La resa dei conti aka The Big Gundown (1966)

[titoli]

In Italian better read as "The Good, the Brutal, and the Bad."

No. That was the mistake (?) the French made.

[cigar joe]

In New York City I missed A Fistful of Dollars but saw For a Few Dollars More first. Then they ran them as double bills AFOD and FAFDM, that was summer and all of 67. Then in December 67 GBU came out, then the SW craze took over and we got The Big Gundown, the Sabatas, Death Rides A Horse, etc., etc. The flood gates didn't open until 68 on SWs.

[Cusser]

In New York City I missed A Fistful of Dollars but saw For a Few Dollars More first. Then they ran them as double bills AFOD and FAFDM, that was summer and all of 67. Then in December 67 GBU came out, then the SW craze took over and we got The Big Gundown, the Sabatas, Death Rides A Horse, etc., etc. The flood gates didn't open until 68 on SWs.

In Phoenix we got GBU in June 1968, saw it as double feature with The Party.  After that AFOD and FAFDM played as a twin bill.  Then all the rest came.  Once/West got very little play in the Phoenix area, saw that in a tiny theater there first run.

[uncknown]

In New York City I missed A Fistful of Dollars but saw For a Few Dollars More first. Then they ran them as double bills AFOD and FAFDM, that was summer and all of 67. Then in December 67 GBU came out, then the SW craze took over and we got The Big Gundown, the Sabatas, Death Rides A Horse, etc., etc. The flood gates didn't open until 68 on SWs.

Right.
GBU didn't open in NYC until weeks after.most of the country...iirc it opened late January ...it opened on NEW YEAR'S EVE in San Francisco. The SWs came after GBU hit big. The DOLLARS films probably made more money from the double features!

Btw I have some issues of the CINEMA RETRO issue featuring TBG. message me if interested.
I also have a PAL DVD of FRANCO CLEEF "s TBG
Bruce Marshall

[titoli]

So the Matt Helm was a re-release?

[Novecento]

Sergio Donati personally returned an E-mail to me years ago (in English), responded to my question says that title order flowed better in Italian language.He might have said that he was the one who thought of the title.  And the German title for GBU simply sucks.

It's to do with the syllable stresses

"GOOD", "BAD", "UGly"
"BUOno, "BRUtto", "caTTIvo"

[Mr.Cho-Cho]

My copy has just been delivered from the States of the Grindhouse release. I feel very lucky to have acquired a copy, I kept checking Amazon and some brand new copies became available a couple of weeks ago; not too bad a price.

I can't wait to finally watch this one. It's the last major Spaghetti Western I've yet to see.

[cigar joe]

My copy has just been delivered from the States of the Grindhouse release. I feel very lucky to have acquired a copy, I kept checking Amazon and some brand new copies became available a couple of weeks ago; not too bad a price.

I can't wait to finally watch this one. It's the last major Spaghetti Western I've yet to see.

You're in for a treat, enjoy

[Mr.Cho-Cho]

Annoyingly the disc I watched was marked (looks like a manufacturing defect on the particular disc) and it skipped 2 scenes towards the end, which marred my enjoyment a bit. I don't really want to send it all the way back to the States, so gonna keep it, as I've got the other discs and versions still.

However the film is very good, definitely amongst the best Spag Westerns. I know Thomas Milian isn't everyone's cup of tea with his acting style, but I thought he was good here and Lee Van Cleef is perfect as usual. I think the final scenes are some of the best in any Western films the duels and even when they depart at the end; it's really well shot. I've actually already seen Run, Man, Run which I enjoyed, but The Big Gundown was a lot better as a film. Great soundtrack too of course.

[cigar joe]

Annoyingly the disc I watched was marked (looks like a manufacturing defect on the particular disc) and it skipped 2 scenes towards the end, which marred my enjoyment a bit. I don't really want to send it all the way back to the States, so gonna keep it, as I've got the other discs and versions still.

However the film is very good, definitely amongst the best Spag Westerns. I know Thomas Milian isn't everyone's cup of tea with his acting style, but I thought he was good here and Lee Van Cleef is perfect as usual. I think the final scenes are some of the best in any Western films the duels and even when they depart at the end; it's really well shot. I've actually already seen Run, Man, Run which I enjoyed, but The Big Gundown was a lot better as a film. Great soundtrack too of course.

I still have my Franco Cleef edit disk with all the scenes deleted from the English edition re inserted.

[Novecento]

I still have my Franco Cleef edit disk with all the scenes deleted from the English edition re inserted.

I have that too. But I prefer to watch the German blu-ray now that is essentially the same concept (i.e. full version in English but revers to Italian where no English audio available) just in better quality.

[cigar joe]

I have that too. But I prefer to watch the German blu-ray now that is essentially the same concept (i.e. full version in English but revers to Italian where no English audio available) just in better quality.

Good to know will have to pick one up

[Mr.Cho-Cho]

I've been thinking about this film a bit more; I think it's certainly one of my favourite non-Leone Westerns. The last 15 minutes to The Big Gundown is amongst the greatest finales in Westerns; from the chase to when they depart on the dunes, I think it's nearly as good as the ending to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The soundtrack during these final scenes really helps it too.

I also think the Baron was a cool character too, I'm a huge fan of Erich von Stroheim, so I think his character was strongly influenced by him.

[cigar joe]

I've been thinking about this film a bit more; I think it's certainly one of my favourite non-Leone Westerns. The last 15 minutes to The Big Gundown is amongst the greatest finales in Westerns; from the chase to when they depart on the dunes, I think it's nearly as good as the ending to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The soundtrack during these final scenes really helps it too.

I also think the Baron was a cool character too, I'm a huge fan of Erich von Stroheim, so I think his character was strongly influenced by him.

Its pretty good agreed

[Novecento]

The last 15 minutes to The Big Gundown is amongst the greatest finales in Westerns

I just cannot fathom why the American distributor would have thought shortening that whole sequence was a good idea? Presumbaly the English language version playing on the Grindhouse disc has the cut finale, and the Italian version is complete?