The Big Gundown (1966)
"La resa dei conti" (original title)

Unofficial lawman John Corbett hunts down Cuchillo Sanchez, a Mexican peasant accused of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl.

Director:

Sergio Sollima

Writers:

Sergio Donati (screenplay), Sergio Sollima (screenplay),

Stars:

Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Luisa Rivelli

Cast

Credited cast:
Lee Van Cleef	...	Jonathan 'Colorado' Corbett
Tomas Milian	...	Manuel 'Cuchillo' Sanchez
Luisa Rivelli	...	Lizzie, prostitute of Willow Creek City
Fernando Sancho	...	Capt. Segura
Nieves Navarro	...	The widow
Roberto Camardiel	...	Jellicol, sheriff of San Antonio (as Robert Camardiel)
Tom Felleghy	...	Father of Chet Miller
Walter Barnes	...	Brokston
Gérard Herter	...	Baron von Schulenberg
Pietro Ceccarelli	...	Jack (as Lanfranco Ceccarelli)
María Granada	...	Rosita, Cuchillo's wife
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Calisto Calisti	...	Mr. Linch, Brokston's secretary
Antonio Molino Rojo	...	Widow's ranchero (as Molino Rojo)
José Torres	...	Paco Molinas

Storyline

Jonathan Corbett is a gunman so brave to have eliminated all the bandits of Texas. For this he is proposed for the candidacy to the Senate of the United States. In exchange he has only to support the construction of one railway line. Only after he accepts does he come to know that the Mexican Cuchillo has raped and killed a 12 year old girl. Corbett leaves on a long manhunt during which he gets to know his adversary better and discovers a variation on the crime for which the accused Cuchillo may not be as guilty as he first thought.

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | mexican border | waterhole | monk | spaghetti western | 

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Taglines:

Mr Ugly Comes To Town!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Spain Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

29 November 1966 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Big Gundown

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA), Rome Produizone Cinematografica, Tulio Demicheli P.C.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Baron von Schulenberg: When you are about to kill a man, what do you look at? I've asked this question of other men, and do you know what they always say? They look at his hands. I don't. I look at his eyes
[pause]
Baron von Schulenberg: because a moment before he moves his hand, his eyes betray him. And you can always read death in them: yours or his.

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Connections

Followed by Run, Man, Run (1968)

User Reviews

Excellent "Spaghetti" Western

This is absolutely one of the best so-called spaghetti westerns ever, after Sergio Leone's films of course, and it rates very highly among all westerns. Unlike many other non-Sergio Leone westerns, the cinematography, camera-work, etc., are all very good and some scenes are very artistic and even worthy of Leone himself.

Lee van Cleef is excellent as the pseudo-lawman/bounty hunter with integrity who believes in "justice" and "progress" for society.

Ennio Morricone, as usual, provides a great score for the film. The song is rousing, while the music for the chase scenes is excellent. Morricone also does a folk-music/square dance version of the theme for the wedding party, which is a neat touch.

The story is interesting and well-developed, as well. In its full-length version, it is in fact somewhat deep, with van Cleef's Corbett being a fairly complex character who undergoes a significant character development in the course of the film. In the abridged American version, unfortunately, he is shown as simply bounty hunter who mercilessly kills all before him in cold blood, who never bats an eye at his job, making his character two-dimensional and making the end more flat, more perfunctory, and less convincing or meaningful. In the full-length version, though, he cares about justice, gives outlaws a choice (and a chance), and there is significant development on how he becomes so obsessed with finding Cuchillo that he crosses the boundary between justice and personal obsession. He then re-examines himself and the events in which he finds himself to come to a significant realisation near the end.