Todesmelodie (1971)

Todesmelodie: Directed by Sergio Leone. With Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli, Maria Monti. A low-life bandit and an I.R.A. explosives expert rebel against the government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.

“Coming off the triumphs of his u0026quot;Man With No Nameu0026quot; series and his frustrations with the cutting of u0026quot;The Good, The Bad u0026amp; The Uglyu0026quot; and u0026quot;Once Upon a Time in the West,u0026quot; Sergio Leone directed the big budget, epic western, originally titled, u0026quot;Once Upon a Time in the Revolutionu0026quot;. Since u0026quot;…Westu0026quot; had been released by Paramount and United Artists was releasing u0026quot;…Revolution,u0026quot; some executive decide the rename the movie u0026quot;Duck! You Sucker!u0026quot; after the phrase Sean (James Coburn) uses repeatedly before blowing someone or something up with dynamite. Likely the same executive choose an advertising campaign reminiscent of u0026quot;The Good, The Bad u0026amp; The Ugly,u0026quot; creating caricatures of Sean and Juan (Rod Steiger) adding the caption u0026quot;…the master of adventure, Sergio Leoneu0026quot;. Well, I doubt many theater audiences knew who Sergio Leone was, since he was yet to be recognized as a directoral genius the equal of John Ford or Howard Hawks. Worse, the advertising implied u0026quot;Duck! You Sucker! was a laugh romp, a parody of Leoneu0026#39;s early masterpieces. This impression was made even worse when the film failed to perform. In any event, u0026quot;A Fistfull of Dyanmiteu0026quot; was a dismal failure at the box office and Leone never made another big budget western drama.Itu0026#39;s too bad, because u0026quot;A Fistfull of Dynamiteu0026quot; is Leoneu0026#39;s trueist work, his most accurate vision of life, politics and revolution. Neither Rod Steiger nor James Coburn were strongly associated with westerns, even though both played strong roles in earlier films (Steiger in u0026quot;Run of the Arrowu0026quot; and u0026quot;Jubal,u0026quot; Coburn in u0026quot;The Magnificent Sevenu0026quot; and u0026quot;Ride Lonesomeu0026quot;. Worse, Steigeru0026#39;s Juan looked like something of a buffoon and the movies villains were bland and underdeveloped. However, I believe this was Leoneu0026#39;s intention: corrupt politicians and Prussian officers are pretty well interchangeable. Kill one and another pops up. This isnu0026#39;t a very satisfying truth, but it is truth, nonetheless. Juan is a peasant, a bandit with a large family of bandits. Sean is a Irish Republican Army terrorist, an explosives expert. In Leoneu0026#39;s world, or at least in all his films, there are only two types of people: predators and victims. His major characters are all predators. The only thing that distinguishes his protagonists from his antagonists is that his antagonists start with a large body count and his protagonists usually spare the innocent. That works with a taut enough storyline, but u0026quot;…Dynamiteu0026quot; covers large areas of real estate and the goal is never clear. Juan didnu0026#39;t plan to become a hero of the revolution, and that is small payment for his losses. When one looks at history, the rewards of revolution and warfare are never worth the sacrifices, for just as we kill one bastard, another takes his place.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think u0026quot;A Fistfull of Dynamiteu0026quot; largely reflects Leoneu0026#39;s fate as well. Leone proved he was the greatest western director in less than four years with only four major films. Yet, he was hardly appreciated during his short life and only a few films after his magnificent achievement. u0026quot;A Fistfull of Dynamiteu0026quot; is also Leoneu0026#39;s saddest movie. A beautiful, big budget metaphor for a manu0026#39;s talent wasted by underappreciate film executive and smug, self-serving critics.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCoburn should have won an u0026quot;Oscaru0026quot; for u0026quot;Dynamite.u0026quot; With the exception of some tabletop model trains, the effects are convincing and exciting. The color cinematography is phenomenal, clearly the equal of u0026quot;Once Upon a Time in the West. The sound and music (by Ennio Morricone) is phenomenal, as usual. While not as satisfying as Leoneu0026#39;s best films, u0026quot;A Fistfull of Dynamiteu0026quot; is an exemplary film. I give it a u0026quot;9u0026quot;.”