The Big Gundown

Jonathan Corbett is a well known lawman in Texas and about to enter politics. A wealthy railway owner gives him a job: catch Cuchillo Sanchez, a Mexican fugitive said to have killed a girl. Corbett goes after him and the chase runs deep into Mexico. What he learns on the way starts him thinking about the man who hired him. Sergio Sollima directs. Lee Van Cleef plays Corbett and Tomas Milian plays Cuchillo. The film comes from the political wing of the Italian western. Where Leone's films take place in a morally empty world, Sollima's are built on class: a landless peasant on one side, capital and the lawman working for it on the other. Cuchillo is not a criminal but a useful one. Ennio Morricone wrote the music, one of the best known scores in the genre; the theme for the final duel in particular spread independently of the film. Tomas Milian established himself in Italian cinema with this part. Cuban born, he became known afterwards for similar insurgent characters. Many versions were cut for different countries and some shorten the political material; the longest version only came back into circulation through restoration. Who it is for: viewers who like spaghetti westerns and the political side of the genre. Who it is not for: the pace is episodic and the middle is long, and the dubbed versions damage the tone considerably.