DUCK, YOU SUCKER! (AKA “A Fistfull of Dynamite” 1971) ***** lost classic review by COOP

I love everything about Spaghetti Westerns. No doubt, Sergio Leone made the best of them. His “Once Upon a Time in the West” ranks as my favorite western of all time. His “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” ranks as my second favorite. Now after having seen his near-forgotten “Duck, You Sucker!”… I believe I’ve discovered my third favorite western of all time.

A filthy bandito (Rod Stieger) and a crazy Irish Republican Army terrorist/bomber (James Coburn) team up to rob banks. Instead, they unwittingly become heroes in the Mexican Revolution. Yeah, James Coburn actually says “Duck you sucker!” several times in the movie, always right before he’s about to blow something sky high. From the title and the cover, I thought this was probably going to be some sort of light western comedy. In fact, it’s dead serious and as epic and sweeping as Leone’s other films. Coburn’s Mallory seems almost suicidal as he blows up nearly everything he comes across. We get flashbacks of his days as an IRA terrorist and we get glimpses of his haunted, wartime past. Stieger basically channel’s Eli Walach’s boisterous performance as Tuco in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” Stieger’s Juan Miranda is a nasty scoundrel (even a rapist), yet he will do anything to ensure the survival of his many children. Both Coburn and Stieger nail their respective accents and make a fine pair as they stick it to the man all up and down Mexico way.

If you’re even a casual fan of westerns, put this one on your “must see” list. MGM just put out a terrific, 2-disk DVD of it and the picture looks pristine.

Besides the phrase, “Duck, you sucker!” here’s Coburns best line of the film…

Mallory: “When I started usin’ dynamite, I believed in many things… all of it! Finally… I believed only in dynamite.”

Awesome.

The trailer for it below is unbelievably cool. It gives you a great feel for the film and shows you some of the best scenes…