Alicia
I love this movie so much
BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
FeistyUpper
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
mark.waltz
My first spaghetti western is a classic, one that seems long by looking at the running time, but grabs you immediately and does not let go. A Mexican bandit hooks up with an Irish revolutionary and gets more than he bargained for as he ends up becoming a hero to his own people reluctantly, not even wanting to be. At first glance, Rod Steiger seems an odd choice to play the Mexican, but he is not only convincing, but extremely funny and likable even playing a rather disreputable character. Teamed with James Coburn, he's fiery, while Coburn is passionate but subtle as the Irish revolutionary who shows him more than a thing or two about carrying a fistful of dynamite.The film starts off with Steiger as a passenger in the carriage heading over the Mexican wilderness, and the sudden arrival of Steiger's familia, presented in a way that is fast, furious and funny! Yes, it's violent and cruel, ending up with surviving naked men and one scantily clothed woman heading back in the wilderness with the open wagon suddenly tossing them over, a symbolism of the ghastly poor getting it over on the cruel and idle rich. But then along comes Coburn as a man on his own mission, telling Steiger and the gang, "Duck, you sucker", blowing things up in the cleverest of ways.If other spaghetti westerns are as entertaining as this, I'm about to go on a spree, especially those directed by Sergio Leone. I'm glad that Clint Eastwood is not in this one, having pretty much been a part of the beginning of the genre, but not right for any of the roles here. Steiger and Coburn are as different as can be, but they play off of each other nicely. This is an exciting adventure and buddy film that brings two culturally different men together to share common ideals that may seem foreign to the common man not into fighting a revolution, but remaining potent and stirring nearly 50 years later.
Tom Willett (yonhope)
Many truly epic scenes that could easily have been made into a very excellent movie. It needed a better ending. The ending could have been very quick and satisfying. Lose all the background music and start over with one guitar, maybe. There are periods of comedy in the movie and some great scenes with probably thousands of extras, but every time it starts to get good the director inserts some slow motion flashback that is of no value to the audience. Coburn and Steiger are good but they do not need the accents. The close ups of eyes is overdone as one would expect in a spaghetti western. If one half hour was cut from this film and good background music was written this would be an Academy Award contender.
inspectors71
Junk.Sergio Leone was an acquired taste--his "Dollar Trilogy" runs the gamut from lean/lyrical to surreal/stupefying. Leone comes a cropper with his elephantine "A Fistful of Dynamite," a low-brid combination of political revolution, infantile plotting, and dreadful performances.Although "Duck You Sucker" (the alternate title) tries to be a message film, all we get is incoherence, with buckets of blood and one of the weirder musical scores I've heard. Rod Steiger and James Coburn are trapped in bad make-up and/or bad accents as they slaughter and butcher and incinerate roughly a third of the Mexican Army in the 1910 Revolution. I kept hoping, during what seemed to be a week of movie watching, that some of the old surrealistic, alternate-universe, western magic would appear. All I got for my effort of watching A Fistful of Dynamite was a weak headache, and I felt sad for Sergio Leone because, although he wasn't a great director, he had a knack for big storytelling.And that knack wasn't apparent in this incomprehensible and artsy- fartsy bloodbath.
grantss
Sergio Leone's best film, in my opinion. That doesn't say much, though to some it might. In my opinion the four movies he is most famous for - Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More - are okay but are vastly over-rated. Slow, badly produced, with holey plots, ridiculous dialogue and hammy acting, especially by the supporting cast. The only things preventing those from being total failures was the action scenes and, in three of them, the acting of Clint Eastwood.A Fistful of Dynamite is better in all those respects, without compromising on the action. Decent plot, though not entirely watertight. There's even a few nice themes running through it. Themes of patriotism, family, loyalty and camaraderie.Dialogue is OK. Has some silly moments but mostly fine.Performances are fine. Rod Steiger and James Coburn put in solid performances in the lead roles and the supporting cast don't embarrass themselves.Production is still reasonably cheap though. You get the usual effect of it appearing as if the actors voices have been dubbed in, rather than being recorded live.This is also shorter than those four, which is a blessing. There are still some pointless and/or drawn out scenes but these are more limited in number than the other four. Helps the pacing of the movie too.The main issue with this one is the fact that the soundtrack consists of one song and that seems to be on an infinite loop...Ultimately a very engaging and entertaining western.