Definitely agree. Still love it overall though. Itās always been in my top 25.
Didnāt somebody, I think @Novecento, say years ago that Sollima said he wished heād made another Cuchillo movie instead of Face to Face?
Ah, man, as much as that would have been cool, I really love Face to Face.
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Rewatched this one today.
This is a very overlooked spaghetti western. Very unique as it starts off as a Zapata westerns and as the story goes on it becomes more of a traditional spaghetti western with a great cast and great writing throughout the story. This is Sollima at his most Leone with some really nice action. The filming locations and production values are also some of the best in the genre. Has a very epic scale too, not too dissimilar to GBU. Underrated, but not without flaws, as the comedy bits do feel intrusive at times despite being genuinely funny.
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Here it is:
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the key part here being āfrom a box office perspectiveā¦ā ? 
Thanks mate. Sounds like he may thought another Cuchillo movie was potentially better financially, but Face to Face was better artistically.
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I say Run Man Run was better artistically.
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I agree. Iāve always been in the minority that prefers it to Face to Face like yourself as I think itās more perfect. I do think Face to Face is the more profound film out of the two though despite its faults.
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Anything that came from Sollima had merit: and his three films are eternally watchable.
I think that all of Sergio Sollimaās films are gold-dust in the SW pan.
For me, it has to beā¦
āThe Big Gundownā
āFace to Faceā
āRun Man Runā
All three SS films star Tomas Milianā¦which one is the best?
If you are asking that question, then it will be a difficult decision, because Milian was excellent in everythingā¦
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I agree despite the fact Iāve always maintained that face to Face has a couple of flaws that stand out. Like Leone he didnāt make too many films but what he did do (that Iāve seen) was fantastic.
Iād rank his westerns like this:
The Big Gundown
Run Man Run
Dave to Face
All of his films that Iāve seen Iād rank like this:
The Big Gundown
Revolver
Run Man Run
Face to Face
Devil in the Brain (an underrated quasi giallo)
Violent City (the only one I didnāt care for).
Iād probably go with Gundown as my favourite in regards to Milian alone. I agree though he was always greatā¦very on point even in āYoung, Violent and Dangerousā despite the fact he actually didnāt do that much performance wise.
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āRUN MAN RUNā
Yeahā¦I like this film.
It certainly gives Milian a brilliant and stable stage to perform onā¦
Tomas is excellent, as always. The music is top-notch.
Regarding my love of Milianās role as Cuchilloā¦and thatās what this boils down to.
His role in āThe Big Gundownā, is a warm-up for his star role in āRun, Man, Runā.
I love both filmsā¦
Of course, the Sollima thread that bound it all together was the method-acting, phenomenal, brilliant, meticulous Tomas Milianā¦a force to be reckoned with, according to several documented accountsā¦
Tomas Milianā¦along with the phenomenal Giulianno Gemmaā¦two of the ālegendsā that cemented my love of not only 'Spaghetti Westerns, but my eternal love of cinema, in generalā¦
These companeros (Milian and Gemma) were mere pics in a book when I first encountered them. They were images from a book (āThe Opera of Violenceā) that was a gold-mind in itself.
I fell in love with the black and white imagesā¦
Nothing else in 1985ā¦no soundtracks, no way of watching the films, no chatting onlineā¦
Hard to imagine nowā¦but itās how it was.
Just when you think you know it all, a new phenomenon strolls by. Totally unexpected, yet open to scrutinyā¦loved by the publicā¦distasteful according to the all-knowing criticsā¦
Opinions, opinions, opinionsā¦
It taught me that - no matter the country or intent, a heart set on re-producing another countryās culture is capable of producing heroes for any age, and every need.
It ignores the boundaries set by cinema, and seeks to explore new territory, paying little heed to the critics and unbelievers of a new and untested twist on the genre.
This, indeed, is the experimental way forwardā¦in the case of the SW, it worked.
