The Bad and The Ugly.

Rating: 7/10 (25 September 2013)

Sergio Leone had conquered the spaghetti western with The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West that his last western, A Fistful of Dynamite gets swept under the rug. While it does have the grit and tension of his famous trilogy, there's something about it that makes it a peg below. It feels more like a Sam Peckinpah classic. Although West neglected him entirely, Dynamite misses Clint Eastwood's touch. James Coburn and Rod Steiger (with his seemingly expendable family) are apt enough substitutes, but they're both unlikeable anti-heroes. We invest in Eastwood's character because of his calmness and endurance, but Dynamite is like having just The Bad and The Ugly.
Marvin's character tries to have this quality, but his backstory takes away the mystery and slows down the film and makes him seem weak-willed. It's still fine though, and is more or less as good as A Fistful of Dollars. Here, Leone's closeups are used for social class critique as he compares the rich and the poor, sometimes too obviously, but he weaves it into the story pretty well even if it is a long slow burn. Unfortunately, his right-hand man Ennio Morricone's score isn't the best, with some ridiculous crooning and croaking though it still creates atmosphere. Which is what Leone's spaghetti westerns were all about. Atmosphere. Great to have one last dip, just to make sure the well was definitely tapped out. I'm sure he knew it too.
7/10