Corri uomo corri

Hitting hard is the idealistic tone and free-flowing spirit that engraves itself in director Sergio Sollima's sprawling spaghetti western (a semi-sequel to "The Big Gundown (1966)") starring Tomas Milan as the simple, but lethal knife slinging protagonist Cuchillo. While the material is heavy on the comic banter and physical mishaps, it never loses balance of the strenuously meaningful political side of the story, as Sollima agreeably pulls it off. There's bounce, and zippy energy as it moves along quickly enough, despite its lengthy story and open-ended conclusion for another expansive adventure to begin. Rich varieties of characters (maybe too many) come and go with a lot of minor stories branching of the central premise. This leaves the story feeling loose. So pretty much something is always happening, but the resolutions and overall intentions come off cloudy in this largely chatty script. There's a lot of running, but just as much talking. Sollima skilfully directs with bold compositions and controlled precision in his grand set-pieces. His camera-work imagery and widescreen placement is professionally executed, and imaginatively snappy. The rough and scorching desolate backdrop never looked so sumptuously rich. Adding to the drama was Bruno Nicolai and Ennio Morricone's downright superb alarmingly scheming and melodic score. The performances are truly wonderful. Milan's ferret manner always amused, and Donal O'Brien brings out an intriguing performance. The passionate performances came from two fiery ladies; Linda Veras and Chelo Alonso. They were great! John Ireland has a small, but potently hearty and flavorful role as Mexican revolutionary General Santillana. Quite a fun and well-made spaghetti western, but it does take quite a lot out of you.

This sequel is the third part from ¨Sergio Sollima trilogy¨ , starred by Tomas Milian , as roguish Cuchillo and formed by ¨Big gundown¨, ¨Face to face¨ and this one . Now as absolute starring , Tomas Milian supported by Donald O'Brien in similar role to Lee Van Cleef from ¨Big gundown¨ . It's set during early Mexican revolution with Porfirio Diaz governing , approximately in 1910s . The McGuffin is a hidden treasure by Benito Juarez beyond frontier . The revolutionaries aren't Pancho Villa or Emilio Zapata , but is an imaginary Santillana , well performed by John Ireland in a brief acting . The Cuban Tomas Milian, as usual, puts faces, grimaces, crying and overacting , but he plays splendidly . Enjoyable appearance by also Cuban , the gorgeous Chelo Alonso, usual of Peplum and Western : ¨The good, the bad and the ugly¨. Furthermore, there appears Italian Western usual secondaries as Jose Torres , Gianni Rizzo, Luciano Rossi and Rick Boyd.

This Zapata-Western is inferior than previous entries but displays stirring adventures , shootouts, riding pursuits and is pretty amusing . Sensitive musical score by Bruno Nicolai , replacing the great Ennio Morricone , former films composer . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Mancori , showing marvelously the habitual Almeria (Spain) outdoors. The picture was well directed by Sergio Sollima that would be his last Western and following directing successes such as ¨Sandokan¨.

Tomas Milian returns as Cuchillo, a petty thief who after being imprisoned helps his cell-mate and himself escape. He then gets entangled in a run to get the 3 million dollars in gold that his cell-mate, whom also happens to be a Mexican Revolutionary, hid in a town across the border in Texas. He's chased by his overbearing girlfriend who wants desperately to get married, a bounty hunter (Donald O'Brien), as well as some others.I have yet to see "The Big Gundown", so I can't compare the two, but I really enjoyed this movie and found it to be humorous well still maintaining some good action. And I certainly liked it much more then the previous Thomas Milian film that I've seen "Se sei Vivo spara" (Django Kill, if you live shoot)

My Grade: B+

Blue Underground DVD Extras: Part of BU's Spaghetti Western Collection. Uncut; 17 minute'Run man Run: 35 years Running' Featurette; 38 minute 'Westerns Italian Style' Featurette; Italian Main Titles; Posters & Still Gallery; Talent Bios for Sergio Sollima & Tomas Milian; Theatrical Trailer

3 Easter Eggs: Highlight the hidden knife in the Extras menu for Trailers for "Django", "Dajango Kill", and "A Man Called Blade"; Highlight the knife in the main menu for Tomas Milian telling of his run with a tax man; The hidden knife over the face in the Chapter Select menu for an unsubtitled interview of some sort

This film reuses the lead character of LA RESA DEI CONTI and is the third of the Sollima/Milian series. Cuchillo (spanish for "knife") is pretty skilled with this weapon and proves its usefulness in a lot of occasions. During the plot he acts as a maverick, with the only help of his fiancé Maria who wants him finally to get married. As a cultural counterpoint there is the other maverick Cassidy who is depicted as Nordic precise and cold. While being competitive at first they later join for purpose. Overall this sequel suffers from an overload of duel and fighting situations which often seem to be completely senseless, e.g. the duel between Cassidy and José in the beginning. The revolution is not more than a background. Less characters and more character development would have helped. Milian plays with his typical humor and very often we see his suffering face in repetitive scenes of torture. . Recommended for fans of the genre and of Milian. Rich daughter Penny (Linda Veras) is working for the salvation army and wears black fish-net stockings which I consider a minor inaccuracy ;-)

The Nicolai/Morricone score is nice but too hammering for my taste, cinematography is well above average. For me this film is the most humorous of the 3 Sollimas.

6/10

Imagine an Italian western inspired by Marx - not Groucho, but KARL. Springing from the loins of the European mini-revolutions of 1968 comes a western with a conscience, courtesy of spaghetti socialist Sergio Sollima, who recycles his most memorable character from the 1967 The Big Gundown and builds an entire film around him.

Cuban-born Tomas Milian returns as Cuchillio, a wily yet endearingly naive opportunist who's quick with a knife but not so quick on the uptake. A quick spell in a border prison sees him share a cell with a seditious poet named Rodriguez, whose dying breath reveals the last resting place of a $3 million cache of revolution-bound gold. And so begins Cuchillio's journey, spreading his proto-revolutionary seed across the Texas border whilst pursued by a sleazy assortment of cutthroats and would-be revolutionaries, spaghetti western regular Donal O'Brien playing a sheriff with a conscience, two French secret agents, his jealous fiancé Dolores (played by the fiery Chelo Alonso), and a blond sergeant in the Salvation Army, a woman who sticks out of her unlikely surroundings like a turd tambourine. Cuchillio himself spends most of his screen time bound, gagged with dynamite, spreadeagled in some godforsaken location, or in one stunning sequence, strapped to the blade of a windmill. And STILL He doesn't lose his sense of humor.

Like The Good The Bad And The Ugly it's a deliberately open-ended epic quest for hidden treasure, but without Leone's grandiose scale and pretentious camera histrionics. It's more like The Wizard of Oz wrapped in a burrito, and peppered with the most random of supporting characters. The usual grimness of these spaghetti westerns is contrasted with Tomas Milian's comic timing, a rousing score by an uncredited Ennio Morricone, and a surprising cameo from veteran American actor John Ireland as a crusty, battle-scarred soldier of the class struggle.

Socialist westerns don't usually come this entertaining - come to think of it, socialists are rarely funny at all! So enjoy the picaresque, picturesque and thankfully undogmatic 1968 Run Man Run.