Amazon.com

A summit meeting of great Italian directors of the era, Boccaccio '70 is an antipasto platter of vintage sex symbols and naughty material. Cooked up and bankrolled by Carlo Ponti and American producer Joseph E. Levine, the four-part film was meant to tap the international smash of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, which gave audiences some refreshingly, you know, "mature" subject matter. Four directors were hired to create segments ostensibly based on the tales of Boccaccio:Fellini himself (in the lull between La Dolce Vita and 8-1/2), Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, and Mario Monicelli.

Monicelli's story, Renzo and Luciana, is an agreeable tale, full of everyday Roman life:an office worker (Marisa Solinas) must marry her boyfriend when she gets pregnant--although marriage is against company rules. Fellini's segment, The Temptation of Dr. Antonio, is fantastical and big-scaled. It tells of a censorious bluenose (Peppino de Filippo) who becomes incensed at the presence of a billboardfeaturing a sexy portrait of Anita Ekberg (selling milk)--a portrait that comes to life. For this bizarre escapade, Nino Rota composed an advertising jingle that will stick in your mind whether you want it to or not.

Visconti's The Job is the best segment, tracking the emotional chess game between a playboy (Thomas Milian) and his wife (Romy Schneider at her most gorgeous) after he is publicly exposed in a sex scandal. Finally, the De Sica piece (The Raffle) is a fairly broad romp that uses Sophia Loren as the reward in a raffle. Sophia's delicious, needless to say.

The finished product weighed in at a whopping 208 minutes, and Monicelli's segment was lopped off before the film showed at the Cannes Film Festival. It has never been restored, until this DVD release. All the segments are frankly too long, and none qualifies as an essential gem, but they do give the flavor of Italy's best at an especially exciting cinematic moment. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A must for fans of the directors
BOCCACCIO 70 is made up of four short films, each around 45 minutes long.The DVD set is broken up into two DVDS, with two of the shorts on each, and the second DVD containing a few extras.

The transfer for all the shorts is absolutely stunning.I don't think it could have looked this good when it played in theatres.

Disc 1

The first segment, directed by Mario Monicelli, had long been unseen, at least in the US.It was removed from the US release of the film.It is the least of the four, but still quite watchable, about a newly married couple, dealing with their family and work.Not much to it, but an interesting view of everyday life.

The second is probably the strongest, by Fellini.I would argue that this is one of Fellini's most focused works (although I would admit that I find him to be overrated to some extent).It is a very funny film about a moral crusader who objects to a large billboard for milk, with Anita Ekberg on it.

Disc 2

The third segment is directed by Visconti starring Romy Schneider.A wealthy man is caught in a scandal, having to do damage control with his business associates and his wife.It is one of Visconti's lightest works, and also quite fun.

The final segment is De Sica's THE RAFFLE.A group of men enter a raffle, the prize being Sophia Loren.

The extras on the disc include the original US credits, trailers, and some brief interviews made at the time of the films release, as well as a photo gallery.

The film is a must watch for all fans of the directors.

Drink your meelk!
This film I picked up more out of curiousity and because Fellini directs one of the viginettes. I had never seen any of the 4 mini films before, nor did I know of the controversy surrounding its universal release. Each film deals with sexuality in different ways. All of the films have impressive looking anamorphic transfers for being almost 45yrs old. There is English dubbed audio tracks though my copy kept switching back to Italian on its own.. English subtitles looked fine.
All of the films looked great and are restored anamorphic transfers. The Fellini film was my favorite by far. This is his first feature using color as well as featuring dreams/fantasy in his films. I couldn't help think of Attack of the 50ft Woman seeing thecharming Anita come to life off a billboard. This is as close to comedy as Fellini got , too bad he didn't explore this more often. Fellini's segment is almost an hour.

The Visconti piece was lavishly produced and feautured a troubled wife trying to rekindle that spark. This takes place in a high class French styled mansion. Romy is nice to look at even if she is rather pathetic. This mini drama was the most serious of the 4 and rather depressing as it unfolded.

The last two were rather light and forgetful even if Sophia Loren looked fabulous, and was omni present in her role as a carnival spinster with a change of heart.

The extras are fun. Lots of on set pics and lobby cards , plus a large fold out booklet with press clippings and news reviews.The U.S. and Italian trailers are intresting to compare.

If your a Fellini fan, you would do well to see this for his giantess fantasy alone!





