Much as I love your enthusiasm, I have to say that āmost peopleā seeing this film on itās original screening were most certainly not awed by itās genius - some were at the cinema for a snog in the back row, others probably talked through the entire film until the main feature came on (the big picture as it was known) ā¦ many walked in late and disturbed the row before and aft as they looked for a seat, then got the Maltesers and cheese and onion crisps out and generally acted as if they were on a works picnic - I loved the cinema as a child, but people in general were fecking awful! 
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Or maybe in those days something else.
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Wacky baccy! LOL ā¦ not in this parish, mister! Youād be cuffed and rushed off to the salt mines before you could say, āGood shit!ā ā¦ but cigarette smoking was almost mandatory in those days ā¦ and once someone ālit upā, the rest of the place would join in, then the auditorium would be swamped by a cloud of smoke so thick that the projectionist had to switch to full beam
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In the small town I grew up in we had one single screen theater (and a drive-in on the outskirts of town) that would typically get the newest releases once they had been out a month or so. Fortunately for me, the theater was less that 200 yards from my house as the crow flies and was run by my best friendās older brother. This came with a bunch of perks for me personally including free entrance and getting to see any movie I wanted regardless of its rating. Needless to say, that was one friendship I worked hard to keep intact. 
I can remember that once the movie started in the evening and people had lit their cigarettes that inevitably the smell of something else intermingled with the cigarette smoke would come wafting through the air. Not wanting to bother the other smoking theater goers in an attempt to find the lone outlaw, my friendās brother would just shake his head and continue dolling out popcorn, Milk Duds, and sodas from the concession stand just outside the entrance curtain.
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Perhaps you are right, amigo.
I was just trying to be optimistic about how the original audience may have viewed the film on its first USA/UK release at the cinema.
At this moment, a time-machine would be handy to travel back to 1967ā¦ 
Needless to say, Iāve now promised myself a āTBGā, āRMRā double-bill for the weekend, full running times and allā¦ 
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I get it completely, Toscano ā¦ alas the world in general isnāt always as appreciative of this art form and genre as we here at the SWDB ā¦ like you, I would have loved to have been around for these movieās original release, but it was a very different time, and maybe we all tend to romanticise the 60s more than we should.
I found it interesting the comment about Morriconeās music ā¦ I can only imagine that his scores were so revolutionary, that to the rather staid critics of the period must have sounded like punk rock or something from another planet ā¦ probably a bunch of āEasy Listeningā Val Doonican enthusiasts !!!
Iām also going to do the Cuchillo double feature when my copy of āCorri uomo corriā shows up.
Cheers Amigo.
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Crazy they thought the soundtrack was unmemorable, I get goosebumps every time Cuchillo reaches down to grab the knife and Morriconeās trumpets swell.
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Love it ā¦ Iāve stood on that piece of ground where the duel takes place, and itās one location area which hasnāt altered since the movie was filmed (barring a few boulder slips) ā¦ Mecca for SW fans
I have this as my screensaver
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I sat down this morning and checked out the new The Big Gundown release. What a pleasure to have the Italian release in English and only sub-titled where need be! I was so thoroughly invested and not willing to be finished just yet that once the movie was done I began to explore some of the extras - specifically the two pieces featuring Stephen Thrower.
It was there that I was reminded of the fact that in Franco Solinasā original story that the Cuchillo character was actually an old peasant and the Corbett character was actually a young cop. In the original story, the Corbett character despite knowing of Cuchilloās innocence feels that he has no choice but to kill Cuchillo. According to Thrower, Sollima would eventually come to regret changing the ending.
Though I had heard or read this at some point (from where, I have no idea) I had never really stopped to consider what the movie would have been like if Sollima had kept that depressing ending. Would it still be thought of in the same way? Would it be more highly regarded? Less so?
In my opinion, for what thatās worth, I just donāt think the movie would have been the classic that the majority of us know it to be. The ending it got was the ending it needed. Donāt get me wrong, I have nothing against a bleak endingā¦The Great Silence is a classic after all but it was a depress fest from start to finish. For The Big Gundown to have worked with that type of ending, it would have had to be an entirely different movie with an entirely different mood and feeling. I just donāt think it would have worked so well.
Others may disagree but this was just something that popped into my head this morning.
