ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

rdoyle29 Lee Van Cleef stars as John Corbett, an amateur lawman who has a reputation for being able to hunt down any fugitive. He has his eye on a senate seat, so when a wealthy railroad tycoon offers to back his election campaign in exchange for tracking down "Cuchillo" Sanchez (Tomas Milian), a Mexican peasant accused of raping and murdering a 12 year old girl, Corbett accepts. This kicks off a long series of near misses where Van Cleef gets close, only to see Milian get away. As the chase heats up and the two men get to know each other, Van Cleef starts to suspect that Milian has been set up as a fall guy. This is a top tier spaghetti western, very reminiscent of Leone in the way the character dynamics work, and accompanied by a fantastic Ennio Morricone score. It lacks Leone's operatic tone and stylistic excesses, but is a solid western ... kind ofa sleek, working man's Leone.

Coventry I listened to the theme song on YouTube numerous times and I already watched and enjoyed the sequel "Run, Man, Run"; so it was about time for me to watch the one and only "The Big Gundown". Everybody is always talking about the spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone, and particularly the Dollar-trilogy, and even though I'm the very first person to admit his films truly are genius, there were so many over- talented Italian directors making great westerns around that same time and nobody ever mentions their work. Sergio Sollima's "The Big Gundown", for example, which came out during the same year as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and even shares the same protagonist with Lee Van Cleef, is also a truly stellar and prime example of the spaghetti western genre. The film has a great cast, a stupendous Morricone soundtrack, an arousing plot outline, an intelligent script and numerous moments of great action & adrenalin, but apparently that's still not enough to qualify as an internationally acclaimed classic. Oh well, who cares, at least there's a handful of Italian cinema freaks out there (including Quentin Tarantino) that acknowledge and appreciate the smaller diamonds in the rough. I was fortunate enough to watch the fully uncut 107 minutes version, which features bits and pieces with original Italian sound edited into the American dubbed version. It's occasionally a bit peculiar to hear the sound switch and watch the colors fading, but the film makes much more sense with the cut bits into it. "The Big Gundown" has a very simple and rudimentary plot, but the elaboration is terrific and the chemistry between the two lead players – serious autonomous Lee Van Cleef and playful daredevil Tomas Milian – is sublime. Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) is a practically unbeatable Colorado lawman turned bounty hunter, and because of his prestige and honorable position, his friends are even suggesting him to run for congressman. Corbett then volunteers to bring Cuchillo Sanchez to justice; a Mexican immigrant and petty criminal who's now accused of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl. Cuchillo is heading for Mexico and Corbett has to arrest him before he crosses the border. Cuchillo is a sly fox, however, and always manages to escape just in time. Meanwhile, Corbett increasingly grows uncertain whether he's even chasing the real culprit. "The Big Gundown" is literally full of memorable and notably brilliant sequences that are exemplary bits of great scriptwriting. Cuchillo's escape in the middle of the desert, for example, with just the help of a cactus and an innocent snake, is truly ingenious and clever. There are many more highlights in the film as well, like the escape from a ramshackle Mexican prison, the shootout between Van Cleef and a bunch of obnoxious simple-minded Texan cattle farmers and the virulent climax with not one but two duel showdowns! The soundtrack is legendary, with musical bits of Morricone genius like "The Verdict" and "The Surrender". The direction by Sergio Sollima – also responsible for the great "Violent City" and "Revolver" – is taut and professional, while Van Cleef and especially Milian deliver dazzling performances. This is Italian film-making at its finest.

Chung Mo Lumpy and uneven production hurt an interesting story. It's a shame that this isn't better but if you consider the conditions films like this were made under it's a good job.Van Clief does a variation of his role in "For A Few Dollars More" and succeeds. He carries the film, without him the movie would probably be unwatchable. Milan is his usual "poor everyman" but is less assured in the role. His character seems to be aimed at defiant 14 year old boys which is at odds with the more adult themes the film is based on.The cinematography ranges from very good to harsh. The music is a Morriccone classic but is crudely edited during the course of the film. THe final showdown is strange as there are really two showdowns. The dubbing is passable but doesn't help.Not counting the Leone films this is a top level Italian Western.

Wulfstan10 This is absolutely one of the best so-called spaghetti westerns ever, after Sergio Leone's films of course, and it rates very highly among all westerns. Unlike many other non-Sergio Leone westerns, the cinematography, camera-work, etc., are all very good and some scenes are very artistic and even worthy of Leone himself.Lee van Cleef is excellent as the pseudo-lawman/bounty hunter with integrity who believes in "justice" and "progress" for society.Ennio Morricone, as usual, provides a great score for the film. The song is rousing, while the music for the chase scenes is excellent. Morricone also does a folk-music/square dance version of the theme for the wedding party, which is a neat touch.The story is interesting and well-developed, as well. In its full-length version, it is in fact somewhat deep, with van Cleef's Corbett being a fairly complex character who undergoes a significant character development in the course of the film. In the abridged American version, unfortunately, he is shown as simply bounty hunter who mercilessly kills all before him in cold blood, who never bats an eye at his job, making his character two-dimensional and making the end more flat, more perfunctory, and less convincing or meaningful. In the full-length version, though, he cares about justice, gives outlaws a choice (and a chance), and there is significant development on how he becomes so obsessed with finding Cuchillo that he crosses the boundary between justice and personal obsession. He then re-examines himself and the events in which he finds himself to come to a significant realisation near the end.