10,000 Ways to Die (Alex Cox)

Incestuous love triangle, daft!? LOL :crazy_face:

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Apart from the new cover and smaller format of the 2019 edition, I noticed a few corrections here and there, e.g. Alberto Roccianti (p. 29, original edition) —> Alberto Boccianti (pp. 33, 34, revised edition), Return of Ringo (74, o. e.) —> The Return of Ringo (82, r. e.), The Big Silence (185, o. e.) —> The Great Silence (210, r. e.); new text sections on Carlo Lizzani’s Un fiume di dollari (1966), Franco Giraldi’s Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire (1968), Mario Lanfranchi’s Sentenza di morte (1968), Piero Cristofani and Lina Wertmüller’s Il mio corpo per un poker / The Belle Starr Story (1968), Edoardo Mulargia’s La taglia è tua … l’uomo l’ammazzo io (1969), and Sergio Corbucci’s Che c’entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? (1972); a new image in the picture section, showing “directors Giuliano Montaldo, Sergio Leone and Damiano Damiani on set in Monument Valley” during the shooting of Un genio, due compari, un pollo (1975); and a new, additional introduction.

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Interesting …

Does he like El puro?

I recall him referring to it as ‘well acted’ in the first pressing.

Thanks for the update. Nice to see Sergio Corbucci’s “Che c’entriamo noi con la rivoluzione?” getting some respect.

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Not if he thinks that Corbucci’s third revolution western is worse than Il mercenario and Companeros …

Yes. Refuting the notion that La taglia è tua … l’uomo l’ammazzo io is “the first zen western” (Robert Woods), Cox writes that to him “it’s a film about a drunken pimp gunfighter, plain and simple. And why not?” (p. 306). @aldo will be delighted to learn that Cox thinks the Specs/Professor character is an “Irishman, with safari hat, jodhpurs and round spectacles” (p. 307), played by “Angelo Desideri” (p. 305). It’s been a while since I last watched La taglia è tua …, but I don’t remember identifying Specs/Professor as Irish. The actor who plays him is, as we established some years ago, Fabrizio Gianni.

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Specs is dubbed in English with an Irish accent :wink: … went Gypsy shows his gang the poster offering a reward for ‘El Puro’, Specs comments “That’s a goodly sum” … it’s neither a real Irish person dubbing or an Irish manner of speaking, except if you count stage Irish.

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Thanks! I think I’ve never watched an English dub, only French and Italian.

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No, wrong again! Of course I’ve watched the English dub, I even quoted that line, “That’s a goodly sum.”

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Cox devotes four pages to Che c’entriamo noi con la rivoluzione?, finding “much to admire in this, the last of the director’s Revolutionary Trilogy” (p. 334). Ultimately, he deems it “odd to call a Corbucci film ‘not unpleasant.’ Yet this one is that” (p. 335).

Definitely an underrated film. Although I wish he had done “Viva la muerte, tua!” with Franco Nero as the third installment instead (that Spitaliano name still confuses me!)

I don’t think it is underrated.
It just plods along to a Morricone score, which is as lazy as the film. It is an ok Spaggie, but it lacks mostly the virtuosity of the 2 predecessors. Some good scenes though, but nothing which is really memorable, and the bad scenes are not as bad as in other later Corbuccis. A missed oppurtunity. 5/10

And Viva la muerte, tua, I think it would have become a similar film if directed by Corbucci. It is a kinda well directed film, but still does not work that well either. Both films do not find a working balance between the comical stuff and the serious passages.
Actually Corbucci lost this balance already often enough in Companeros.

I liked it. Tightly interwoven references to the idea of revolution and to some of its different historical and cultural manifestations, if I remember correctly. – Is “Spitaliano” your creation? Nice neologism.

Which of the two do you like better?

Both are 5/10 for me … don’t know … both are pretty close.
Companeros is an 8/10, and that’s despite some heavy flaws, but there is so much incredibly directed stuff in it.

Maybe Viva la muerte, tua gets better on a rewatch, whereas Che c’entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? did not improve on several re-watches. It just remains a mildly entertaining film.

I haven’t watched it in a long time. But I remember being pleasantly surprised at its quality given how little attention it gets. I’d still put Il Mercenario and Companeros before it, but it’s a worthy end to his trilogy and again full of nice historical touches (perhaps more than the other two if I remember correctly). I’ve said this on the forum before, but I think Corbucci took things a little more seriously than he sometimes claimed publicly.

No, I didn’t coin Spitaliano. Similar to Spanglish I suppose. Both are useful when talking about Tomas Milian’s performances

I just watched Alex Cox’s “Highway Patrolman” on the Kino Lorber blu-ray. It was one of his films I hadn’t seen before. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: give Alex Cox the means and a talented team, and he’ll do wonders. His career parallels Michael Cimino in that regard. Great film!

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I finally got this book, and I like it. There are things that he got wrong(like saying that GBU has any flaws whatsoever), but i still appreciate the fact that we get to hear his opinions.

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Kino Lorber will release Carlo Lizzani’s Un fiume di dollari on Blu-ray in February, featuring an audio commentary by Cox.

French translation coming up