A Fistful of Dynamite

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2020)

It's weird to think director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America) only directed seven films, this was his penultimate film, and the last Western he ever made. Basically, set in Mexico 1813 during the Revolution, Mexican outlaw Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) leads a family of bandits. He meets John 'Sean' Mallory (James Coburn), an Irish Republican explosives expert on the run from the British. Wanting his explosives skills, Juan relentlessly tries to make him join a raid on the Mesa Verde national bank. John in the meantime plans to use his explosives for service with the revolutionaries; the bank hit becomes an orchestrated revolutionary attack on the army organized by Doctor Villega (Romolo Valli). Juan is only interested in the money, so he is shocked to find there are no funds and it is being sued as a political prison. John, Juan and his family end up freeing hundreds of prisoners, causing Juan to become a "great, grand, glorious hero of the revolution". The revolutionaries are chased into the hills by Colonel GÃ¼nther Reza (Antoine Saint-John) and his army. John and Juan volunteer to stay behind with two machine guns and dynamite. Many of the troops are killed and destroyed with machine gun bullets and on the bridge, which is exploded, while Colonel Reza survives. After the battle, John and Juan find most of their comrades, including Juan's family and children, have been killed by the army in a cave. Juan is angered and goes alone to fight the army, only to get captured. John sneaks into the army camp, and witnesses his fellow revolutionaries being executed by a firing squad. Colonel Reza and his men had tortured Villega who informed the army, this evokes John to remember the betrayal of Nolan (David Warbeck), his best friend, whom he was forced to kill. Juan faces a firing squad of his own, but John arrives, blows up the squad and the wall with dynamite, and they escape on a motorcycle. John and Juan hide in the animal coach of a train. It stops to pick up the tyrannical Governor Don Jaime (Franco Graziosi), who has stolen a small fortune. The train is ambushed, John tests Juan's loyalty, he tells him to choose between shooting the Governor and accepting a bribe from him. Juan kills Jaime and steals the Governor's loot. Juan is greeted by a large crowd and again unexpectedly hailed as a great hero of the revolution. He throws the money back into the coach to John. On a train with commanders of the revolution, John and Juan are joined by Dr. Villega, who has escaped. Only John is aware of Villega's betrayal. They find out that an army train, led by Colonel Reza, carrying 1,000 soldiers and heavy is due to arrive in a few hours, which will surely overpower the rebel position. John suggests rigging a set of explosives to the locomotive for the upcoming train to collide with. He asks for Villega's help, rather than Juan; Villega realises that John is aware of his betrayal. The army train speeds towards the locomotive, John jumps in time as the two trains collide, but Villega, feeling guilty, stays aboard is killed, along with many soldiers. The ambush is successful for the revolutionaries, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot in the back by Colonel Reza. Juan enraged fires a machine gun at the Colonel. As John lies dying, memories of his friends and loved ones flash before him, he keeps Villega's betrayal a secret, and tells Juan that he died a hero of the revolution. John dies, and Juan sits watching the remains, unsure what he will do next. Also starring Maria Monti as Adelita, Rik Battaglia as Santerna, Franco Graziosi as Governor Huerta and John Frederick as the American on stagecoach. Steiger is alright as the money-hungry peasant a reasonably good Mexican accent, and Coburn is also alright as the walking arsenal. This film (originally titled Duck, You Sucker!) is apparently considered overlooked, I personally see as the weakest of Leone's films, there are some good sequences with explosions and guns blazing, but everything in between I found a bit boring, at least the score by composer Ennio Morricone is reasonable, an alright Spaghetti Western. Okay!