Review of The Big Gundown (1967) by Dean H — 07 May 2016

There were three directors with the first name Sergio who directed Italian Westerns (or Spaghetti Westerns if you prefer). Sergio Leone made the best films in the genre and actually made two of the best Western pictures, Italian or Hollywood, ever made.

Sergio Corbucci made several very interesting Westerns and often dealt with themes of outsiders and racism. Sergio Sollima took Corbucci's also dealt with those themes but was more overtly political.

One of the best in the genre, it has Lee Van Cleef as a bounty hunter hired by a power broker to hunt down Thomas Millian's character who is accused of raping and murdering a 12-year old girl. Chuchillo Sanchez (Millian) keeps getting the better of Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) who doggedly and professionally pursues his prey south from Colorado into Mexico.

Along the way, Corbett begins to question Sanchez's guilt and the true motivations of his power-broker patron, Brockston (walter Barnes) as well as his own motivations. Van Cleef and Millian were two of the best actors working in Italian Westerns, watching the cat-and-mouse game between these two is lots of fun.

And the soundtrack is by Ennio Morricone and is one of his best in this genre, a definite plus.