Brilliant chemistry

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2003)

Phewh, what a relief from the Hollywood production in the nineties and now of antagonistic buddies that throw one-liners at each other. Together with Rod Steiger's superb acting as the accidental Mexican revolutionary Juan Miranda and slightly less impressing performance by James Coburn as the IRA revolutionary specialist on the run, director Sergio Leone creates a rugged diamond of film here. Sergio starts the movie with provocative scenes that take the audiences to very fragile ethical grounds (referring to the post coach robbery scene with Juan and the rich woman) setting a serious athmosphere to the movie. It gives you the indication that the characters are complicated and have their own ethical struggles in midst of the greater scheme of on going revolution. Then it continues as a comic driven revolutionary film or so-called Zapata-western where Juan's emotionally rich character carries the movie all the way though. Leone's style of extreme close ups and Ennio's imaginative score that is both humorous and beautiful just make this a very enjoyable film to watch. James Coburn is great as the easy going IRA man and the relationship of the two not so equals develops beautifully. Rod Steiger has become one of my top 5 favorite actors (just amazing in "The heat of the night". In spite of somewhat weak storytelling this movie is going to be one of the most memorable movies I have seen. This is a forgotten jewel of film history and all lovers of insightful creative movies should see this Leone film. 9/10.