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Wednesday, May 25, 2022

THE MERCENARY / IL MERCENARIO (1968)

In ‘60s Spaghetti Westerns, no matter how good you were, if you weren’t Sergio Leone, you were always a bridesmaid never a bride.  So it was for Sergio Corbucci, here on a Janus-faced Alberto Grimaldi production originally put up for Gillo Pontecorvo to make after THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.  But he ankled for Marlon Brando & BURN!/’69, another Grimaldi pic touching on similar themes, and MERCENARY got cast changes, a lighter tone, Mexican locations, a braggadocio rewrite for leading man Franco Nero, and Sergio Corbucci to direct.  Behind-the-scenes scuffles needn’t matter to the final product, but here, it’s obvious Corbucci bit off more than he could chew.  Worse, you can see this all done right by, of all people, Sergio Leone in his underappreciated DUCK YOU SUCKER!/’72.  Here, Franco Nero is a Polish mercenary in Mexico, figuring out how to turn bandito Tony Musante into a revolutionary winner.  Outnumbered, but always outwitting the Federales, everything’s fine as long as Nero gets his cut and Musante holds to strategy.  But when his myth starts to catch up to him, and a girl enters the picture, their luck starts running out.  Actually, that's where the film begins, with Musante hiding as a bullring clown North of the Border and Nero hoping to collect what he’s still owed by turning him in.  As told in flashback, will these two frenemies survive their rivalry?  Will they ride again?  Or be caught and executed side-by-side.  Under Corbucci we only care intermittently.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Seeking revenge for most of the pic, that’s Jack Palance showing off a firm middle-age ass and wearing the same scary youthful makeup Henry Fonda used in the flashback scenes of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST out the same year.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: As mentioned, DUCK YOU SUCKER!, a title no one was able to convince Leone not to use.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/09/duck-you-sucker-1972.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Ennio Morricone shares credit for the music score with Bruno Nicolai, so don’t pin your hopes too high.

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