One final question. If LVC had killed Milian, would it have been devastating for @NeedleFork?
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I definitely think Sollima went with the right choice and not just because there wouldnāt have been a Run Man Run had he done otherwise. Itās one of the few spags that contains any character development and the arc wouldnāt have been as great and it would have made Corbett far less likeable. It would have left a sour taste in my mouth for an otherwise near-perfect film.
Iād never heard before that Sollima regretted his decisionā¦I find that surprising if itās true.
Spoiler for Revolver
Iām aware Oli Reed did pretty much the same thing in Revolver but he was kind of forced into it. If Corbett did it it would probably have been because the law said so.
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ooh interesting question!
Short answer: I would not be devastated 
It sounds like a really intriguing version.
As the film functions today, Corbett is set up from the get-go as someone driven by his moral standards.
āIām interested in progress, not your personal profitā
Sure heās a little hotheaded and a bit cheeky at times, but all in all he seems to always want to do the right thing.
So with this character description it would seem quite jarring for him to disregard Cuchilloās innocence and kill him at the end.
But if his character had started to alter mid film, becoming more morally ambiguous, slightly more self interested, more naĆÆve or insecure, I think it might have worked really well.
Could have been an interesting character arc, to be invited from the beginning to root for Corbett as an audience, only to realize by the end that we shouldnāt.
Would have been a cool role to see Lee Van Cleef perform 
(I agree with what @Bill_Willer said, it would make Corbett a less likeable character for sureā¦but I like unlikable characters :'3 )
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So thatās why you hang out here! 
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I wanted to wait until others got a chance to see this release before commenting, specifically about the subtitles - I know itās a big improvement on what was previously available ā¦ but we really donāt need a translation for the credit sequence ā¦ most of us can figure that āMusicaā is Music in English, and I donāt care who the hairdresser or tea makers where in this or any other film ā¦ every bit of on screen Italian seemed to be translated ā¦ completely unnecessary and quite irritating.
I also think the English dubbed parts are out of sync by a milli second or two ā¦ compare it against the extended English version ā¦ it was enough for me to quit watching after 20 minutes, and think, well maybe someone will get it right eventually. 
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I agree completely about the subtitled credit sequence.
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Iām glad they changed the ending too, it feels right for the character and the movie. Plus we got more Milian! Honestly I would have happily taken a Corbett sequel too; just him hunting down criminals in his snazzy fur outfit from the opening. 
Just thinking out aloud with regards to the missing english dialogueā¦ but I wonder if some day people will use trained AI to āfixā undubbed dialogue in films. Voice cloning seems to have come a long way in the last few years and a lot of the stuff Iāve heard recently sounds really close; minus some inflection and weird pauses.
For now I imagine itās a legal mess for the companies involved but who knows what fans would try to do.
Personally Iād love to hear the AIās attempt at fixing THAT restored Tuco chicken scene from TGTBATU 
If you wuuuurk for a live ingā¦ whyyyyyā¦ do you kill yourselfā¦ wuuuuuuuurk ing
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Anyone else notice a slight skipping in the beginning of the Italian cut when Nello Pazzafini is loading his gun?
Canāt say I did ā¦ I was too focused on the lip sync. Iāll play it again and get back to you.
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Well spotted ā¦ itās nothing to worry about, there are a few frames missing (maybe print damage) so, there is a little jump. 
Watching the film now on a Panasonic BD player without subs (to see if the soundtrack issues are still evident ) First viewed on a LG machine ā¦ This time the opening scene appears ok, but on my first view, some of the exchanges at the wedding party seemed a little off ā¦ I sincerely hope Iām wrong, but if I had been syncing this, I would have altered the English very slightly ā¦ weāre talking about 1/5 of a second.
I know internationally, dubbed films have a poor reputation, but Iāve re-synced so many of the films from this era, and 90% are really well done that itās very difficult to tell if the actors are speaking in their native language or in English ā¦ āA Pistol for Ringoā is a good example, itās flawless. Problems do arise when projectors arenāt set up correctly, and if the film loop between the image aperture and the optical sound head is too long or short, the film will appear out of sync, and the audience will assume thatās how it was produced.
Anyway, back to the film ā¦ fingers crossed that it will be ok on a different player.
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