... Read more

Reviews (15)

A BITTERSWEET AND TRAGIC COMING OF AGE FILM...
This film, which won an Academy Award for best Foreign Language Picture in 1971, is set in Ferrara, Italy. It begins in 1938 and focuses on the aristocratic jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, in particular, the progeny of that family, Micol (Dominique Sanda) and Alberto (Helmut Berger). These privileged two live in elegant splendor with their family, removed from the harshness of life outside the walls of their lushly beautiful estate, where the fascist regime of Il Duce is beginning its hellish collaboration with Hitler.

The Finzi-Continis family, secular jews at best, shut out the outside world, esconcing themselves amidst the trappings of wealth and privilege, cocooned in their idyllic estate, as if their wealth and position would hold the hostile world at bay. It is as if they believed that the hostility against Italian Jews would not directly touch them. Micol and Alberto even have Aryan good looks. So, what could go wrong?

Their childhood friend, Giorgio, however, is having a different experience. From a middle class, jewish family, he is more in touch with reality and is feeling the impact of virulent anti-semitism, as he finds himself ousted from the university and its library, on the brink of completing his university degree. His brother has left for Switzerland. His father is in denial, thinking that he should not worry about the small things, and that this is all a tempest in a teapot. He is hanging his hat on the premise that he is, after all, an Italian citizen.

As their world begins to crumble all around them, Giorgio tries to kindle a flame between himself and Micol, whom he has loved since childhood, but his love for her remains unrequited. She seems unable and unwilling to vest her emotions in a romance that is destined to be doomed, as the fates conspire to bring them to the same end that jews throughout Europe were meeting. It is this dance of love between them that anchors the movie, however, while the war plays itself out in the background. There comes a point, however, when even the Finzi-Continis are confronted with a reality far harsher than that which they had ever imagined.

The movie plays out the dichotomy of life found outside the walls of the gardens of the Finzi-Continis and that which is set within their beautiful and lush estate. Against a backdrop of Hitler worship and the fascist dictates of Mussolini, largely shown through newsreel footage, the film shows the positions that ordinary italian citizens took when confronted with the dictates of the racial laws that were imposed against the jews. Some went along willingly, carrying out its dictates, while others tried to help where and when they could. The war against the jews is finally brought right to the doorstep of the home of the Finzi-Continis, until it, too, crosses the threshhold and cruelly invades its idyllic environs.

This film is not an action movie but a slow, occassionally ponderous, film, providing much food for thought. Replete with symbolism, it is merely a peek into the lives of a small group of people. It is about how they dealt with living their lives in the shadow of the final solution, as the world that they knew radically changed, destroying their dreams. It is a harsh coming of age movie and not a film that everyone will enjoy. I found myself curiously twixt and tween in terms of how I felt about this somber film, accounting for the three star rating that I accorded it.

The DVD offers next to nothing by way of special features. It contains a brief filmography of some of the actors and not much else. This Italian language film has been remastered, and the subtitles are yellow, which provides more clarity and, consequently, makes for easier reading.

Bittersweet....
In "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" (1970)--based on the autobiographical novel by Giorgio Bassani--legendary Neorealist filmmaker, Vittorio de Sica, dramatizes the human cost of the "racial laws" gradually implemented against the Jews in Fascist Italy during the years 1938-43. The more Bassani's young middle-class Jewish protagonist feels the brunt of Mussolini's anti-Semitic edicts encroaching upon him, the more he feels drawn to the aristocratic Jewish Finzi-Continis' estate--their Edenic "garden"--and to Micòl, the family's beautiful young daughter. Psychologically, this compulsion seems to stem from a deep emotional attachment to a perpetually innocent, untroubled state of childhood, which both Micòl and her garden seem to represent. Throughout the film, there is a marked conflict between childhood and adulthood, between the distant past and the immediate present, between the act of retreating into a world of comfortable illusions and confronting a world of harsh and bitter realities.

I found this particular aspect of the story very fascinating, although too tantalizingly obscure and open-ended--and thus, not quite as illuminating or fulfilling as it might have been were it more clearly explained. (This could the reason why some people find the film--and its heavily symbolic, impressionistic style--a little confusing and underwhelming.)

For Giorgio--both the naive hero and wisened author of the story--Micòl embodies the mystery and allure of the Finzi-Continis, as well as their insularity and their apparent passivity in the face of the escalating Fascist crackdown. She always appears distant and unattainable, with no obvious reasons for her actions, and never really provides a direct, comprehensible explanation for her insistent rejection of Giorgio or for what appears to be a subtle streak of cruelty towards him. Her conversation with him always seems deliberately vague, and her refusal to make any further connection with him has a curious, almost perverse kind of fatalism about it.

