Just caught this flick, also known as A Fistful of Dynamite at a local art house cinema over the weekend. Sergio Leone seemed to get more whacked out & audacious as the years wore on & this 150-minute slab of propagandistic melodramatic mayhem is the arguable apogee of his iconoclastic vision. A buddy Western laced with liberal does of lysergic acid and black humor. Rod Steiger plays Juan Miranda, a greedy bandito cut from the same cinematic family tree as Eli Wallach’s The Ugly. The physical likeness between the two- all sun-chapped paunchy skin, toothy grin, greasy unkempt hair & over-the-top accent- is uncanny. James Coburn plays former IRA terrorist and fugitive Sean Mallory, whose disillusionment with the ideals of his former life leads to, in his own words, a belief “only in dynamite.” The film’s irreverent title originates from his tagline tossed as cautionary quip before every detonation. Early in the plot the two cross paths and soon become embroiled in the Mexican Revolution unraveling around them.
The body count is huge (easily in the hundreds), as is the scale of havoc, helped immeasurably by Mallory’s seemingly endless supply of explosives. Parallels to Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch are frequent too: from the opening shot of Juan urinating on an ant hill to the penultimate scene where he and Mallory annihilate an entire armored column of governmental troops with a pair of cliff mounted machine guns and strategically placed demolitions, to the nihilistic grand finale involving a train stocked with soldiers. There’s also a surreal patina to much of it, as during the opening ‘duel’ between the leads where each ups the other in a call & response of escalating destruction. Extreme close-ups are employed in excess, especially in the beginning, brilliantly emphasizing the repulsiveness of many of the characters & keeping the audience dizzyingly off-balance. Ennio Morricone’s eccentric score threads through the entire thing, equal parts cheesy kitsch & oddball strings & electronics. Overly long and flawed by a preponderance of long shots that overstay their welcome, this cinematic artifact still swings a heavy punch. Anyone else seen it?
Posted by derek on March 29, 2004 10:51 AMI find the romanticised portrayal of the IRA pretty offensive (in this and other films), but I love the soundtrack. Especially Zorn's cover version of it on Big Gundown!
Posted by: dan warburton at March 29, 2004 8:55 PMWho s gonna be responsible for the OSSAMA-SUPERMAN soundtrack do you think ?
Zorn, John Williams or Muslimguaz ?
best
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Dan, I definitely hear you on the offensive elements of the flick. Steiger’s burrito brothers accent is the thing that really raises my hackles, right in line with that of Gold Hat in TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. The soundtrack is amazing (I’d forgotten about Zorn’s cover)- especially the vocals: “Shun-Shun, gwop-gwop!”
Noel, my money’s on Elfman ;)
Oops Dear Derek
wanna change for Stinky Cheese and Red Wine ? The Kingdom of F. ?
cheers
Soory
n
For Lovers only !
I just Puchased a Lovely "Golden Hits Instrumentals - Al Caiola / Guitars w Orchestra" on United Artists 69105 HI-FI -
that includes titles such as Bonanza, Apache, Ja Da, Calcutta, Ra-Bunk-Sushi or Bounty Hunter .....
( all references to keep up and precise for Jon )
It also makes a serious scratchy noise that makes you feel it s been updated to ars electronica recently
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i saw this movie on the big screen when i was a little kid. really loved it back then. it shows up on cable ocasionally- have seen it a few times in the last couple of months. it's sort of a glorious mess. steiger's over-the-top mexican accent is a bit much but then again, i haven't seen too many steiger performances that weren't a bit deranged and excessive. his napoleon, for one...
carlos
Posted by: carlos at March 30, 2004 7:59 AMThis is not the best Leone movie. I think because of its quirkiness and the fact that it is somewhat more obscure than the other Leone westerns, it gets more praise than it deserves, but it does have some good moments, and both Coburn and Steiger are quite good as reluctant heroes.
Btw, I remember seeing this movie when I lived in Mexico, and I don't recall being bothered by Steiger's accent. There's a more recent film (can't remember the name, pretty forgettable) where he has a Cuban gangster accent, and let's just say accents are not his forte.
Posted by: Sergio Zamora at April 5, 2004 4:12 PMFunny you should mention Eli Wallach and Rod Stieger in the same paragraph. I don't know if you know this or not but they were in a movie together called "Seven Theives" Cool movie, check it out if you ever get the chance!!
Posted by: Tina at April 12, 2005 5:18 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................