I will love these guys forever. (not only Milian, Gemma, but also Morricone, De Simi, Eastwood, Van Cleef, Wallach,ā¦ ā¦because they came, they stayed, and they have been an inspiration in my life, and other amigos, since our first magical meetingā¦
R.I.P: SERGIO SOLLIMA
R.I.P. Tomas Milian and Giulianno Gemmaā¦
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Theyāre definitely two of my favourites from this genre as well. There are a lot of great ones though.
Very true.
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āSaludos, hombreā (aka āRun, Man, Runā) premiered in Canada at the ComĆ©die-Canadienne, Montreal on July 17 1971. There were a number of spaghetti westerns that werenāt released in the United States but were shown north of the border, primarily in French speaking Quebec. Including classics such as āLe SpĆ©cialisteā (Aug '71), āUne corde, un coltā (Oct '71) and āLe dernier face Ć faceā (Apr '72) (IMDb lists a belated U.S. release date of April 6 1976 for āFace to Faceā, this is incorrect as thatās the Bergman film of the same title).
āSALUDOS, HOMBRE (4) Italien, WestĆ©rn. - Ce western alerte et rĆ©jouissant se montre favorable Ć lāidĆ©e de RĆ©volution dans un contexte peu vraisemblable bien quāhistoriquement situĆ©. Il comporte une bonne dose de violence et quelques situations dĆ©licates.ā
(āThis lively and entertaining western is favourable to the idea of revolution, in a context thatās unlikely, yet historically grounded. It includes a fair amount of violence and some delicate situations.ā) (Le Nouvelliste, [Trois-RiviĆØres], June 17, 1972)
Sources below: (1) (Le Devoir, [Montreal], July 17, 1971) (2) Le Nouvelliste, [Trois-RiviĆØres], June 15, 1972)
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I rewatched this one recently.
This is a very good spaghetti western, one of the best. Briliant score and brilliant cast. Milian, OāBrien, Linda Veras, Chelo Alonso, Nello Pazzafini, et cetera. Only John Ireland was a bit miscast as a mexican. He was in a few SWs but he didnāt play a mexican in any other of his SWs did he?
Some here have complained the film has too much comedy and the story is too episodic. This is of course nonsense. RMR is a true spaghetti western with SW characters, story, comedy, et cetera. And there is a gold treasure, this time in the shape of a printing press.
Sollimas films are not as stylish as the ones by Leone and Corbucci, but this doesnāt matter. They are still way better than most other SWs.
I only found this film a little slow perhaps, I didnāt see the whole film in one evening. But I think I will watch it again soon.
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John Ireland also played a Mexican in Gatling Gun, made as well in 1968.
I like Run Man Run, and comedy is usually part of the spaghetti western mix, but in some movies it works better than in others, so the people who do not like this one, might have the feeling that the comedy is out of place here, doesnāt work well, or whatever.
Iām a great Leone fan and the comedy, or humor in his movies usually works very well, especially in The Good, the Bad and the ugly, but in most other movies as well, but to me it doesnāt work at all in Duck You Sucker. His humor is often grim, and grim jokes fit his movies very well, but in DYS theyāre neither grim nor funny. I never liked that movie for that reason (and for Steigerās overacting, to be honest).
Violent spaghetti westerns often have a silly barroom brawl scene thrown in, and that is a thing I donāt like either.
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There is no comedy of that sort in RMR though, the over the top grim stuff in DYS or the silly barroom brawls in the simple SWs.
Thatās why I like Run Man Run a lot. Thereās some comedy in it, and not all would-be funny scenes are funny, but theyāre not too silly either and they do not ābreakā the atmosphere of the movie.
I donāt hate some of those ālesser swsā because of those silly barroom brawls, but they can be disorienting; Pistoleros (Ballata per un Pistolero) is a good example: youāre in a serious, nasty revenge movie and then, all of a sudden, you seem to wander off into a comedy vehicle. As said I donāt hate the entire movie because of it (I actually like Pistoleros a lot), but Iām allways happy when those brawls are over.
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