Everyone is Entitled to One

Rating: 3/10 (17 June 2018)

Sergio Leone had come off four more or less brilliant westerns (the "Dollars Trilogy" and "Once Upon a Time in the West") and this looks like another, but it isn't. Set in 1913 we have motorcycles and automobiles alongside horse-drawn vehicles. In fact, if you take "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as chronologically (though not actually) his first western, one has a progression into the modern world.
But while Leone's first four westerns were thoroughly groundbreaking; lyrical and both humorous and surpassingly brilliant in spots . . . this movie is a letdown.
The stars, Rod Steiger an James Coburn, are nearly always watchable. Unfortunately, Coburn, while a fine actor, has problems with accents. Here he tries an Irish brogue (which is relatively more passable than his Australian accent in "The Great Escape"--barely on the good side of Dick van Dyke's cockney in "Mary Poppins"). Steiger's method acting conflicted with the director's requirements, but he got stuck with him (he wanted Eli Wallach but the studio thought Steiger more of a draw).
What to make of this mess, which starts with a man urinating on ants (where is the SPCA--Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ants?) and it's a roller-coaster ride of quality. Leone is still capable of great shots, such as when rifles burst in through a window on either side of Steiger's head.
However, as with all Leone's flicks, unpleasant images abound. Not just urination, but rape, presented almost as a human need, and unnecessary nudity.
I can't give a spoiler about the ending because, frankly, I didn't make it all the way through. I slept through lots of it and I doubt I'll revisit it.
Leone could be a great director, but he often confused bloat with impressiveness. His smoothest movie was undoubtedly the equally unpleasant but also imminently watchable "Once Upon a Time in America"--more than ten years after this curious bit of confusion.
I haven't seen "The Colossus of Rhodes"; but apart from that, of the movies where Leone is listed as sole director, "A Fistful of Dollars", "For Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Once Upon a Time in America" are all pretty good films. And, as I said before, the "Dollars" movies were groundbreaking, forever changing our expectations from westerns.
"Duck, You Sucker" (aka "A Fistful of Dynamite"), the director's sometimes wacky, sometimes serious tour of the Mexican Revolution, is Leone's notable failure. Well, everyone is entitled to one. It has some great Leone signature images, but the characters are thoroughly despicable, the acting even from the headline stars is variable at best, and the story (such as it is) is not compelling. It's only for people who have to see all Leone's movies . . . or, like me, thought we did.