I didn't like it at all & it felt like it went on forever.

Rating: 3/10 (30 July 2008)

Giù la Testa is set in Mexico where Irish IRA explosives expert John Mallory (James Coburn) is on the run from one revolution & fight but soon finds himself in the thick of another when he teams up with Mexican bandit Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) & his gang, Juan forces John to help him & his gang rob the gold from a bank in the city of Mesa Verde using explosives but soon both are considered hero's for their antics. Drawn into the revolution Juan & John become important figures & commit themselves to the cause against oppression & their capitalist leaders...
More commonly known amongst English speaking audiences under titles such as A Fistful of Dynamite & Duck, You Sucker (worst title for a film ever) this Italian production was co-written & directed by Sergio Leone & despite the whole world & it's brother seemingly liking it I personally hated Giù la Testa & it's as simple & straight forward as that. When originally released in the US Giù la Testa was heavily edited to a little over two hours & I thought it was that shorter version I was going to watch last night but due to a mistake the version I saw was the life sapping two & a half hour plus cut which bored me to tears, hell I was sat there watching this & for the last hour all I could think to myself was how much more of this crap do I have to sit through. I know Giù la Testa has a good reputation but I really saw nothing here to enjoy or recommend, I thought the tone was very uneven, I thought the plot was weak & could be more accurately described as a collection of loosely connected incidents, I thought the themes about revolution, war, redemption, running, honour, family & betrayal had little dramatic impact & it bored me stupid. I can't stress enough how bored I was watching Giù la Testa & the worst sin a film can commit in my eyes is to be boring.
The film has a few sporadic moments of action, there's a few explosions, some shoot-outs & a crashing train but they are few & far between. Despite what anyone says the violence is tame, there's no blood or gore for instance. I will give Giù la Testa some credit for it's nice production design & cinematography, the film certainly looks nice if nothing else but that's not really enough. I mean if something bores you to tears it doesn't really matter how good it looks, does it? I don't quite understand where all the love for Giù la Testa comes from, I honestly didn't enjoy it at all & after a fairly striking opening thirty odd minutes I found myself losing all interest in it & becoming increasingly bored. It's never a good sign when you sit there & just keep saying to yourself that you wish something would just finish!
Although set entirely in Mexico Giù la Testa was filmed almost entirely in Spain apart from some studio work in Italy. As I have said the film is visually nice with some nice cinematography but it's just so dull & boring. Rod Steiger & James Coburn make for decent leads.
Giù la Testa is a film with a good reputation that I hoped I would enjoy but at over two & a half hours it bored me half to death, nope I am sorry but I don't have any love for Giù la Testa at all. I am sure there is an audience out there for a film such as Giù la Testa but it's not for me.