Duck, You Sucker! (, lit. "Duck Your Head", "Get Down"), also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution, is a 1971 epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and starring Rod Steiger, James Coburn, and Romolo Valli.

Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the film tells the story of Juan Miranda, a Mexican outlaw, and John Mallory, a former member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish Volunteer Army. After they accidentally meet under less-than-friendly circumstances, Juan and John involuntarily become heroes of the revolution, despite being forced to make heavy sacrifices.

It is the second film of Leone's unofficial Once Upon a Time Trilogy, following Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and preceding Once Upon a Time in America (1984). The last Western directed by Leone, some critics consider it among his most overlooked films.

Plot

In revolution-torn 1913 Mexico, outlaw Juan Miranda leads a family of bandits, robs a coach of wealthy men, and rapes a female passenger who insulted him. Passing by on a motorcycle is John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican explosives expert, who works in Mexico as a silver prospector. Juan asks John (who initially states his name as "Seán") to help him rob the Mesa Verde National Bank. After John refuses, Juan frames him for the murder of his employer and several soldiers, making him a wanted criminal and offering to "protect" him in exchange for his help. John reluctantly agrees, but escapes on the way to Mesa Verde.

Arriving in the city before Juan, John makes contact with revolutionaries led by physician Dr. Villega and agrees to use his explosives in their service. When Juan arrives, John inducts him into the revolutionaries' ranks. The bank is hit as part of an orchestrated attack on the Mexican army. Juan, interested only in money, is shocked to find that the bank has no funds and is instead being used by the army as a political prison. After freeing several prisoners, Juan inadvertently becomes a "glorious hero of the revolution".

The revolutionaries are chased into the hills by an army detachment led by Colonel Gunther Ruiz. John and Juan volunteer to stay behind, armed with machine guns and dynamite. Much of the detachment is destroyed while crossing a bridge, which John explodes. Ruiz, however, survives. After the battle, John and Juan find most of their comrades, including Juan's father and children, have been killed by the army. Enraged, Juan decides to fight the army single-handed, and is captured. John sneaks into camp, where other revolutionaries are being executed by firing squad. They were informed on by Dr. Villega, who has been tortured by Ruiz and his men. This evokes in John memories of a similar betrayal by Nolan, his best friend in Ireland. Nolan identified John, who killed two British soldiers and then killed Nolan, making himself a fugitive and forcing him to flee Ireland. Juan is facing a firing squad when John saves him with dynamite.

After escaping on a motorcycle, John and Juan hide in the animal coach of a train. It stops to pick up the tyrannical Governor Don Jaime, who is fleeing (with a small fortune) from revolutionary forces. As the train is ambushed, John lets Juan choose between shooting Jaime or accepting a bribe from him. Juan kills Jaime, also stealing the governor's spoils. Juan and John decide to flee to America with the money, but as the door opens, Juan is greeted by the revolutionaries. The money is taken away by the revolutionaries, so Juan and John are forced to stay in Mexico.

On a train with commanders of the revolution, John and Juan are joined by Dr. Villega, who has escaped. John alone knows of Villega's betrayal. Pancho Villa's forces will be delayed by 24 hours, and a train carrying 1000 soldiers and heavy weapons, led by Ruiz, will arrive that evening, which will surely overpower the rebel position. John suggests they rig a locomotive with dynamite and send it head on. He requires one other man, but instead of picking Juan, who volunteers, he chooses Villega. Villega realizes that John knows of the betrayal, but does not judge him. John pleads with him to jump off the locomotive before it hits the army's train, but Villega feels guilty and stays on board. John jumps in time, and the trains collide, killing Villega and several Mexican soldiers.

The revolutionaries' ambush is successful, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot by Ruiz. Enraged, Juan kills Ruiz with a machine gun. As John lies dying, he continues to have memories of Nolan, and of a woman they both apparently loved. Juan kneels by his side to ask about Villega. John only says that Villega died a hero of the revolution. As Juan goes to seek help, John sets off a second charge he secretly laid in case the battle went badly. Horrified, Juan later stares at John's burning remains and forlornly asks, "What about me?"

Cast

  • Rod Steiger as Juan Miranda, is a Mexican peon leading a band of outlaws composed mostly of his own children. He does not care about the revolution at first, but becomes involved after his encounter with John.
  • James Coburn as John (Seán) H. Mallory, is a Fenian revolutionary and explosives expert. Wanted for killing British forces in Ireland, he flees to Mexico, where he ends up getting involved in another revolution.
  • Romolo Valli as Dr. Villega, is a physician and commander of the revolutionary movement of Mesa Verde.
  • Maria Monti as Adelita, is a wealthy female passenger on the stagecoach robbed and raped by Juan at the beginning of the film.
  • Rik Battaglia as General Santerna, is a commander leading the Mexican revolutionary army.
  • Franco Graziosi as Governor Don Jaime, is the corrupt and tyrannical local governor.
  • Antoine Saint-John as Colonel Günther Ruiz, is a ruthless commander leading a detachment of federales and the main antagonist of the film.
  • Vivienne Chandler as Coleen, is John's girlfriend; she appears only in flashbacks.
  • David Warbeck as Nolan, is John's best friend, also an Irish nationalist; he appears only in flashbacks.

