"Duck, You Sucker!" vs. "Fistful of Dynamite"

[noodles_leone]

i mean the french dvd, which is exactly the same than the uk (and is titled "fistful of dynamite", and not "once upon a time the revolution", as we call this movie in france).
I'm sorry for the bad english

[Boca]

I lived in Montreal when the film was released. It played I believe for three years at a small cinema near my home. It was released as Duck You Sucker in English and Once Upon a Time in the Revolution in the French dubbed. I believe that I saw the European cut. There was even an intermission right after Juan "accidently" releases the prisoners and becomes a hero. I remember certain scenes and they are missing from the Fistful of Dynamite version. I always loved this film and looking forward to seeing released as Duck You Sucker and restored. It would be too painful to watch it otherwise. I remember the last flashback and Duck You Sucker appearing at the end. Leone deserves to have this film shown the way he intended to be shown and not with an alternate title put onto it by UA (at the time)

[Two To Many]

John, how is the project going?  I lived in Paris for many years and was there in the 60s' for the OV opening of
FOD.  I really hope MGM offers this up in the uncut version soon.  The French title "Once Upon A Time In the Revolution" fit the movie well but I believe "Duck You Sucker" was the OV title.  I would probably use "Fistfull of Dynamite" since that is how it is known to so many people in the U.S. (marketing standpoint).  To me, this was one of Leone's best films and Morricone's score is still sensational.  When I work cattle on my ranch here in Arizona, Morricone's "John's Invention" still plays through my head every day.

[Cusser]

Hey, Two: I also live in Arizona (Phoenix), where is your ranch?  We have two horses, and one of my kids loves to team-pen and herd cattle, they both ride like the wind.  

[Jupa]

I wouldn't put too much store in what it says in Professor Frayling's book. The Professor devotes a whole page to praising Leone's performance in CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES, completely unaware that he's watching Chris Huerta. That's not the only error. In fact the Professor admits that there are mistakes, but explains that writing an 800 page book and getting everything right is really difficult.

Isn't the book 570 pages?You are referring to "Something to do with Death",aren't you?

I think Mike Eustace posted a "Professor Frayling error list" on the old board that had eight(?) mistakes he had spotted in the book.

[John Hodson]

Yes, I will be putting the complete final flashback into the end of "Duck, You Sucker!" for theatrical re-release. I can't tell you anything about DVD plans; I work in the studio's Film Dept., and the Home Video Dept. is a world unto its own - so far it has only selected about half of the films I've restored in the last 5 or 6 years for release on DVD. I have heard that there are currently no plans to release the extended English version of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" on DVD. Therefore, you should tape it off AMC on May 10th and/or see it in a cinema this June/July if you live near NYC, LA, San Diego, Rochester (NY), Toronto, Santa Fe, San Francisco, San Rafael (CA), or Chicago. Dates for Houston and Silver Springs, MD will be settled later in the year.
But to get back to my original question, if anyone knows of any written statement by Leone regarding his preference of the English release title, please let me know where to find it, or I might not be able to restore the original one. Thanks!!

Jjust reviving this thread (a) to congratulate John Kirk on the work he put into GBU (my SE DVD arrived a few days ago) and (b) in the vain hope that he may look back in here and tell us whether we'll see Fistful of Dynamite on R1 DVD any time soon?

I've not bought the UK R2 disc because it misses the final flashback and because the transfer looks terrible compared to the Italian release; I'm hoping that any R1 release will not only be complete, but will also have a spanking transfer from the newly restored elements. It's a crying shame that two leads will be unable to participate in any extras, but tributes to Mr Coburn and Mr Steiger would be more than welcome too.

BTW, I know the GBU SE has come under fire because of the changes to the gunshots, and after reading Glenn Erikson's piece at dvdtalk.com I understand why the changes were made for theatrical release. But what I don't understand is why we didn't get the original gunshot sounds when the transfer was made to DVD. Maybe there should be more contact between Mr Kirk and MGM's Home Video Dept? Just a thought.

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So many films, so little time...

[Two To Many]

I too am trying to find when MGM will release FOD in the US.  

It's long overdue still being one of the best films out there.  I saw the premiere in Paris back in the 60's with the intermission.  Long and good.  At that time in VO it was billed as "Il Etait Une Fois Dans La Revolution" (Once Upon A Time In The Revolution).  

Can the MGM guy give us an update?  I can't believe MGM is draggng their feet on this one.