‘Duck, You Sucker!’ – The cover for a recent DVD special edition of the 1971 film.
Duck, You Sucker!, also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time… the Revolution, is a 1971 Italian film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Rod Steiger,James Coburn and Romolo Valli. A much praised film, the film caused considerable controversy at the time of its release with certain scenes deemed excessively violent. The film is set in Mexico in 1913 around the time of the Mexican revolution.
The plot is a bit of a head scratcher, centering around the story of Sean Mallory, an explosions expert from the IRA hiding out in America. Mallory comes into contact with Juan Miranda, a Mexican outlaw who attempts to convince him to join a raid on the Mesa Verde national bank. Details on the film can be found on its Wiki page, but what makes of interest to Come Here To Me is this scene below, which tells viewers why Mallory felt the need to leave Dublin.
The bar in Toners shown in the film.
Here, we see a familiar pub, Toners on Baggot Street! This flashback scene shows us just why Mallory is on the run from the British authorities, following a shooting in the pub:
Another flashback scene in the film was filmed at the grounds of Howth Castle in Dublin:
The film is hugely entertaining and Ennio Morricone’s excellent score works incredibly well with the flashback scenes. Users of the popular internet film review site Rotten Tomatoes have given the film a glowing 90% approval rating.
My thanks to Peter Box Andersson who put this idea into my head, and reminded me what a rich history Dublin has as a filming location historically!
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
I would contend that the theme tune (which features in the first video above) is the greatest piece of music ever written.
Some extras weren’t even sure what the movie was, and the English actor David Warbeck, who plays Coburn’s brother, and who starred in several Spanish horror films, told Starburst Magazine that he had no idea that he was appearing in a spaghetti western until he saw it several years later!