Again, this is another feature of the film that is certainly intriguing--and strangely seductive-- but, alas, never quite pays off enough to become fully understandable to either the protagonist or the audience.

When the Fascists finally do arrest the Finzi-Continis and confiscate their estate it comes as something of a surprise. The muted and deliberately spare representation of these characters and their feelings, as evidenced in their unusually restrained behavior, is meant to isolate and heighten the impact of a few devastating strokes of sudden realization and lucidity--pointed indications that the protective spell of the Finzi-Continis has been finally broken.

All in all, well-acted and gorgeously, languidly poetic in its imagery...yet, narrative-wise, the picture seems overly elliptical and ultimately opaque--and leaves just a few too many rough fragments and loose ends lingering at the end of the story (not quite Proustian irony, maybe?). In spite of this peculiar drawback, the film finishes very effectively, and by the final desolate shots, you are left with an unexpectedly intense feeling of loss and anguish.

"The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" is a very unusual and interesting (and thankfully, non-sentimental and non-self-important) addition to the ever-expanding canon of dramatic films about life in the shadow of the Holocaust.

Good show. I give this one four out of five stars.

The Politics of World War II Italy
This movie introduced to me a brand new character, the Jewish Italian hot blonde girl. Since she is also named Finzi Contini and the object of our hero's desire it couldn't have been a better idea. But it's not just an unrequited love film, but a movie set during World War II. An American film such as this would spend a great deal of time reminding you how horrible the Nazis were, but instead we get the nuance points of views like the anti-fascist handsome man that blonde Finzi Contini thinks is too Communist. We also get the fascist Hero of father that thinks that Italian fascism is superior to Nazism and will solve the world's problems. These kinds of perspectives are ignored in American film or marginalized, when we all know they existed during this time period.

I don't have to tell you what is going to happen in a film about Jewish Heroes when the Nazis are coming, you already know. Our hero loses his girl to the communist and then eventually to the holocaust. It would certainly register as one of the biggest coming of age bummers, and yet it didn't ruin the film. It somehow gave these lives even more importance.

Classic Film, Great Director, Great Cast, Great Story
Thank you Independent Film Channel for sending this one along just when I most needed a palate cleanser after suffering through CENTRAL STATION. It served as the perfect antidote to that bit of system churning mess. If you want to see a director in action who can actually get performers to "put out," and actually act their ###es off, try queueing this one up in your DVD player some evening.

Dominique Sanda earned her reputation off this film. She is the quintissentially complex heroine of the piece. Is she frigid, incestous, frightened, unable to love, passive-aggressive, or something else? We'll never know, but we will always wonder, thanks to fine script-writing, acting and directing. This is old school De Sica surehandedness at play in the fields of the lord here. Rent or buy this. It will never grow old, as it is a true classic.

BEK

A Haunting Tale of Lost Love and Liberty
This movie is just so beautifully done. It is not a hard or complicated plot to grasp but it is filmed with such, emotion. The visual style, the long moments of nature mixed with youth and fear of the upcoming future. This is the time of Fascism and the rich Jewish families are the next on the list to be sent to concentration camps. The most wealthy family in the town of Ferrara, Italy isolates with their friends, staying inside their garden. No more clubs, tennis matches, or balls, if anything is done it is done on their property with the people they chose to associate with. The love story is between Michol and Giorgio, childhood friends who never got any further than long wishful gazes. Michol finds that Giorgio is someone she loves more as a friend than a lover, Giorgio loves Michol so much and wants her to be his wife. He has a difficult time accepting Michol's decision and this is all wrapped around the dark and dreary time of Fascism. The garden symbolizes the past and the way of life that had once been. The story is about loss, loss of the life that the people in Ferrara once had and the loss of childhood love and the innocence that went with it. The camera work is just breathtaking as well as thought provoking.

