Watch Run, Man, Run For Free

Very well executed

Pretty Good

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Once upon a time in the cinematic west, more particularly during the sixties, you had to be Italian and your first name preferably had to be Sergio in order to make the greatest Spaghetti Westerns of all time. There was the greatest Sergio of them all (Sergio Leone, creator of the "Dollars"-trilogy and "Once upon a time in the West") but there was also Sergio Corbucci who made the awesomely terrific "Django" and "The Great Silence", and last but not least there was Sergio Sollima who was responsible for "The Big Gundown" and its mega-cool sequel "Run Man Run". Unfortunately I haven't seen the original yet – it's hardly my fault Blue Underground opted to include only the sequel in the fabulous Spaghetti Western Collection DVD box – but the follow up is a vastly entertaining, fast-paced, refreshing, exhilarating and effectively light-headed western adventures and promptly became one of my new personal favorites in the genre. Tomas Milian is stupendous as usual depicting the witty and hyperactive petty criminal Manuel "Cuchillo" Sanchez who is literally always on the run; whether for his demanding fiancée who insists on getting married or – due to a series of unforeseen events – from a whole lot of bounty hunters, organized criminal gangs and Mexican army officers. After helping a Mexican revolutionist to escape from jail, Cuchillo receives some valuable information regarding the whereabouts of a treasure of $3.000.000 in gold. This money is meant to finance the Mexican Revolution, but obviously several parties are more than interested in stealing it and they're all short on Cuchillo's tail as he's the only one who can lead them to the exact location. This top-class Italian western is near damn perfect from every viewpoint. The typical "Viva La Revolution" theme is always present, but never obtrusively shoved down your throat like often the case in other westerns (for example "Bullet for the General") and actually the emphasis strangely enough lies on comedy and abrupt plot twists instead of on harsh fights until death. Cuchillo spends most of his time on screen either running (duh!) or captured by one of his many opponents and subjected to ingenious methods of torture, but his narrow escapes are even greater to behold. Despite the comical atmosphere, "Run Man Man" nevertheless contains large portions of violence (Cuchillo is an expert knife thrower) and typically wild Western shootouts in desolate areas. The musical scores, courtesy of both Bruno Nicolai and Ennio Morricone, are beyond genius. The title track can be found on YouTube and I'm really addicted to it.

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.

This humorous Spaghetti Western was rather enjoyable, a feel-good SW, if you will! The story follows Cuchillo, a happy-go-lucky thief and knife-throwing expert, who gets pulled into a race for a large amount gold, which is supposed to be used to fund the Mexican Revolution. Of course, there are several other greedy bandits after it as well. The story is adequate, but not really original, and the action is paced nicely and pretty cool to watch, seeing that it usually involves flying knives. The real value of this movie, though, is in the character of Cuchillo, excellently played by Tomas Milian. Milian displays fine comedic timing and a honest delivery of dialogue, and is given many chances to show it all off, whether he is dealing with women, being tortured (is there a difference?), or, well, just running for his life! The rousing musical theme was nice too, a welcome change from the heavy, depressing one in Mannaja and the slower, more lyrical-based one in Django (not that they're bad songs either though). Finally, what was with the ending? Did they run out of money? I was really hoping for a resolution here and it felt like there should've been one but oh well...it was still a good movie.

(aka: RUN, MAN, RUN) Decent sequel to Sollima's great spaghetti western, THE BIG GUNDOWN (1966), this one involves the return of Cuchillo (Thomas Milian) who helps revolutionary Santillana (John Ireland in a small role) return $3,000,000 in gold from Texas back to Mexico. Cuchillo also makes a promise to an old revolutionary before he dies to also help return the gold in order to help finance the revolution and overthrow the dictator, Porfirio Diaz.But Cuchillo also has to deal with former sheriff Cassidy (Donal O'Brien) who also wants the gold for himself. Then there are the French assassins and bounty hunters who also want a share as well as blond Salvation Army turned gold huntress Penny (Linda Vargas) and many other bandits, too numerous to name. As comic relief we have Cuchillio's girlfriend (Chelo Alonso) following Cuchillio across the desert, trying to force him to give up the search for the gold and marry her. Cuchilio's relationship with her can be funny at times.The nighttime gunbattle in the Texas town with the Mexican bandits is suspenseful as we see Cuchillio go to work on the bandits with his slick knife throwing skills as he kills each bandit, one after the other. It doesn't hurt that Cassidy also helps him since he needs Cuchillio to help him find the gold. The two of them eventually find out that the gold was melted down into the shape of an old printing press and painted black in order to hide it. Now that's an imaginative touch instead of the usual cave or hole in the ground plot device where people want to hide gold.The ending is roughly the same as in THE BIG GUNDOWN only not as good since Donal O'Brien can't hope to top Lee Van Cleef in the earlier film. In fact, if there's one big flaw about this film, it's that Van Cleef isn't in it. Otherwise I'd rate it a couple of notches higher.Blue Underground's anamorphic DVD looks pretty good and the sound and dubbing is excellent. As an earlier reviewer mentioned, there is an interview with director Sollima and Milian and their reflections on the film, as well as an interesting 1969 mini-documentary on the making of spaghetti westerns and their (then) popularity in Italy, including behind the scenes looks at this film as well as Sergio Corbucci's THE GRAND SILENCE (1968).Decent flick although I think there are better.6 out of 10