"Hey Firecracker"

Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2008)

Duck, You Sucker which is the title of this film that I first saw it under takes place in revolutionary Mexico of the teen years of the last century. It's a time we've become somewhat familiar with in America due to films like Viva Zapata and any number of films about Pancho Villa. This film is not quite as good as Viva Zapata however.
It's from the guy who made the spaghetti western and Clint Eastwood popular in the USA, Sergio Leone and stars Rod Steiger and James Coburn and a cast of unknown Europeans mostly Italian. Coburn plays an Irish Revolutionary who's finding things a bit hot over in Ireland with His Majesty's Home Office breathing down hard in search of him. He's an explosives expert, hence the name Steiger gives him of firecracker. Coburn is almost, not quite as laconic as when he was in The Magnificent Seven and was the one with the least amount of dialog.
That's all right because Steiger more than makes up for it. I'm sure Rod wasn't given all that much direction by Leone as to character. So he does the next best thing, he bellows his way through the film when he's not dispatching members of the upper classes into the next world with abandon. The two form an unlikely partnership and strike many a blow for liberation of the masses before one of them is killed. And they do look like they're having fun while doing it.
There's nothing much more to tell about Duck, You Sucker. It's got the same look and feel as all those Clint Eastwood films Leone did. In fact that's my main problem, the man is great at creating atmosphere and does wonders with a camera. But he's no actor's director. It's why his films are so short on words.
But I'm one who thinks Italians ought to stick to grand opera as the art form they do best because it's their culture and leave westerns to Americans. But some folks like Sergio Leone and if you do I'm sure you'll like Duck, You Sucker more than me.