Lisa Nary ... Read more

Amazon.com

Luchino Visconti's adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel is the very definition of sumptuous:the costumes and sets, the special geography of Venice, and the breathtaking cinematography combine to form a heady experience. At the center of this gorgeousness is Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde in a meticulous performance), a controlled intellectual who unexpectedly finds himself obsessed by the vision of a 14-year-old boy while on a convalescent vacation in 1911. Visconti has turned Aschenbach into a composer, which accounts for the lush excerpts from Mahler on the soundtrack (Bogarde is meant to look like Mahler, too). Even if it tends to hit the nail on the head a little too forcefully, and even if Visconti can test one's patience with lingering looks at crowds at the beach and hotel dining rooms, Death in Venice creates a lushness rare in movies. For some viewers, that will be enough. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Visconti's heart-breaking vision of unrequited love
When I saw "Death In Venice" I was haunted by it's images for weeks. To this day, I cannot think upon this film without again experiencing some of the original feelings that it inspired. This is not, without question, an easy film to watch. The dialogue is sparse and the music is basically limited to Mahler's gorgeous Adagietto from Symphony No. 5. Notwithstanding, never has the marriage of music and film been more vital or more atmospheric. Mahler's haunting music was seemingly composed for this film and the effect is chilling. Dirk Bogarde is perfection as the bitter, vitriolic Gustav Aschenbach, a man so consumed with what he considers ideal beauty that he welcomes his own destruction for a moment in it's company. The young Bjorn Andresen is, too, equally captivating as the object of Aschenbach's obsession. Even though his role is essentially a non-speaking one, what he achieves within the lmiits of the role is extraordinary. The beautiful and elegant Silvana Mangano is on screen too infrequently for my taste, but her contribution is nonetheless wonderful. At times I found myself enveloped by this film, as if though I were a guest of the grand hotel quietly seated on a wicker chair watching these events unfold before me. Venice has never been more tangible on film than it is here. Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece of a film. One warning, though; "Death in Venice" is a devastating film and it takes it's toll on the viewer. Watch it in the company of loved-ones and on a beautiful, sunny day.

Impressive and brave
I have recently re-visited Visconti's Venice after an absence of too many years and I am reminded again of what an impressive - not to mention brave - piece of cinema this was for its time, and continues to be.

Adapting this novella to film was never going to be easy, yet Visconti did a superb job, so, too, his actors. There are some changes from the book, with the first sixteen or so pages omitted, and I also found the film Tadzio to be more flirty than his novel counterpart, but these changes do not jar within the film.

What I found truly frustrating was that the video I have is not in wide-screen format and I did feel I was missing something happening out of shot - and I hate to miss anything in this wonderful movie.

This is not a movie for those with the attention span of a house-brick, but if you're in the market for thought-provoking and have a love for all things beautiful, this is a must-see. While the film runs for just over two-hours, it's not the sort of 2hr movie that has you checking your watch after the first hour.

Should the distributors see fit to release a wide-screen version on video - yes please, I'll have a copy of that, too.

MASTERPIECE!
Luchino Visconti's 1971 film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel "Death in Venice" is nothing short of a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The more I watch this film, the more I realize how perfect it is.

For those unfamiliar with Thomas Mann's 1911 novel of the same name, there are a few differences. No movie that I'm aware of follows its original book to a "T". But the changes that Italian director Visconti adds to the story are intriguing and beautiful. I don't mind his personal touches in the slightest. Indeed, the film wouldn't be nearly as good otherwise.

The intuition to make the Aschenbach character really be Jewish/Austrian famed composer Gustav Mahler and set the movie's soundtrack to that of Mahler's 3rd and 5th symphonies was brilliant. I can't say if Thomas Mann originally intended the Aschenbach character to truly be Mahler in the novel or not?

Having the main character be a tired, worn out Gustav Mahler is a brilliant masterstroke of pure genius. We're left with a film that condenses everything brilliant that is Europe. Using Mahler's own music creates a depth and haunting realism to the film as well.

The casting in this film is extraordinary! You could not have casted a better cast to play these characters anywhere. The young man who plays the beautiful Tadzio looks like a Norweignean version of a sculpted Apollo youth. His features are those of a god. His silouette against the backdrop of the sparkling sea pointing out over the waters is one the most erotically charged scenes I've ever seen in a movie. It's breathtaking really, and one almost forgets the possibly taboo homoerotic connotations such a scenario is from the standpoint of the aged Aschenbach.

I have seen many films shot in and around Venice, Italy ("the Italian Job" most recently), but none have come as close to this as personifying the city and showing it as beautifully. In my opinion, Visconti's "Death in Venice" is to Venice what Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" is to Rome.

Foreign film lovers should not miss this classic. Travelers who've been to Italy, or dream of visiting one day, also should not miss this beautiful film. I may not recommend the film to younger audiences who probably aren't ready to understand why a dying man would entertain fantasies of a physical passion for a teen boy. In such cases, I would say the film is probably unsuitable for viewers under the ages of 15 or so.

