The Big Gundown

The Big Gundown
Italian film poster
Directed by Sergio Sollima
Produced by Alberto Grimaldi[1]
Screenplay by
Story by
Starring
Music by Ennio Morricone[1]
Cinematography Carlo Carlini[1]
Edited by Gaby Penalba[1]
Production
companies
  • PEA
  • Produzioni Cinematographice Tulio Demicheli[1]
Release date
  • March 1967 (1967-03) (Italy)
Country
Box office 1.441 billion ITL (Italy)[2]


The Big Gundown (Italian: La resa dei conti, lit. 'The Settling of Scores') is a Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Sollima, and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian.

Plot

Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, ready-to-retire bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (Lee Van Cleef) is summoned to a party by a Texas railroad tycoon by the name of Brockston (Walter Barnes), whose daughter is getting married. Brockston plants the seed that Corbett should consider a run for the Senate, but not before doing one last bounty hunt.

Brockston offers Corbett his political backing in exchange for tracking down a 12-year-old girl's accused rapist and murderer, who goes by the name of Cuchillo (Tomas Milian), a Mexican who is fleeing back to his native land. Cuchillo means “knife” in Spanish, which is the rascal’s weapon of choice. Corbett expects it to be easy, even offering to do it as a wedding gift.

Corbett sets out in pursuit of Cuchillo, who is not as dumb as he acts, and who is rather crafty at vexing Corbett at every turn. As time passes and Corbett fails to get his man, Brockston turns to an Austrian, "The Baron," who prides himself on being the fastest draw of any man with a gun, to settle scores with Cuchillo and, if necessary, with Corbett as well.

Cast

Production

The Big Gundown was shot in Almeria in late 1966.[3]

Release

The Big Gundown was released in Italy in March 1967 with a running time of 105 minutes.[4] On its release in Spain, the climactic cane-field chase was shortened.[4] In the United States and United Kingdom, the film was released in 1968 and edited down to 85 minutes and removed all references to the rape of the girl.[4] The film grossed over two-million dollars when it was released in the United States.[5]

In December 2013, Grindhouse Releasing in association with original rights holder Columbia Pictures/Sony, has digitally restored and re-released the film with two different cuts, the original 110-minute Italian version and a 95-minute "expanded U.S. cut" (in English) restoring several minutes of non-dialogue footage not included in the original American release.[6]

Critical reception

In a retrospective review, Stuart Galbraith IV remarked that the film was "unusually fine" noting its "taut, intelligent screenplay" and "Lee Van Cleef's marvelous screen presence" and "especially the outstanding musical score by the great Ennio Morricone.“[6] Daryl Loomis of DVD Verdict commented: “The story, written by Sergio Donati (Duck, You Sucker), is strong, with a darker framing story than one often sees, and a lot of wit and humor throughout... Great performances and some amazing music, combined with strong direction, gorgeous locations, and top-notch camera work (by Carlo Carlini, Death Rides a Horse)... is among the best work of any of the participants' careers... There's no question that, had more people seen The Big Gundown, it would be clearly recognized at the pinnacle of the genre. Luckily, Grindhouse Releasing has graced us with one of the best Blu-ray packages I've seen in a long time... With the extras, the commentaries, and especially the soundtrack CD, this is my pick for Blu-ray release of the year.”[7]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hughes 2004, p. 146.
  2. ↑ Fisher, Austin (2014). Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema. I.B.Tauris. p. 220.
  3. ↑ Hughes 2004, p. 149.
  4. 1 2 3 Hughes 2004, p. 154.
  5. ↑ Hughes 2004, p. 157.
  6. 1 2 Galbraith IV, Stuart (December 10, 2013). ""The Big Gundown Blu-ray" review,". DVD Talk. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ DVD Verdict “The Big Gundown (1966) (Blu-ray) review” DVD Verdict, by Daryl Loomis, December 26th, 2013

Sources

  • Cox, Alex (2009). 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western. Oldcastle Books. ISBN 978-1842433041.
  • Hughes, Howard (2004). Once Upon a Time in the Italian West. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-430-1.
  • Hughes, Howard (2010). Spaghetti Westerns. Harpenden: Kamera Books. ISBN 978-1-84243-303-4.


Bibliography


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