'' is a ) 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 from the Italian title, ''Giù la testa'').
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 ), 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), and 154 min. (1994) 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).
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 .
Here is a list of the various titles for this film:
- ''Giù la testa''
- ''Duck, You Sucker''
- ''A Fistful of Dynamite''
- ''Once Upon a Time... The Revolution''
- ''C'era una volta la rivoluzione''
- ''Todesmelodie'' (German title)
