The Big Gundown: Limited Edition - Indicator (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain/Italy, 1966
Director: Sergio Sollima
Writers: Sergio Donati, Sergio Sollima, Tulio Demicheli, Fernando Morandi, Franco Solinas
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Luisa Rivelli, Fernando Sancho, Nieves Navarro

Release Date: February 13th, 2023
Approximate Running Times: 94 Minutes 56 Seconds (Expanded U.S. Cut), 110 Minutes 19 Seconds (Original Italian Theatrical Version), 89 Minutes 21 Seconds (Original U.S. Theatrical Version)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC (All Versions)
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English (Expanded U.S. Cut, Original U.S. Theatrical Version), LPCM Mono Italian (Original Italian Theatrical Version), LPCM Mono Italian/English Hybrid (Original Italian Theatrical Version)
Subtitles: English (Original Italian Theatrical Version), English SDH (Expanded U.S. Cut, Original U.S. Theatrical Version)
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £22.99 (UK) (Limited edition box set of 5,000 numbered units)

"When bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) is hired to track down a Mexican peasant (Tomas Milian, in a career-defining role) who has been accused of an appalling crime, he is initially outwitted by the wily bandit. However, the relationship between the two men soon takes an unexpected turn and they team up to take on railroad baron Brockton (Walter Barnes)." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Original Italian Theatrical Version, Expanded U.S. Cut, Original U.S. Theatrical Version)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfers, "Sony’s 2K restorations, supervised by James Owsley, were the sources of this Indicator edition."

The Big Gundown, the original Italian theatrical version, and the extended U.S. cut come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.4 GB

Feature: 21.6 GB (Original Italian Theatrical Version), 17.6 GB (Extended U.S. Cut)

The sources for these two versions use the same source that was used for Grindhouse's 2013 Blu-ray release. The source is in excellent shape. Colors look nicely saturated and accurate; flesh tones look healthy; and black and contrast levels look consistently great throughout. Details look crisp, especially in close-up shots, which often look razor sharp. Also, compression is solid, and grain remains intact.

The Big Gundown, the original U.S. theatrical version, comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.4 GB

Feature: 22.4 GB

The original U.S. theatrical version's source is on par with the other two versions' sources.

Audio: 4.25/5 (Original Italian Theatrical Version, Expanded U.S. Cut, Original U.S. Theatrical Version)

The original Italian theatrical version comes with two audio options: a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a LPCM mono mix in Italian/English hybrid. 

The extended U.S. cut comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English. 

The original U.S. theatrical version comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English. 

Included are removable English subtitles for the original Italian theatrical version and removable English SDH subtitles for the extended U.S. cut and the original U.S. theatrical version.

All audio mixes sound great. Dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Ambient sounds and the score are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras on the disc that contains the original Italian theatrical version, and the extended U.S. cut include image galleries: production stills (13 images), and Promotional Materials (120 images), TV spot #1 (1 minute 2 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), TV spot #2 (22 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), TV spot #3 (18 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), TV spot #4 (12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), TV spot #5 (12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), U.S. theatrical trailer #1 (2 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), U.S. theatrical trailer #2 (2 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with Italian text, no subtitles), an interview with Austin Fisher, author of Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema titled A Settling of Accounts (22 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with author and musician Stephen Thrower titled Heroes and Villains (29 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Stephen Thrower titled Prelude to a Gundown (9 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Tomas Milian titled Acting on Instinct (29 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival documentary featuring director Sergio Sollima and actor Tomas Milian titled Spaghetti Western Memories (51 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian and English with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with writers and film experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman for the original Italian theatrical version, and an archival audio commentary with film historians C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke on the extended U.S. cut.

Other extras include reversible cover art, a limited edition double-sided poster, and a limited edition eighty-page booklet with an essay titled The Falcon and the Prey, written by Roberto Curti, Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian Now Only Shoots Westerns written by Alberto Ceretto, Enough With Violence: An Interview With Sergio Sollima, Exploiting "Mr. Ugly," Italian Westerns as Political Parables written by Ignacio Ramonet, Franco Solinas: The Dialectic of Screenwriting written by John Michaelezyk, Critical Response, and About The Restorations

Summary:

Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) takes everything he has learned working with Sergio Leone and incorporates it into his role as Jonathan Corbett. The character is well defined and has a lot of depth, due mostly in part to Lee Van Cleef’s dead-on portrayal of a thinking man’s bounty hunter who never becomes victim to a quick trigger finger. His role in The Big Gundown is similar in many ways to Clint Eastwood’s role in The Man With No Name Trilogy, as he is a man who lets his actions do most of the talking. The Big Gundown is one of Lee Van Cleef’s defining roles as an actor.

Tomas Milian plays Cuchillo, a Mexican bandito who is also a master knife thrower. Cuchillo has a knack for getting himself out of some sticky situations, and his knife-throwing skills help him time and again. Tomas Milian has made a career out of playing eccentric characters like Cuchillo, who in many ways might just be the bastard cousin of Eli Wallach's "Tuco" from the monumental spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. An interesting scene that immediately comes to mind when I think of the Cuchillo character is the scene where he is forced into the ring with a wild bull and has nothing but his bare hands to defend himself from the bull. It is this scene that perfectly captures the essence of the Cuchillo character and his fearlessness even against insurmountable odds.

Nieves Navarro (Death Walks at Midnight), known to most Euro-cult fans as Susan Scott, who starred in several key giallo films during the early 1970s, stars in The Big Gundown as a widow who runs a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Her character is all about being in control, and she uses her body to get the men on the ranch to do whatever she wants them to do. There is an interesting clash in the film when Cuchillo and Corbett both spurn the advances of this black widow-like woman. Both men have other objectives that are more important to them than satisfying this woman’s carnal lust. Cuchillo also uses her power over the men who work for her against her, as he makes them jealous that Corbett is spending some quality one-on-one time with her while they have to wait outside and guard Cuchillo. Sex is prevalent and runs throughout the film as the main thread that connects the story, whether it's the widow's sexual frustration or Cuchillo, who is wanted for raping a 12-year-old girl. Director Sergio Sollima handles this subject with grace and dignity, as he never makes it salacious.

Spaghetti westerns are known for their use of beautiful landscapes, and The Big Gundown is a movie that is always on the run as it moves from one picturesque locale to another. The cat and mouse game between Corbett and Cuchillo is very effective, and Sollima manages to build just enough tension with each near capture and escape.

The Big Gundown is an expertly crafted story that was co-scripted by Sergio Donati, who was a frequent collaborator of director Sergio Leone. Some of the feel of the story echoes Leone’s previous spaghetti westerns that were made before The Big Gundown. Ultimately, despite being the most traditional of the three westerns that Sollima directed, The Big Gundown is still easily one of the genre’s stronger efforts.

Indictor’s The Big Gundown is the most comprehensive release that any spaghetti western has ever received. It comes with the same audio/video presentation that originated on Grindhouse’s 2013 Blu-ray release, and a few extras from that release have been ported over for this release. Also, this new release from Indicator comes with a third version of The Big Gundown and a wealth of new extra content. That said, The Big Gundown gets a definitive release from Indicator, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer