The Big Gundown is often considered the best non-Leone western by spaghetti western experts, and I'm inclined to agree. The film is slick and stylish, with an excellent performance by Tomas Milian and a solid one from Lee Van Cleef. Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) is a bounty hunter reluctantly wooed towards politics by a fat cat. After clearing the county of criminals, he takes it upon himself to hunt down Cuchillo (Milian), who is accused of raping and murdering a young girl, but Cuchillo proves to be a bigger challenge than Corbett anticipated. The Big Gundown paces itself slowly until everything comes to an epic showdown (the big gundown!) during the final moments of the film. Just like Once Upon a Time in the West, the ending makes everything worth it. The climax is multiple "hell yeah" moments that compound on top of each other. It was that cool. The buildup was never boring, but it also wasn't particularly noteworthy either. I did enjoy how the religious characters were portrayed not as idealistic fools, but rather trying to get by like the rest. Another interesting inclusion was the Austrian sharpshooter and Von Stroheim look-a-like. The film teases this guy's ability from beginning to end, and it pays off. Finally, Ennio Morricone's score is excellent as usual. I think this particular score is a bit overrated and doesn't stand well on its own like The Great Silence (the other best non-Leone spaghetti western) or The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, but nevertheless it supports the film quite well. The Big Gundown was a treat, and it makes me wish more spaghetti westerns were actually good films, and not just good as far as spaghetti westerns go.
8/10
spaghetti your own western you spaghetti western
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