The Big Gundown (1967)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Blistering performances.

One of the best and possibly the greatest Spaghetti Western ever made. The Big Gundown (or La Resa Dei Conti) is a marvelous example of how not every Spaghetti Western without Sergio Leone was bad. The film has a superb cast with two great stars for westerns, and a great script. The film is a powerhouse to other films, but no one sees it.Sergio Sollima's film is a film that has been forgotten throughout the years. People only remember Spaghetti Westerns due to The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West. This film though, does mix the two's most infamous part's of each film. Leone's Good, Bad, And ugly has an epic showdown that everyone will remember even if you have seen it once, and Leone's Once Upon a Time one has politics and social issues. The Big Gundown mixes an epic showdown towards the end of the film with and uses politics and social issues to bring toward the climax. One thing though stands out to this film, the music. Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western music is probably the most iconic (especially The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly). But, Morricone's music is more of his finer work. His work for Leone is considered gold, but this is a piece of lost gold. Just the opening titles really get you pumped up, and the showdown music towards the end with the Butler and Cuchillo is marvelous. But, then there is the other showdown music with the Baron from Austria and Corbert. The music for that scene mixes Beethoven with Western showdown.If you're looking for a film to watch, especially a somewhat of a Cult Film, I recommend this with open hands. It is a great film, it isn't as long as Leone's pictures, but it is intense. There is probably no other Non-Leone Spaghetti Western out there that comes close. I hope you enjoy this film.

The hunt is on as American lawman chases after a "dog of Juarez" (a Mexican Revolutionary who thought Mexicans deserved to be free from the tyranny of the country's government) accused of raping and murdering a 12-year old girl, following him into his native Mexico. Brokston, an American railroad tycoon, quite wealthy and ruthless, is protecting the true rapist, Shep (when he gets drunk, and spots a teenage girl, he usually accosts them, as we see later when a Mexican servant, carrying a tray of drinks, is nearly raped by him), because the scumbag has precious land (this land will serve as a path for the railroad), who will participate in the hunt with Van Cleef's black-clad officer of the law. Cuchillo, crafty and evasive, uses cunning techniques to escape Van Cleef (such as a supposed snake bite) and prison (a cool scene where an also imprisoned Van Cleef must watch as his quarry, in a separate cell, had already previously devised a plan of escape just in case he was jailed there again), and continues on the run, soon in deep trouble when his position is discovered in cane fields. There's the inclusion of a primpy, flamboyant showboat (Gérard Herter; who puts on a cape and wears a monocle for crying out loud) who talks about reading the eyes of those he draws against, waxing poetic to Van Cleef (Van Cleef, amusingly, just stands still in silence, but we know he thinks this blowhard is full of blarney and will get his just desserts eventually) about his skills.Before Brokston's overall involvement in the movie, "The Big Gundown", is ultimately about Van Cleef hunting Cuchillo through hot mountains and desert (and we see the dirt and sweat, the lawless frontier of Mexico is certainly established in the second half of the movie when Van Cleef loses Cuchillo and must pursue him in his terrain), each outsmarting the other at times. No new ground, plot-wise, is broken, but there's plenty of action, gun-fights, and stylized violence.There's really nothing earth-shattering about the movie, though, but as a Van Cleef fan, I just want to see him as the focal point of the action and, true to form, he doesn't disappoint. You never get the impression that he won't come out on top, however, so the western is predictable in that regard, but his opposition is loathsome enough that anyone he knocks off is deserved of his fate. Van Cleef's character approach pretty much remained the same in his "hero" movies, a pillar of resolve and unflinching when facing down gunfighters, he always seems (or, most of the time) to be the smartest character in the scene, but occasionally he was able to spread his wings within the spaghetti western genre. In this one, he's essentially the same character you would see in Death Rides a Horse. For someone like me, that is just fine, while others would probably complain that he is one dimensional. An actor who is as cool and charismatic as Van Cleef can get away with it, I feel, while others bore you to tears…some actors were born with this, some simply were (and are) not.Tomas Milian (Almost Human/Don't Torture a Duckling) is a treat as Cuchillo and really invests a lot in the role (one scene has a widow's hired hands/gunmen burying him in pig slop!) while Nieves Navarro (Death Walks on High Heels/All the Colors of the Dark) has a small, but memorable, part as a ranch widow who offers Van Cleef a position next to her side (Cuchillo smartly stirs up her knuckle-head brutes into engaging in a gunfight that does not go well for them). Amazingly Ángel del Pozo is uncredited as the slimy son-in-law of Brokston (Walter Barnes), despite his memorable showdown with Cuchillo which involves a knife.

A very entertaining although not always coherent spaghetti western. Lee Van Cleef is hired by railroad baron Walter Barnes to track down accused rapist/murder Tomas Milian. Milian proves to be far more elusive than anyone could imagine. Director Sergio Sollima makes great use of the wide open spaces as Van Cleef and Milian play an almost comical game of cat and mouse. Van Cleef is stolid, cracking only the occasional smile and Milian is just plain crazy. The supporting cast includes creepy Gérard Herter as Barnes's Austrian "bodyguard," complete with black cape & monocle. The score by Ennio Morricone is masterful and cinematography by Carlo Carlini is at times stunning. The movies definitely suffers from some sloppy editing, but it's still a lot of fun.

A truly dreadful film with some of the worst dubbing of all time. Worse, apparently some scenes were filmed, then their continuations were shot based on OTHER scenes! One example (from many): during a gunfight a woman is clearly shot seriously, probably fatally, and the camera shows her slumping to the floor. Seconds later, she is apparently unhurt, begging Van CLeef not to go!! A real laugher, made with high school talent, poor direction, and dubbing that is (like I said) so poor it makes Chinese Kung-Fu movies look good! If you need a laugh, and there is absolutely nothing else to do, and if you must, watch this film...but mostly to see how NOT to make movies. Van Cleef must have groaned when he saw this piece of garbage.