The Big Gundown

The turning point in the magnificent 'The Big Gundown' (aka, 'La resa dei conti'), one of only three westerns ever directed by Sergio Sollima, takes place inside a pair of gloomy, darke jail cells. The story's supposed hero — the determined and unwavering bounty hunter Corbett, played with ultra-tough coolness by Lee Van Cleef — is forced to share the cell next to the man he's been relentlessly chasing after — the crafty and underhanded Mexican rogue "Cuchillo" Sanchez played with a grinning deviousness by Tomás Milián ('Django, Kill'). Van Cleef is so close to finally apprehending the man accused of raping and murdering a twelve-year-old girl, but he is prevented from doing so by the bars which divide them.

As he grips the metal bars with a wrathful frustration, the Hollywood actor is shot with an unflattering light and a grimy, sweat-drenched face. The walls behind him are a dark, portentous blue, and our hero is looking less like the archetypal valiant champion of justice. Up until this point, nearly an hour into the movie, we've been following Corbett as the only person capable of bringing this despicable killer to answer for his crimes, but ironically, his efforts are thwarted by the very system he fights for and its alluring romance is suddenly fading. Meanwhile, Cuchillo is breaking free with very little trouble and given lighting that is slightly more promising, even a bit on the glamorous side with a cleaner face, and his walls are a nicer, more attractive white.

It's a beautifully designed sequence which contradicts everything we've ever known or expected of the genre and has us questioning the point of the film's entire first half. The story takes a bigger dramatic turn when Cuchillo turns to Corbett just before jumping out of his cell's window and calls our hero a beast — which the cinematography is also suggestive of — for chasing a poor Mexican peasant without question or a genuine reason. Van Cleef's reaction to this is terrifically memorable because his fuming expression dwindles and his eyes grow into shallow glimmers of disenchantment, as if hit hard into his soul by the words. Suddenly, Corbett's journey through the deserts of Colorado and into Mexico seems like a madman's obsession for an ideal that may not exist, taking personal injury over something he actually has no personal investment in.

2013 Grindhouse Releasing

2012 German Import

Earlier, a Mexican police captain (Fernando Sancho) asked if Corbett was a man of the law, a relative of the murdered little girl or if he had any connection whatsoever to the crime itself. The obvious answer was a cold and somewhat uncertain "No." Combined with the jail cell scene and the conversation, Corbett's ideals are basically being tested, along with those of the audience because we, too, accepted the accusation without first asking for the evidence. Throughout the first half, the film feels like a quirky, cat-and-mouse comedy, a game of wits between a shrewd, fast-talking conman and a fast-draw, cold-blooded gunslinger. Then, the jail scenes happen and everything suddenly turns deadly serious, which has us reflecting back on everything we've seen up to that point.

Working from a script he co-wrote with Sergio Donati, who also co-penned the screenplay for the masterful 'Once Upon a Time in the West,' Sollima is probing deeper into the moral ambiguities of the conventional gun-slinging hero of western mythology, especially as a symbol of democratic justice taming the turbulent savage violence of the West. Other colorful characters, like the major powerbroker Brockston (Walter Barnes) and the beautiful rancher (Nieves Navarro) who snares men into her web like the deadly black widow, are suggestive of deeper issues in capitalism. But 'The Big Gundown' is not merely about the fraudulent dishonesty in money and business as it is about Corbett's blind belief in an ideology that can potentially convert him without being aware of it.

What it ultimately boils down to is not whether those ideals of justice are tangible or admirable, but that Corbett chooses to believe in them, which in turn implies that his fate is in his hands. The opening shootout sequence beautifully captures this sentiment about choice after we're first introduced to Corbett sitting by a fire, waiting for three outlaws walking towards him. When the trio finally grasps Corbett's identity and admits to be being out of ammo, our rugged hero sets three bullets on a log. Sollima's deep focus lens shows each man standing perfectly across from each of their designated bullets. They have a choice, given to them freely, to determine their fate. We already know the outcome before it even happens, but in the grander scheme of the narrative, it takes Corbett a while before appreciating the bullet he's chosen for himself.

2013 Grindhouse Releasing

2012 German Import

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Grindhouse Releasing brings 'The Big Gundown' to Blu-ray as four-disc collector's edition where the last two are a DVD-9 copy of the U.S. cut and a CD of Ennio Morricone's original score. The first disc is Region Free, BD50 containing the 95-minute American version of the film while the second is a Region Free, BD25 with the original 110-minute Italian Director's Cut with English subtitles. The difference between them is quite substantial as the former hurries the pace by shortening certain scenes and dialogue, such as Corbett negotiating with people before resorting to violence. Of the two, the original longer version is preferred.

The package also includes a 22-page booklet with glossy color photos and three essays. The first is by C. Courtney Joyner entitled "Sergio Sollima's Political Gundown" and discuss the production's history and themes. The second, "Cutting to the Chase: The Tale of Two Gundowns," focuses on the alternate cuts and compares their differences while the third, "Six Shooter Symphony," discusses Ennio Morricone's score. Both are by Georgely Hubal. At startup of both BD discs, viewers are directly taken a static menu with music playing in the background.