A Fistful of Leone

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2009)

Legendary director Sergio Leone made one final Western following the success of Once Upon a Time in the West and the Dollars Trilogy, and while it doesn't stack up to the monumental greatness of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, it remains a noble effort and solid film.
Where the movie fails to meet the grandeur of its predecessor is in the scope of its execution. The score doesn't quite match Morricone's magnum opus. The characters aren't quite as colorful as Blondie, Tuco, or Angel Eyes. The battle doesn't quite have the magnitude of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly's. But these are minor criticisms if they can be called criticisms at all.
Duck, You Sucker! is easily identified as a Leone movie by the many elements found in his other work: gritty close-ups, sun-baked deserts, even a bridge explosion not at all unlike the Civil War battle's conclusion in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But what differs this time around is the replacement of Eastwood with a new anti-hero, Mexican bandit Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger). Co-protagonist John Mallory (James Coburn) serves as an effective foil, a noble-minded revolutionary working alongside local guerrillas to create a better Mexico. There is something to be said for the pair's chemistry, and in many ways they're similar to Blondie and Tuco.
As with the Dollars Trilogy, Leone paints a beautiful film on his celluloid canvas. The aesthetic has a gritty, epic feel, and as always the most is made of the Southwest's (Spain's) grand, majestic, sweeping landscape.
What really sets the film apart is Morricone's score. The man is legendary in his own right, but the Leone / Morricone duo is nearly beyond superlative. Any time the two come together there is the potential for a masterpiece. And while Duck, You Sucker! doesn't quite attain such a status, it has repeatedly, and deservedly, been called one of the best Spaghetti Westerns.
7.5/10