The Weekend Western: Run, Man, Run
Tomas Milian stars as a Mexican vagabond in search of a hidden cache of gold in this superior spaghetti western from director Sergio Sollima.
Milian’s Cuchillo has a talent with a knife but prefers to make his living as a small time thief. After helping a revolutionary poet escape prison he finds himself in search of hidden treasure to aid the revolution when the poet is murdered by bandits. He’s not alone, an American ex-lawman, Mexican bandits, French mercenaries and even a Salvation Army woman are in on the hunt.
While there’s the usual spaghetti western violence the film also has a softer, more comical side. Cuchillo is no Eastwood style superman, he’s a scruffy little tramp but one with a heart of gold. He provides the film with its sense of fun while Donald O’Brien has the more traditional role of the former lawman turned treasure hunter. While he’s no Clint, he does a fair job as the gunman who ends up working alongside Cuchillo.
The film has plenty of action, with the snowbound chase scene particularly memorable. Sollima’s finest moment though comes at the film’s climax, with a The Good, the Bad and the Ugly style showdown given a twist in that Millian uses a knife rather than a gun.
At two hours it’s a little overlong, much of the Texas town sequence could have been excised, but it’s a good film nonetheless. Veteran spaghetti western composer Ennio Morricone’s score isn’t as original as the ones he did for Leone but it’s still memorable with a suitably rousing main theme.
I’m now eager to see Tomas Milian’s first appearance as Cuchillo is Sollima’s The Big Gundown which promises to be a somewhat darker take on the character (he’s being hunted for raping and killing a 12 year old girl). The only question is, do I go for the Japanese DVD of the US cut with English audio or the German DVD of the longer version with Italian audio and English subs? Or both?
[...] as the Mexican fugitive Cuchillo, a part he would return to two years later in Sollima’s Run, Man, Run. Milian’s highly animated acting style suits the character, whose mouth is almost as quick as his [...]
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