Viva Leone!

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2012)

Amidst the chaos of the 1913 Mexican revolution, explosives expert John (James Coburn) and bandit leader Juan (Rod Steiger) join forces to break into the bank of Mesa Verde, each with their own agenda.
Sergio Leone is better known for giving us fistfuls of dollars than dynamite, but in my opinion this criminally under-appreciated spaghetti western is just as deserving of attention as the director's better known Eastwood movies.
As its alternative US title—Duck, You Sucker—suggests, A Fistful of Dynamite begins in a rather comedic vein, the film's less-than-exemplary protagonists trading blows and quips in a series of comical encounters; but as the pair slowly form an unlikely friendship, so the film gradually develops into a far more poignant work, exploring numerous intelligent themes—bravery, honour, corruption, politics, betrayal, tragedy, judgement, retribution, heroism, sacrifice.
John's back-story, in particular, gives the film much of its profundity and pathos. Told in a series of flashbacks, it depicts him as an idealistic IRA terrorist torn between friendship and his devotion to his political ethos, forced to make a split-second judgement that will forever haunt his life and affect his future. This complexity of character, perfectly portrayed by Coburn, and brilliantly realised by Leone, helps to elevate A Fistful of Dynamite above many films of the same genre.
Of course, such a film wouldn't be complete without some gratuitous carnage, and Leone doesn't disappoint in this department either, delivering plenty of death and destruction in his own distinctive style and accompanied by yet another unforgettable Ennio Morricone score: sudden outbursts of violence from Steiger's deceptively buffoon-like bandit Juan; brutal executions carried out by the movie's loathsome villain Col. Günther Reza (Antoine Saint-John); a spectacular machine-gun massacre; an explosive train wreck. All of this is, of course, highly entertaining on a superficial level, but it also serves to drive home the film's more thought provoking messages about the horrors of conflict and the questionability of pursuing a path of violence to achieve one's goal.