Duck, You Sucker (AKA A Fistful of Dynamite)  Dir: Sergio Leone,
1971. Starring: Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli.
Westerns. Duck, You Sucker (AKA A Fistful of Dynamite) If Once
Upon a Time in the West was Sergio Leone’s North by Northwest or
Rear Window, then Duck, You Sucker (AKA A Fistful of Dynamite)
was his Vertigo. It was a misunderstood film in its day; fans
were startled by the director breaking from his formula and
actually trying to say something. But like Hitchcock, what he
had to say also didn’t satisfy what audiences wanted to hear,
and the pace didn’t give them the thrills they were used to.
With Duck, You Sucker, Leone was working on a potentially bigger
canvas than Once Upon a Time in the West. Working with his
biggest budget yet meant that Leone did have to concede his
casting choices to the studio. Rod Steiger and James Coburn were
hardly Leone’s first choices to play the leads, but United
Artists considered both big stars while Jason Robards wasn’t
bankable enough and Clint Eastwood