Production

Development

The development of Duck, You Sucker! began during the production of Once Upon a Time in the West, when Sergio Leone's collaborator Sergio Donati presented him with an early treatment of the film. Around the same time, political riots had broken out in Paris, and the ideals of revolution and left-wing nationalism had become popular among university students and filmmakers across Europe. Leone, who had used his previous films to deconstruct the romanticization of the American Old West, decided to use Duck, You Sucker! to deconstruct the romanticized nature of revolution, and to shed light on the political instability of contemporary Italy. Leone then recruited his regular assistant director, Giancarlo Santi, to direct, with Leone supervising proceedings, and Santi was in charge for the first 10 days of shooting. However, Rod Steiger refused to play his role as Juan unless Leone himself directed, and the producers pressured him into directing the film. Leone reluctantly agreed, and Santi was relegated to second unit work. George Lazenby was then approached to play John, but he declined. A young Malcolm McDowell, then mostly known for his performance in if...., was considered for both John and Nolan, John's Irish friend, but Leone eventually settled on James Coburn to play John. Coburn had previously been considered for other Leone projects, including A Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon a Time in the West. He had also previously been considered for a role in another United Artists-financed Zapata Western, Sergio Corbucci's The Mercenary, but Franco Nero was later cast in what was originally his role.

The role of Juan Miranda was written for Eli Wallach, based on his performance as Tuco in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but Wallach had already committed to another project with Jean-Paul Belmondo. After Leone begged Wallach to play the part, he dropped out of the other project to play Juan. Rod Steiger owed the studio another film, though, and they refused to back the picture unless Steiger was used. Leone offered no compensation to Wallach, and Wallach subsequently sued.

Leone was initially dissatisfied with Steiger's performance in that he played his character as a serious, Zapata-like figure.

Antonio Margheriti claims to have done the miniature work on the film, particularly the train sequences. Alberto De Martino filmed second unit of the final battle.

Music

The musical score for Duck, You Sucker! was composed by Ennio Morricone, who collaborated with Leone in all his previous projects as a director with the exception of his debut, The Colossus of Rhodes. Elvis Mitchell, former film critic for The New York Times, considered it as one of Morricone's "most glorious and unforgettable scores". In France, it was the fourth-most popular film released there in 1972, behind A Clockwork Orange, Stadium Nuts, and Last Tango in Paris.

The Chicago Reader praised it for its "marvelous sense of detail and spectacular effects". The New York Observer argues that Leone's direction, Morricone's score, and the leads' performances "ignite an emotional explosion comparable to that of Once Upon a Time in the West". In Mexico, where the film is known as Los Héroes de Mesa Verde, it was refused classification and effectively banned until 1979, because it was considered offensive to the Mexican people and the revolution. Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Overblown action spectacular, far too long to be sustained by its flashes of humour and excitement... " Leonard Maltin gave it three of four stars: "Big, sprawling story of Mexican revolution... Tremendous action sequences; Leone's wry touches and ultra-weird Ennio Morricone score make it worthwhile diversion."

Release history

<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|left|A comparison of the two title logos used for the English-language versions of the film. Note that the original Duck, You Sucker title is used in parenthesis in the A Fistful of Dynamite version. -->

The film was originally released in the United States in 1972 as Duck, You Sucker!, and ran for 121 minutes. Many scenes were cut because they were deemed too violent, profane, or politically sensitive, including a quote from Mao Zedong about the nature of revolutions and class struggle. One of the working titles, Once Upon a Time... the Revolution, was also used for some European releases.

In 1989, Image Entertainment released the film on laserdisc, including some material cut from the original US version and lasting 138 minutes. This version was released in Europe as Once Upon a Time in Mexico, again intended to evoke an earlier Leone film, Once Upon a Time in the West. although the DVD appearing in The Sergio Leone Anthology box set, released by MGM in 2007, used the original English language title of Duck, You Sucker!.

The film's first English-language DVD was released by MGM in the UK in 2003. This version of the film runs 154 minutes and is almost complete, but it uses a truncated version of the film's final four-minute-long flashback. In 2005, following the restoration of Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, MGM re-released the film in the UK with more supplemental material, the aforementioned flashback scene reinstated, and with a newly created 5.1 surround soundtrack. The restored version had a brief art house theatrical run in the U.S., and was subsequently released there in a "Collector's Edition" in 2007.

Duck, You Sucker! was shown in 2009 as part of the Cannes Classics series of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. The print used for the festival was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and the film laboratory Immagine Ritrovata.

In October 2014, MGM released the film on Blu-ray, akin to its Blu-ray releases of the Dollars Trilogy.

References

  • Duck, You Sucker! at Trailers from Hell
  • Duck You Sucker! at the blog Come Here to Me! about Dublin