Iām going to post here without having read this whole thread so forgive me if I blather about something already mentioned.
I watched this over the weekend for about the 5th or 6th time. I really liked it the first time I saw it (mostly for Chelo, Linda Veras, & the rousing musical score- sung by Milian!). But I have to say, with each viewing my estimation of it declines. It kind of pains me to say it because I consider The Big Gundown to be something of a Spaghetti masterpiece. I wanted to like the sequel as much.
There are lots of problems with this film in my opinion.
- Donald OāBrien is just not up to the role he plays. He does not have exactly the same role as LVC in Gundown but he comes nowhere close to filling the need. I donāt fault him for this though. Iāve seen him enough in other Spaghettis now to know that, no matter what, he was not right for this role. So I fault Sollima for casting him. He should have known better.
- Milian is too over the top. I really like him but even I can see how annoying he can be to some fans. His mugging and overwrought performance is just too much, especially without an LVC to offer a counter-balance.
- This film is overlong. They could have reduced it by 20-30 minites and it would have been less tedious at times.
- It had too many characters. What a busy script. Leone probably would have cut all the scenes with Chelo Alonso. And Linda Veras. Unfortunately, those are my favorite parts!
I loved two scenes, though, for their peculiar natures:
Violence against women and mysogeny are commonplace but there is a scene in this one that offers a really strange take on male/female relations in Spaghettis. Nello Pazzafini is a bandido who travels with his gang north over the border into Texas. He brings along his pregnent wife/partner. In a scene that offers nothing to the plot or story (except to perhaps show how deranged Pazzafini can be) he refuses to let his wife give birth in Texas. She, in labor and in the obvious pain of imminent childbirth, is told by Pazzafini that she must hold the child in for three days, until they return to Mexico. He doesn not want a gringo for a child. It shows, I suppose, his megolamania. But it is a strange scene that could have easily been trimmed. For me, this is the kind of unexpected thing I like. But it does not make it a better film.
Another scene is the one in which Linda Veras goes to sleep in her wagon while listening to Chelo & Milian fuckinā outside. Sheās all tightly encased in her starched white, form-fitting nightgown. As she listens to the passions taking place between the lovers she prays and tightly grips her prayerbook, stroking it. Then she makes the sign of the cross (do they do that in the Salvation Army???) and as she finishes her hand lingers on her breast, fingering ever so slightly her nipple. Only in the Italian west, amigos. Say a prayer for me Linda darlingā¦
Not that I would have anyone but Chelo, mind you.
And, of course for me, she is the crux of the movie.
But what an amazing performance. I know I have a Chelo Alonso bias but I have to say that this has to be the most physical performance by a woman in a Spaghetti. She is almost always in violent physical confrontation with someone. She is in approximately 10 scenes. In almost every one of them she goes at it. She slaps four different people nine different times. Thatās not even counting the bulk of the catfight she has with Linda Veras where she wrestles on the ground, kicks, bites, and punches. She also shoots a couple of bandidos, handles a horse and drives a buckboard. In many scenes she has to be restrained as she struggles against the confinement. At one point they even have her climbing a rope upward.
I love her for her passion and fire. She is ALIGHT in this movie.
When she is whompinā on Linda Veras she says "Come here, Salvation Army!"
What a woman!
And i must stress, itās the character i find annoyingā¦not Mr Milian himselfā¦(although, he does come off as a tad arrogant at times :P).
Watched the wonderful new Koch Media release with the superb picture quality. The only thing I would like to complain is the length of Run, Man, Run 115 minutes is a bit too long for too less story. I thought the plot has some similiarities to a picaresque novel and it reminded me somehow on the later Companeros. Many interesting characters, great landscapes and funny scenes in that one. IMO a very entertaining movie. 5 Stars. ;D