Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

gavin6942 Unofficial lawman John Corbett (Lee VanCleef) hunts down Cuchillo Sanchez (Tomas Milian), a Mexican peasant accused of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl."The Big Gundown" hit American theaters thanks to the success of Sergio Leone's Clint Eastwood films. Despite being made before "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", it was that film's power that attracted people to "Gundown" and star Lee VanCleef. Unfortunately, the folks at Columbia did not give the film the respect it deserved and tried to pass it off as a film starring "Mr. Ugly" (who was actually Eli Wallach, not VanCleef, showing how little they cared).Ennio Morricone, the biggest name in Italian composing, provides the score and it is among his best work. Actor Milian was actually Cuban, not Mexican, but he filled the role as well as anyone could (and starred in two more Sergio Sollima westerns in 1967 and 1968).Through Grindhouse releasing, the film is now available on DVD and Blu-ray, completely uncut, looking sharp and sounding great. There are interviews with Sollima and Milian, as well as a complete commentary from Western authority C. Courtney Joyner. If the film itself were not enough, the booklet has a few essays and a bonus CD contains Morricone's entire soundtrack.

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx Wow, this jaded viewer has finally been convinced that there's a spaghetti western out there to match Leone's in craft. The Big Gundown is a beautiful and florid movie that has a protean narrative, playing with sympathies, exploring sexuality and eroticism, being downrightly philosophical at times, and always fun.There's a scene in Robert Bresson's movie Lancelot du Lac, a movie where you mostly see big-headed though slightly vague and navel-gazing Arthurian knights, where one peasant prophesises to another that, "He whose footfalls precede him will die within a year." "Even if they're his horse's steps?" "Even then. he whose footsteps proceed him shall die within a year". It's a moment's contrast that illuminates the whole movie. Remarkable strange to see that sort of moment pop up in a spag. There's a scene where Corbett enters a bordello to question a prostitute, he barges into the place, and a ponchoed local moves to the side and around him, without anger, like one of these ephemeral shoal fish, flashing out of the way of a tuna. The next guy in the room looks at him with the same sort of understanding, in the manner of a person who treads softly. The meek shell inherit the earth.It's a film that's often boldly homoerotic, with guns very much positioned in as phallic a manner as possible, and a suggestive shot of three bullets superimposed on three men's groins. The "thorn" scene between Cuchilio and Corbett heightens this impression quite a bit and the men never seem quite at home with women.It has a similar sort of mythic feel to it that is often commented on with Leone. There's this weird predestination that sees protagonist and antagonist separate and meet up in the most unlikely of manners. It's one of the most surreal movies I've seen for a while, particularly the part where the bull wrangling takes place, eroticism incarnated, made all the more weird because it positively looks like the grass has been painted green.The only thing that I felt it lacked was a score that matched those of the second two "Dollars" movies. It was Morricone again, good, but not the same deal.

zardoz-13 Director Sergio Sollima's Tex/Mex manhunt horse opera "The Big Gundown" qualifies as an above-average Spaghetti western with more elements of irony and social conscienceness than most Italian oaters rustle up. Scenarist Sergio Donati, who contributed to the Sergio Leone epics "For A Few Dollars More" and "Once Upon A Time in the West" intertwines the themes of intolerance, racism, and greed in his literate screenplay bristling with surprises and reversals. Furthermore, Donati and Sollima give the protagonist and the antagonist several engrossing dialogue exchanges that heighten the conflict between them. Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian are evenly matched as hero versus villain. Ennio Morricone provides another classic orchestral score with a compellingly philosophical title tune warbled by Christy. As usual, the Spanish terrain substitutes splendidly for the parched southwest frontier setting.Basically, the story depicts the search for a footloose Mexican drifter who has been accused of raping and murdering a 12-year old girl. This happens while the hero, Jonathan Corbett (Lee Van Cleef of "Sabata"), is visiting the home of a wealthy, influential Texas power broker. Brokston (Walter Barnes of "Rio Bravo") admires Corbett, his tenacity and compares him with Davy Crockett. Brokston wants to run Corbett for the Texas senate so that he can obtain his support for a railroad that he dreams of building between Texas and Mexico. Brokston learns from his ranch hands about a penniless Mexican, Manuel 'Cuchillo' Sanchez (Tomas Milian of "The Mercenary") and his heinous crime. Corbett promises Brokston that he will bring the rapist back to stand trial. "The Big Gundown" amounts to a hare and the hound western with Corbett catching and then losing Cuchillo in a series of misadventures that take Cuchillo back to his native country.The best movies boast heroes and villains that evolve during the running time of the film. The Lee Van Cleef hero changes over the course of the action. He suspects that something about the crime and the criminal may not add up. Sergio Sollima and Sergio Donati pay tribute to "For A Few Dollars More" by dressing their hero so that he resembles Colonel Mortimer. Later, the showdown at the end of "The Big Gundown" when the son-in-law shoots it out with Cuchillo imitates the finale in "For A Few Dollars More" when the Man with No Name intervened and make a duel more fair.The slippery Mexican thief Cuchillo is rather thoughtful for a character of his kind. He lives by his wits and has a knack for improvisation. This trait is exemplified when he uses his feet to get a cactus thorn and scrape Corbett in the back and fooling him into believing that a snake bit him. The last shot looks like a variation on the Ricky Nelson & John Wayne scene from RIO BRAVO when Nelson pitched Wayne his Winchester repeating rifle. Here, Brokston fires away at Corbett from the top of a mountain knowing full well that no hand gun can reach him. Cuchillo notices this and kicks a Winchester up into the arms of Corbett. He knocks Brokston out of the saddle with one shot. Before they ride away to their different destinations, Cuchillo reminds Corbett that he never caught him.

jadflack Retired sheriff is persuaded by a politician to come back and hunt down a Mexican who has raped and murdered a twelve year old girl but he slowly realises the Mexican has been framed to cover up the real murderer. Good, stylish spaghetti western,this is the longer uncut version of the film and not the hacked up Amercian version that lost nearly twenty minutes of footage.This has a rather slow start and develops into a chase movie in a kind of western version of "the fugitive".Lee Van Cleef is his usual dependable self and the Ennio Morricone soundtrack is good although i'm not sure about the screeching title song!Film is good and satisfies overall.