Silly at times, dead serious at others

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2016)

While not being at all my favourite Sergio Leone film, I still believe this movie is one of those you should have seen to consider yourself a proper cinephile. "Duck, you sucker" starts with a guy peeing, something kind of strange in a western film. In fact, the first scene that comes after that introduces very well and seriously one of the biggest themes in the movie, the discrimination of the poor and the Mexican revolution. Then we have the encounter between the two main characters, and a whole alteration of really silly, humorous and childish moments to very serious scenes and events. This film depicts violence of the Mexican dictatorship as crudely as many films depict Nazis. Homever, it also shows an aspect of revolutions not always obvious. As Mao-Tze tung'squote says at the beginning, "Revolution is an act of violence". The film, through the experiences of John as an I.R.A. terrorist shown in flashbacks, paralleling events in the film, how inglorious and dirty were actually the really hosannated revolutions, making the viewer feel at the end similarly to John, who says at a point in the film, "I don't believe in anything but dynamite." This movie though is not anti-revolutionary or justifies dictatorships. "Duck you sucker" has a quite complex theme and seriousness, next to some really silly and childish situations or jokes, and an unmemorable score which are what make the movie fall down to mark 8/10. Every Sergio Leone fan should try to understand it homever.