The Big Gundown

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matthew d A tremendously entertaining display of finding truth and justice among liars and crooks. Italian director Sergio Sollima's Spaghetti Western The Big Gundown (1966) is fiercely rugged and tough on crime. I'm astonished by Sergio Sollima's artful direction that makes bursts of gunfire as thrilling as the smart snappy dialogue. It's a very efficiently shot and edited film that wastes no time on introducing our hero, the villains, and setting out on a perilous quest for justice. Writers Franco Solinas, Sergio Donati, Sergio Sollima, and Fernando Morandi find the funniest jokes to tell even in deadly scenarios with a lighter tone despite darker subject matter. What is really justice is contemplated as Lee Van Clef must cross an ethical line to accomplish his mission. They play everything for suspense and violence, while able to keep the laughs coming. I loved the witty writing with lines like, "You're too damned smart to be a senator" from a villain giving a backhanded compliment to our hero. Even Van Clef's simple "Why" sneered with a grit and force sound effective in The Big Gundown. Editors Adriana Novelli and Gaby Peñalba cut The Big Gundown into a super tight 95 minutes. Their slick editing keeps an ultra fast pace with a stylish flair. I found their transition cuts so startling that every new scene is immediately striking with characters already in motion. Novelli and Peñalba have a really artful style like when they'll cut from eyes to hands to guns for a quickdraw duel. Carlo Carlini's cinematography obviously has beautiful far wide shots of Spain for the backdrop with swift panning shots. But, I found Carlini's most interesting shots were his close-ups on Lee Van Clef's confident smirk or a cool Sunlit shot tilting up from the ground to emphasize Van Clef's height. The Big Gundown focuses on faces for tension as the suspense builds up before a quickdraw duel. Set decorators Carlo Simi, Nicola Tamburo, and Carlo Leva provide guns, rifles, and antiques for the wealthy railroad founder to carpets and clothes all around the Mexican village for an authentic atmosphere. Carlo Simi's costumes give Lee Van Clef's a wicked cool all black tailored suit, timepiece, riding boots and fancy vest. The lingerie and ornate dresses for the actresses are pretty stellar to look at throughout The Big Gundown. Lee Van Cleef feels effortlessly cool as roving lawman Jonathan "Colorado" Corbett. His quickdraw skills, deft dramatic gravitas, and easy going smiles make him a likable hero. I was constantly worried something awful would happen to him and he still gets his man. Tomas Milian is dazzling as the cackling rogue Manuel "Cuchillo" Sanchez. He feels so sleazy and evil when you first meet him. His knife skills are as fun as his verbal escapes that he talks his way out of every peril. Walter Barnes is a real capitalist pig as Brokston. Nieves Navarro is gorgeous as the lustful Widow with her harem of muscular men on a lonesome farmland manor. Her trying to seduce Lee Van Clef was funny as you already know he was too cunning. I thought her storyline was fascinating, shocking, and hilariously outlandish for 1966. Gérard Herter's narcissist Austrian quickdraw Baron von Schulenberg is fun. He's so silly and pompous that you really want Van Clef to shoot this guy. María Granada is very lovely and fun as she foolishly protects Cuchillo from harm despite him cheating on her and robbing her. Ángel del Pozo is super creepy as Chet Miller. Luisa Rivelli is a real Italian goddess as the Willow Creek Prostitute. She's very charming and hilarious in her one scene cameo. Antonio Casas is fun as the fast shooting friar Brother Smith & Wesson. Fernando Sancho is a scream as Mexican Captain Segura with his casual dismissive manor. Lastly, composer Ennio Morricone delivers a fearsome and beautiful film score for The Big Gundown. His sweeping melodies and use of all sorts of instruments add a mysterious element of anticipation to his symphonies. Morricone is a master of movie scores and The Big Gundown is one of his finest film scores for sure. In all, The Big Gundown should be seen for a fearless lead acting performance from Lee Van Clef as well as Ennio Morricone's lovely score. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Taylor L Even when Lee Van Cleef is good, he's bad. Save him from dying of thirst in the desert, and he'll steal your horse. An interesting Spaghetti Western that starts in a safe harbor - Van Cleef as the crack-shot bounty hunter Corbett going after a wanted man - before flipping the script as Corbett comes to realize there's more to the story than what he was led to believe. The antagonists are relatively simplistic but many of the other secondary characters really show a surprising bit of depth, with their own unique features and subplots that follow a twisting cat-and-mouse chase across the desert. Tomas Milian's Cuchillo, the rapist that Corbett is tracking down, treads this fine line between mischievous trickster and stone-cold knife thrower, and the dynamic between hunter and hunted gets more interesting with each encounter. Corbett himself has to weigh his irrepressible relentlessness against a bit of morality that doesn't do him much good. Though they really only serve as atmosphere, both the opening score and the initial scene establishing Corbett's skill (where he hangs a thief and impersonates him to get the drop on the rest of the gang) are absolutely gold. There are mutliple versions out there; the full Italian cut is the one to see if you can locate it with appropriate subtitles. Though it's very awkward to watch at times when the spoken language shifts so awkwardly, it gives additional pieces to the story that go a long way. (3.5/5) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member (110 minute Italian cut), oh and fuck Tarantino for taking the music. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member There were three directors with the first name Sergio who directed Italian Westerns (or Spaghetti Westerns if you prefer). Sergio Leone made the best films in the genre and actually made two of the best Western pictures, Italian or Hollywood, ever made. Sergio Corbucci made several very interesting Westerns and often dealt with themes of outsiders and racism. Sergio Sollima took Corbucci's also dealt with those themes but was more overtly political. One of the best in the genre, it has Lee Van Cleef as a bounty hunter hired by a power broker to hunt down Thomas Millian's character who is accused of raping and murdering a 12-year old girl. Chuchillo Sanchez (Millian) keeps getting the better of Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) who doggedly and professionally pursues his prey south from Colorado into Mexico. Along the way, Corbett begins to question Sanchez's guilt and the true motivations of his power-broker patron, Brockston (walter Barnes) as well as his own motivations. Van Cleef and Millian were two of the best actors working in Italian Westerns, watching the cat-and-mouse game between these two is lots of fun. And the soundtrack is by Ennio Morricone and is one of his best in this genre, a definite plus. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Solid Spaghetti Western with a rare lead role for the legendary Lee Van Cleef. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the best of the spaghetti westerns. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Big Gundown

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