CS Film Club II

Duck, You Sucker (1971)

When looking at a body of work of a director's such as that of Sergio Leone, it really can just be a matter of picking which ones you like the most. Because even the ones that may not be quite as great as some of the more defining ones are still well worth their weight, which brings us to 1971's Duck, You Sucker. What's immediately obvious here is that this differentiates itself in a few key areas from The Dollars Trilogy and Once Upon A Time In The West. For one, Leone trades in quite a few of his trademarks in those for what feels like a grittier, more down-to-Earth approach. Was it intentional or out of necessity because he wanted to try something different? In either case, it often works, though I'd be lying if I said Duck, You Sucker completely packed the same punch as something like Once Upon a Time in the West. I want to be careful how I phrase it, however, because I don't want to make it sound like this is a miss in any way, because it's not -- just that I, personally, may prefer the more stylized approach of his other works. Although, what's up with those overly sappy flashbacks for James Coburn's character? I get wanting to communicate such a stark difference between his past and current lives, but those almost bordered on parody. But on its own merits, Duck, You Sucker still offers up more than enough. This feels more violent than Leone's previous films, which gives it a certain visceral quality that adds to the overall tone and makes for some pretty intense action. The plot itself is quite compelling, and Rod Steiger and James Coburn both give strong performances, even if the characters themselves may not necessarily have the memorability as Eastwood's Man With No Name. But in a way, that's also not a bad thing because it helps ground the characters a bit more and make them feel more real. Also, in terms of Ennio Morricone's score here...it really is very good, but at the same time, maybe not with as many earwormy tunes as his work in other Leone films, yet that may also speak to the more grounded nature here and how Leone wanted to let the story and characters speak for themselves. Overall, it amounts to a very interesting and unique cocktail with Duck, You Sucker. One that shows that Leone was definitely capable of delivering a strong Western yarn without his usual trademarks, and even though I may not love it as much as Once Upon a Time in the West or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...this is absolutely a strong piece of work all the same.

***1/2 /****

In.

New round on November 1st. I've got Coop and PK, who else wants in?

in

It's midnight on the east coast making it November 1st. The Halloween thread is dead. Long live the Film Club!

Round 243

Doomsday assign to Neverending
Neverending assign to PG Cooper
PG Cooper assign to Dracula
Dracula assign to PhantomKnight
PhantomKnight assign to Doomsday

Let's give it an even month and make the due date December 1st.

The Wrong Guy (1997)

Dave Foley is excited for a big promotion that ends up going to someone else. Enraged, he confronts his boss but finds his corpse instead. Dave doesn’t possess what one would consider intelligence, and so, he makes it seem like he was the murderer. This forces Dave to go into hiding, and following a few mishaps, he ends up working as a farmhand and bank teller for Jennifer Tilly and the dad from Freaks & Geeks. All is going well until the real killer shows up to get rid of some loose ends.

The Wrong Guy is a solid cinematic achievement by David Steinberg, known better for a slew of 1990’s sitcoms. It’s silly, fun and occasionally clever.

Tanner Hall is the only one I don't have to download a new app for so I guess I'll watch that.