I’ve been a fan of the Sergio Leone westerns since I was a child and with the release of A Fistful of Dynamite (Duck, You Sucker!) being released on Blu-ray for the first time by Eureka Entertainment under their Masters of Cinema collection.
With the news of the release on Blu-ray you can imagine my excitement to get hold of the movie that I already have as part of my DVD collection of the Leone westerns including Once Upon The Time in The West and A Fistful of Dollars, plus this new release comes with an awesome looking slipcase and 59-page booklet all about the movie and more.
A Fistful of Dynamite features a cast of movie giants of the time including Rod Steiger and James Coburn and tell the story of John Mallory (Coburn) as Irish revolutionary with a passion for his work and dynamite that has fled to Mexico after becoming a fugitive in Ireland.
Mallory meets up with the rather foul-mouthed Juan Miranda (Steiger) an amoral peasant that has become an outlaw, the pair find they have a little more in common than they think and they attempt to liberate political prisoners, go up against a well-armed militia and crazily risk their lives on a train full of explosive.
A Fistful of Dynamite 2K Restoration
This version of A Fistful of Dynamite or Duck, You Sucker! is transferred from the 2K restoration of the movie from back in 2009 and I have to say that it certainly looks good compared to the DVD, the colours do look so much better and it has a crisper feel to it, there are a few scenes that are a little grainy, but when you take into consideration of the age of the source and that it’s from film, it is expected.
No my only issue with this release is the soundtrack, this version comes with its original mono soundtrack, whereas the DVD release, the special edition released in 2006 comes with a 5.1 surround soundtrack, a small niggle I know, but then again the 2K restored version is what we would have seen in the cinema and it has slightly longer running time at 2h 36mins compared to the DVD releases 2h 30mins.
The Masters of Cinema release also comes packed with extras, some of which are on disc two of the DVD from 2006, but having the movie as it would have been seen back in 1971 on the big screen is great, plus this Blu-ray release of A Fistful of Dynamite includes a second disc, no not for the special features, but the Italian version of the movie, Giu’ La Testa.
If you are a fan of the Sergio Leone films then this is certainly a release to have in your collection, it is one of those films that never really got the limelight of its predecessors such as A Fistful of Dollars, but it is a movie that has all the style that Leone brought us with his movies and I still enjoy watching it today.
The cast is perfectly suited for the roles and Leone directs it to his usual standards and let’s not forget the brilliant Ennio Morricone soundtrack with those key themes for characters and bringing in the feel of a Leone/Morricone collaboration on yet another classic movie.
A criminally underrated epic from Western master Sergio Leone
Movie title: A Fistful of Dynamite (Duck, You Sucker!)
Movie description: A low-life bandit and an IRA explosives expert rebel against the existing government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.
Date published: September 14, 1972
Country: UK
Duration: 2h 36mins
Director(s): Sergio Leone
Actor(s): Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli
Genre: Drama, War, Western
Summary
A criminally underrated epic from Western master Sergio Leone, this is a movie that you must have in your Western movie collection.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
