rod Steiger) and an ex-Irish Republican Army revolutionary (James Coburn), who meet during the turbulent Mexican Revolution.
It is the second part of a loose trilogy of epic called Once Upon a Time Trilogy.
Plot summary
The setting is Mexico at the time of the Revolution. Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger), by all appearances a poor campesino, is picked up by a stagecoach carrying a group of the wealthy Mexican upper class.
The stagecoach driver, thinking it a great joke, lets him ride with these elite snobs who immediately treat Juan as if he were an animal, talking about him as if he were too unintelligent to understand their cruel taunts. Soon they drive past a group of poor Mexicans, mostly children, and as the stagecoach slows to climb a steep hill the driver orders them to help push.
They are bandits and Juan Miranda is their leader (and for many, their father). They set about robbing the rich passengers of everything they own including most of their clothing.
All are bundled into an abandoned cart, tied together, and set rolling down the hill where they land in a hog wallow.
Soon after, Juan and his gang meet John Mallory (James Coburn), an early Irish nationalist explosives expert on the run from the British. The predecessor group, the Irish Volunteers, was officially formed in 1913.) Noting his skill with explosives, Juan tries to persuade him to join a raid on the Mesa Verde national bank.
John in the meantime has made contact with the revolutionaries and intends to use his dynamite in their service.
The bank is hit as part of an orchestrated revolutionary attack on the army organized by Dr. Juan is shocked to find that the bank has no funds and instead is used by the army as a political prison.
Juan and his family end up freeing hundreds of prisoners, causing Juan to become a "great, grand, glorious hero of the revolution." An angry Juan doesn't want to be a hero; he wants the money.
The revolutionaries are chased by the army into the hills. Thanks to John's demolition skills, much of the army's detachment is destroyed while hiding under a bridge that is blown to bits.
John sneaks into camp where he witnesses executions of revolutionaries by firing squads. This evokes memories of a similar betrayal by John's best friend in Dublin.
Juan faces a firing squad of his own, but John arrives with dynamite just in time. It stops to pick up the tyrannical Don Jaime, who is fleeing with a small fortune in fear of the revolutionary forces belonging to Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.
The train is ambushed and Juan kills Jaime, choosing to avenge his Family (as well as stealing the Governor's spoils.) As the doors to the coach open, Juan is greeted by a large crowd and again unexpectedly hailed as a great hero of the Revolution, the money taken way by revolutionary General Santerna. They learn that Pancho Villa's forces will be delayed by 24 hours and that an army train carrying 1,000 soldiers and heavy weapons, led by Colonel Ruiz, will be arriving in a few hours, which will surely overpower the rebel position.
John suggests they rig a locomotive with dynamite and send it head on. He requires one other man, but instead of picking Juan, who volunteers, he chooses Dr.
John nonetheless pleads with him to jump off the locomotive before it hits the army's train, but Villega feels guilty and stays on board. John jumps in time and the train is derailed.
The revolutionaries' ambush is successful, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot in the back by Colonel Ruiz.
As John lays dying, he continues to have memories of his best friend and a young woman both apparently loved. John recalls killing the friend after being betrayed by him to the law.
In the present, Juan kneels by his side to ask about Dr. According to Leone, Sam Peckinpah agreed to direct the film after Bogdanovich's departure, but for financial reasons was turned down by United Artists.
Leone offered no compensation to Wallach, and Wallach subsequently sued.
Reception
Compared to Leone's previous films, the Clint Eastwood "man with no name" trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, his new work A Fistful of Dynamite gained lukewarm reviews and little notice. One reason could be Leone's insistence on using the Duck, You Sucker title, which gave potential movie-goers the mistaken impression that the film would be a comic western.
When the film was edited for a re-release in 1972, it was re-titled A Fistful of Dynamite by the studio, hoping to capitalize on Leone's first hit, A Fistful of Dollars.
Although the film is often overlooked in Leone's œuvre, many critics have praised its cinematography and its quirky score by Ennio Morricone. The film itself has gained greater stature over time.
Analysis
Coburn and Steiger in a scene of the film.
Arguably, A Fistful of Dynamite contains more social commentary than any other Leone film.
The main villain, Gunter Ruiz (Antoine Saint-John), is presented as a Nazi-like tank commander, complete with an armored car. The restored version had a brief art house theatrical run in the U.S.
market until 2007.
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"; English translation would be "Down with Your Head")
Duck, You Sucker (initial, 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...