Great movie, by a great director
Added 10/5/2009
This is one of my favorite movies of all time by one of the greatest directors of all time given an excellent DVD treatment.
Fans of Sergio Leone will absolutely not be disappointed with this purchase. Not only is the feature movie itself one of his best, there are some interesting special features included as well. I wont go into plot points other than to say that the story involves an Irish "terrorist" (revolutionary) teaming up with a Mexican bandit against the backdrop of the Mexican revolution. Ennio Morricone provides one of his best scores in this film, giving an especially memorable introductory theme to James Coburn's character.
Purchase this DVD with confidence.
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Wonderful Leone adventure
Added 9/11/2009
The Bottom Line:
Much faster-paced and more enjoyable than the far more praised Once Upon a Time in the West, Duck You Sucker has that glorious sense of adventure that finds its main characters gleefully thrown from one predicament to another while the movie motors along; it's not as good as The Good the Bad and the Ugly, the Morricone score is one of his weakest and Eli Wallach could probably have played Rod Steiger's role better, but it's a really fun movie from a director completely in command of his best genre.
3.5/4
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An initially lighter tone, leads to a more thoughtful and troubling meditation on the costs of war and the value of friendship
Added 8/13/2009
This was the only Leone Western I hadn't seen, and I finally took a look. It's well worth it, especially in this excellent collector's edition set (with audio in English, French or Spanish, subtitles in English or Spanish, a very nice visual transfer, an intriguing commentary, and a few featurettes that I haven't had a chance to check out yet).
Initially the film seemed to be a bit lighter in tone than some of the others - it starts out with Rod Steiger, a seemingly hapless peasant who turns out to be a clever bandit, relieving himself on a bunch of fireants as they roam about an old dead tree. Later, we meet James Coburn's apparently loony Irish bomber, who tosses dynamite like it's going out of style.
It turns out both characters have a great deal of depth to them - Steiger's not just a self-centered bandit, though he is that. He values family above all else, and sees nothing around him to suggest that struggles for justice, revolution and ideals amount to anything more than schemes and myths perpetrated by the elites to serve their own interests. Coburn, who still believes in something, has been burned in the past and is afraid to trust anyone.
Everything we've come to know and love in Leone's films is here - the Morricone musical motifs, the attention to faces as landscape, the unsubtle but powerful performances (especially Steiger, who is brilliant in this role - you can read his thoughts directly on his face and in his eyes). There is, more, a much more direct political edge to this one, and especially a critique of the Marxists who, contra Marx, insist on reiterating class differences at the level of a division between the head (leadership) and the hands (the expendible peasant soldiers). Very satisyfing.
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Heavy-handed to the point of annoyance
Added 7/23/2009
Let me preface this review by stating that I worship Sergio Leone; as a master of filmmaking technique, he ranks in the all-time top five (in terms of westerns, he beats Ford and Peckinpah combined). But "Duck, You Sucker" stinks. I definitely prefer the U.S.-edited version ("A Fistful of Dynamite") to the original Italian cut.
First of all, Rod Steiger's performance is unbearably annoying (a bit of a problem, since he's essentially the main character). Second of all, the forefront of the movie is dominated by anti-American political babble at the expense of such basics as plot and character. What could have been an extremely compelling adventure becomes nothing more than an anti-capitalist rant. By placing the propaganda front-and-center, Leone displayed more incompetence than mastery. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that political and cultural issues are not allowed to be expressed in movies; I'm saying that sacrificing storytelling in order to promote a "message" is a self-defeating move that turns a potential classic into a forgettable stinker. "Once Upon a Time in the West" is immortal; "Duck, You Sucker," however, was probably outdated a year after its initial theatrical release.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Dragging, boring, not funny as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Added 6/28/2009
This movie is dragging, boring and not funny as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. For example, in the scene where Rod Steiger and James Coburn met the first time. Rod spent a lot of time convincing James to join him in bank robberies. Rod talked a lot. His conversation and action are supposed to be humourous but they're not. This scene lasted about 12 minutes. It made me sleepy. Rod and James do not make a good comedy team.
I regret buying it.
1 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Great movie, by a great director
Added 10/5/2009
This is one of my favorite movies of all time by one of the greatest directors of all time given an excellent DVD treatment.
Fans of Sergio Leone will absolutely not be disappointed with this purchase. Not only is the feature movie itself one of his best, there are some interesting special features included as well. I wont go into plot points other than to say that the story involves an Irish "terrorist" (revolutionary) teaming up with a Mexican bandit against the backdrop of the Mexican revolution. Ennio Morricone provides one of his best scores in this film, giving an especially memorable introductory theme to James Coburn's character.
Purchase this DVD with confidence.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Wonderful Leone adventure
Added 9/11/2009
The Bottom Line:
Much faster-paced and more enjoyable than the far more praised Once Upon a Time in the West, Duck You Sucker has that glorious sense of adventure that finds its main characters gleefully thrown from one predicament to another while the movie motors along; it's not as good as The Good the Bad and the Ugly, the Morricone score is one of his weakest and Eli Wallach could probably have played Rod Steiger's role better, but it's a really fun movie from a director completely in command of his best genre.
3.5/4
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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An initially lighter tone, leads to a more thoughtful and troubling meditation on the costs of war and the value of friendship
Added 8/13/2009
This was the only Leone Western I hadn't seen, and I finally took a look. It's well worth it, especially in this excellent collector's edition set (with audio in English, French or Spanish, subtitles in English or Spanish, a very nice visual transfer, an intriguing commentary, and a few featurettes that I haven't had a chance to check out yet).
Initially the film seemed to be a bit lighter in tone than some of the others - it starts out with Rod Steiger, a seemingly hapless peasant who turns out to be a clever bandit, relieving himself on a bunch of fireants as they roam about an old dead tree. Later, we meet James Coburn's apparently loony Irish bomber, who tosses dynamite like it's going out of style.
It turns out both characters have a great deal of depth to them - Steiger's not just a self-centered bandit, though he is that. He values family above all else, and sees nothing around him to suggest that struggles for justice, revolution and ideals amount to anything more than schemes and myths perpetrated by the elites to serve their own interests. Coburn, who still believes in something, has been burned in the past and is afraid to trust anyone.
Everything we've come to know and love in Leone's films is here - the Morricone musical motifs, the attention to faces as landscape, the unsubtle but powerful performances (especially Steiger, who is brilliant in this role - you can read his thoughts directly on his face and in his eyes). There is, more, a much more direct political edge to this one, and especially a critique of the Marxists who, contra Marx, insist on reiterating class differences at the level of a division between the head (leadership) and the hands (the expendible peasant soldiers). Very satisyfing.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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