The DVD has a nice picture in 16x9 widescreen for widescreen televisions and is compressed lightly with low grain and nice blacks and contrast. The sound is stereo and in the English language, so subtitles aren't necessary. The film is also shot in glorious color in a vivid but controlled manner. When I first saw this film I was sorry that it wasn't filmed in black & white, but now that I think on it, this story works better in color and the colors of this film are gorgeous. Venice always photographs well, but I have rarely seen the old city look so sumptuous as it does here. Some grade-A, top-notch cinematography went into the making of this rich and luxurious movie.

Obsession in the Time of Cholera
Based on Thomas Mann's famous novella, Luchino Visconti's DEATH IN VENICE is the account of a middle-aged man and his obsession with a teenage boy. Gustav Aschenbach, a German composer, (Dirk Bogarde) on holiday in Venice in 1911, sees the young Tadzio and his Polish family at the hotel where they are staying and becomes sexually obsessed with him. Visconti has the difficult task of keeping the viewer interested in this sometimes slow-moving film since there is very little dialogue here. (The man and boy never speak.) What Aschenbach is thinking must be shown by facial expressions and body language. Both director and actor, however, are superb in conveying what is going on inside Aschenbach's head.

DEATH IN VENICE is a beauty to behold. The opening scenes of the city are lush and beautiful; however, as the film progresses and Aschenbach begins his frenetic attempts to find out why many of the visitors are leaving Venice-- the city fathers are afraid they will lose the tourist lira if they are aware of a cholera outbreak-- the scenery takes on a sinister, deathly quality as the city becomes deserted. Visconti leaves no stone unturned in his attention to detail to create the mood and time period of this movie. Gustav Mahler's music (Bogarde looks a little like the composer) adds the final touch on this nearly flawless production.

Visconti is a master director.

Thank you for the DVD
This had been one of my favorite movies when I had seen it years ago in the theatre, but I was only able to get a VHS tape 6 months ago. Unfortunately it was a full screen version and while the movie was recognizeable, it lacked the impact that I remembered from the theatre.

This dvd makes all the difference. The sets and camera work are largely what make this movie work and the pan and scan used with the tape just about destroyed it. Now with the DVD, I can see that virtually every shot, set-up I think it is called in the business, is a work of art of composition and color. This is a film from Italy, a nation with a preeminent tradition in the visual arts and Death In Venice shows this visual sense to perfection. I have never seen another movie as artistically shot as this.

The plot and story line are very much underplayed and frankly many people I know don't get this film. The story developes, more than is told as in a conventional film. Rather than watching it, you live this movie. You watch it in delight at the what you are seeing and experiencing of being in Venice at the turn of the century. The story just sort of unfolds around around this visual experience, rather like real life.

While the picture quality of the DVD is very much better than the VHS tape, the sound is only somewhat better. Nevertheless there is less wow and flutter than in the tape or than I remember from the theatre. Unfortunately the movie predates the general adoption of stereo sound, let alone Dolby surround. Given the extensive use of music, especially Mahler's 5'th symphony, one can only dream as to what this movie would be like with modern sound. ... Read more

Description

The delectable Claudia Cardinale’s first starring role is superlative, knowing and naïve, sexy and innocent..

As the GIRL WITH ASUITCASE, Cardinale is Aida, a poor but upstanding young woman, valiantly strugglingto protect her virtue while being betrayed by her trusting nature. Rejected by her lover, Marcello, a wealthy cad about town, she ends up with hissixteen year old brother, Lorenzo, who makes a gallant effort to save her from a sinister collection of rogues. In her peasant blouse and billowing skirt, Cardinale is a shot of caffeine to Perrin’ssexual awakening, and his noble actions provide a thin ray of hope against an otherwise dark future. Aida and Lorenzo eventually find solace in each others arms, but their idyll is shattered when her shady past catches up with her.

From this, her first starring role, Cardinale went on to stardom in Hollywood appearing in "Once Upon in the West", "Circus World" and the Pink Panther series. After all, Life magazine called her: ". . . unusual and touching . . . Claudia Cardinale is a delicious dish." ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Strange and entertaining political Leone western
Originally and horribly titled "Duck, you sucker", Fistful of Dynamite is a very political western circa early '70s. Rod Steiger plays the role of a Mexican bandit who ends up in a partnership with James Coburn.Coburn is an expat Irish revolutionary, complete with dynamite and a motorcycle on the run in Mexico. Both are simply excellent in their roles even though Coburn has a tendency to fall in and out of his Irish accent.

