The Big Gundown

Amidst the general flotsam and jetsam of Spaghetti Westerns (over 400 in all) that followed the colossal success of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, there were a handful of films that, despite the limitations of budget and the subgenre, are actually pretty good. In 1966, director Sergio Sollima took a highly-politicized story by left-wing screenwriter Franco Solinas (The Battle of Algiers), transposed it to a Western setting, toned down the politics and created The Big Gundown, creating an entertaining, stylishly-directed oater in the process. Despite the usual Spaghetti faults, the result is easily the best Spaghetti I've seen to date, a truly entertaining and creative film that fires on most cylinders.

Jonathan Corbett (Lee Van Cleef) is a ruthlessly efficient lawman with political ambitions who singlehandedly clears a West Texas territory of outlaws. Before he can set his sights on elective office, however, Corbett is hired by unscrupulous businessman Brokston (Walter Barnes) to track down a wily Mexican, Cuchillo (Tomas Milan) accused of killing and raping a twelve year old girl. Corbett immediately sets off in pursuit, but finds Cuchillo a most elusive prey; he outwits, outfoxes and frustrates the lawman at every turn - ultimately leading Corbett into a Mexican jail. At some point along the way, Corbett realizes that Cuchillo has been set-up by Brokston, and the two criminals band together against Brokston, his Austrian bodyguard (Gerard Herter), and a huge posse of bloodthirsty gunmen.

The Big Gundown doesn't do a lot that's overly original, but it does it so well that one is loathe to criticize it. The political overtones are mostly toned-down and work as part of the story rather than an obnoxious writer's message (see the atrocious Bullet For the General); fortunately, aside from Cuchillio's expert knife-throwing the film is also lacking the over-the-top weapon-fetishizing of the genre's weaker entries - even the body count is fairly subdued by Spaghetti standards, and there's no intrusive cartoonishness to mar the procedings either. There are some weaknesses in story structure which hurt, but do not seriously, namely the cop-out happy ending - which, if Christopher Frayling is to believe, was much darker in Solinas' original story. One might also criticize the typically poor dubbing and awkward English-translated dialogue, but all Spaghetti fans will be accustomed to this.

Sollima's direction is perfect; he handles the action and showdowns with an aplomb Leone would envy, captures the stark yet beautiful Almerian outback with striking clarity. The movie has some truly inspired set pieces, most notably the lengthy scene where Brokston's posse hunts Cuchillo through a cane field (an arresting sequence Solinas would later recycle for Pontecorvo's Burn!). The film moves at a brisk pace, never stopping long enough to get boring (though some of the scenes run a bit long in the restored Franco Cleef version) but keeping things interesting without a bloody gunfight every five mintues. Ennio Morricone contributes a typically strong, vibrant and catchy score (sans a fairly obnoxious title song); the interesting duel music, in which a guitar theme is interspersed with snatches of Fur Elise, was recently coopted by Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds.

Lee Van Cleef is his usual badass self; Corbett is just a bit more complex than most Spaghetti heroes, and Cleef affectively makes him an intimidating screen presence and a conflicted protagonist. Cuban-born Tomas Milan would soon become a big name in Spaghetti circles, but rarely would he better his turn here; he makes Cuchillo a fascinating, vibrant and loveable trickster almost on a par with Eli Wallach's Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The supporting cast includes the usual array of Spaghetti faces: Walter Barnes, Antonio Casas, Fernando Sancho, Benito Stefanelli, Roberto Camardiel.

The Big Gundown may well be the best Spaghetti not directed by a man named Leone. It's certainly among the most entertaining, lacking the genre's usual excess and cartoonishness in favor of a taut, entertaining and stylish story.