The Big Gundown
Like the thrilling genre it identifies, the term "spaghetti western" has steadily gained in esteem and sympathy. Born in the mid-1960s, the Italian Western is a universe in its own right, whose cinematic language, anarchic tone and spectacular iconography have had a considerable impact. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal, this cycle brings together the must-see films of the "three Sergios" (Leone, Corbucci, Sollima) and a diverse selection of films by the main directors of the period. It's an opportunity to grasp the richness of a genre whose stylistic beauty is matched only by the dirtiness of its protagonists, and which has managed to be alternately irreverent and lyrical, funny and violent, bon-vivant and political, dark and luminous. The versions presented have been chosen on the basis of elements such as language (all these films were dubbed, so there is no single "original" version), complete editing and recent restorations.
The Big Gundown, a famous bounty hunter, renounces his political ambitions to track down Cuchillo, a bandit accused of a savage crime. While American actor Lee Van Cleef, who made his name in And for a Few Dollars More, confirms his leading role in the Italian western, the character of Cuchillo, a Mexican peon played by Cuban actor Tomás Milián, immediately becomes a popular star and mascot of the Italian left. A sequel was made to the film with Cuchillo: Run, Man, Run. In the meantime, Milián and Sollima shot another film together, which deepened the thinking behind Colorado: Face to Face.
Sergio Sollima
Born in Rome in 1921, Sergio Sollima developed a passion for cinema at an early age. He studied the visual arts before joining the Resistance in 1943. After the war, he became a journalist and critic, while pursuing a career as a playwright and theater director. He then joined the film industry as assistant director and screenwriter. After directing a number of spy films, he was approached by producer Alberto Grimaldi to direct a western. This was La resa dei conti (The Big Gundown), with which Sollima defined his style among spaghetti westerns, characterized by deep psychology and a revolutionary edge - incarnated by the character of Cuchillo, whom he cast with Cuban actor Tomás Milián and who was to become a symbol of the Italian left. In just three films, Sollima established himself alongside Leone and Corbucci as one of the "three Sergios" who dominated the Italian western era. In the 1970s, he continued his career as a filmmaker in the genre of thrillers and adventure films.
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