Politics plays a central role in this film. It opens with a quote from Chairman Mao on the nature of violence and revolution. The first scene is chock full of class warfare as Steiger's character is humiliated by the upper-class riders on the stage. Slowly Stieger is converted from bandit to revolutionary by Coburn. This is also one of Leone's most violent films (which is saying a lot); in one scene government troops are shown massacring hundreds in retaliation for rebel attacks.

You don't have to be left wing to enjoy Fistful of Dynamite. Neither side is really pictured in a positive manner; even the rebel leadership is duplicitous and even treasonous. In the end this is a very entertaining film, which has been in the shadow of Leone's other works. Interestingly he originally wanted to call this "Once Upon a Time, a Revolution", the first part of a Once Upon a Time trilogy. And of course don't miss the eerie and downright weird Ennio Morricone score (which I've been looking for since I watched this film).

Great, but where's the full length version?
When first released, this movie was 2 hours and 45 minutes long and entitled 'Duck, You Sucker'. Leone originally intended the film to be part 2 of a 'Once Upon a Time' trilogy ('Once Upon a Time in the West'; 'Once Upon a Time, the Revolution'; and 'Once Upon a Time in America'). However, for some reason the idea was dropped and 'Revolution' turned into the rather unimaginatively titled 'Duck You Sucker', which was then cut down and again retitled 'Fistful of Dynamite' for audiences in the USA.

Two scenes are missing from this version. The scene where Juan meets one of the leaders of the revolution is sorely missed as it gives added depth to the story, as well as balancing out the movie somewhat in terms of its main themes.

Even with the missing parts, this is still (in my opinion) one of Sergio Leone's best movies. The interaction between the two main characters is excellent, and Leone is on top form as he shows how each of the main characters are changed by the influences of the other.

Unlike Sergio Leone's other 'Spaghetti Westerns', this one is a bit more cerebral, and tends to focus more on character development and to a certain extent on political philosophy. Some don't like this, but I find that out of all of Leone's movies, this is the one that I always find myself coming back to, which is why I finally purchased it on videotape.

I hope that sometime in the near future, this forgotten classic will be reissued in widescreen DVD format, and restored to its original length. As I said before, the deleted scenes help the story, and widescreen format is essential, given Leone's penchant for super close-ups.

Italian restored DVD release far exceeds the MGM R2 DVD
Possibly my favorite of the Leone films. Please note that the R2 Italian restored DVD release of this film is FAR superior to the R2 Uk release in terms of both picture and sound. Look for the screenshot comaprisons on the web, they're out there. The Italians have fully restored the picture and have remastered the soundtrack in 5.1 dolby but unfortunately is in the Italian language only with NO subtitles whatsoever. The Italian release also includes a short documentary on Leone as well. Let's just hope that the powers that be can 'acquire' the Italian restored transfer for the Region 1 release. The films of Sergio Leone deserve nothing less...

What about a DVD release?
This movie is one among my favorites.
I have been waiting for its DVD release for some 4 years!
It is not yet released but it seems that,
under the italian relase title "Duck you sucker",
they are planing to.

So go and register for it, if we are numerous enough they might release it finally???

Very good Leone western
A Fistful of Dynamite is a very enjoyable western full of plenty of action that. A Mexican bandit, Juan, robs a stagecoach with his gang of family members when he runs into IRA fugitive and demolitions expert, John Mallory, on his motorcycle traveling across the desert. At first, they do not get along, but soon begin working together. Juan and John become involved in the Mexican Revolution and Juan inadvertently frees hundred of political prisoners from what he thought was a bank. Eventually, the two become heroes of the revolution. Along the way, a sadistic officer with his well-armed militia begins to track them down for all of the trouble they have caused. This is a very exciting movie with plenty of good action scenes as well as great, fully-developed characters. A Fistful of Dynamite is not Sergio Leone's best movie, but it is still very good and well worth a watch if you can find a copy.

Rod Steiger and James Coburn are great together as the two men who team up to work together during the Mexican Revolution. Their friendship is the high point of the movie along with the impressive action sequences, most notably the bridge explosion halfway through the movie. I've always thought this was one of Coburn's best performances, and Steiger is no slouch either. This is a great spaghetti western that does slow some with politics, but it is still a great movie. I hope this one gets an official DVD release since the VHS copies are getting harder to find. The VHS is of decent quality, but deserves a better release. For a great action movie with excellent characters and action, check out A Fistful of Dynamite! ... Read more