The Big Gundown

It’s fairly well established that no Spaghetti western will ever top the work of Sergio Leone, particularly Once Upon a Time in the West, which best encapsulates the director’s operatic, cinematic-style. So fans have now accepted that the best they can do is argue “Who’s Number Two?” But even that debate poses problems, with nearly a dozen Italian shoot ‘em ups in the running. Grindhouse Releasing submits the latest candidate, The Big Gundown (1966), with a massive four-disc set, including two hi-def versions of the film, an expanded U.S cut on DVD and the rare soundtrack CD featuring the score by legendary Ennio Morricone.

Marketed in the U.S. as the return of “Mr. Ugly,” The Big Gundown gives star Lee Van Cleef his most interesting role outside of the Leone collaborations. Here he plays a vigilante of sorts, John Corbett, tracking down dangerous outlaws simply to make Texas a safer place to live. His exploits have catapulted him to the steps of public office and attracted the attention of those who would use him for their own political ends. His final manhunt would seem to be a simple one: track down a Mexican peasant named Cuchillo Sanchez (Tomas Milian), accusing of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl, and return him to justice.

But Cuchillo turns out to be a much more worthy adversary that Corbett anticipated, leading him astray and laying good-natured traps that frustrate his pursuer at every turn. Once the chase crosses the Mexican border, things get even more dangerous. And Corbett begins to suspect he may have been on the wrong side of the law from the very beginning.

The Big Gundown was directed by Sergio Sollima, who, like Leone, worked in nearly every genre before the Western craze hit Europe hard. Visually, his style isn’t so close to the surface. Although he makes excellent use of the landscape and dusty clichés of cowboy tales both from the U.S. and abroad, his accomplishment here is much more subtle than Leone’s grandiose camerawork and epic plotting. The Big Gundown is a movie of moments; a clever cat-and-mouse game between Corbett and Cuchillo that disguises a more powerful political statement underneath.

But, like the best message movies, this one doesn’t demand you agree with its morality to enjoy the experience. The Big Gundown is full of fistfights, shootouts, narrow escapes and a good dose of humor provided by Milian’s winning performance as Cuchillo (who is even more amusing in the sequel, Run, Man, Run). These aren’t just posed action figures; both Cuchillo and Corbett have satisfying character arcs that defy the usual flat and predictable revenge storyline. Van Cleef in particular is well used here, evolving from the one-note, quick-draw specialist into living, breathing, believable human being…an element all too rare even in the most celebrated Spaghetti Westerns.

The hefty collector’s edition includes a beautiful 2K digital hi-def restoration of the original English-language version and an equally pleasing 110-minute director’s Italian-language director’s cut. Extras include handsome liner notes, an audio commentary, music text track, still galleries, trailers, TV spots and the full bonus CD soundtrack of Morricone’s unforgettable score. Even if one doesn’t agree with The Big Gundown’s ranking amongst the all-time Spaghetti Western greats, this box set is hands-down the best classic western release of 2013.