This Zapata Western is set in revolutionary Mexico, 1913 . Revolution time with the fall of Madero and ruling General Huertas against guerrillas led by Pancho Villa . It's a story about friendship between an illiterate named Juan (Rod Steiger) and an Irish rebel, a cynic foreigner specialist on dynamite named Sean Malloy (James Coburn) who become heroes of the Mexican revolution. They team up to steal the bank of Mesa Verde and along the way, liberate political inmates. Both of them, are opposite characters, the peasant Steiger is a simple-minded, hot-tempered, foul-mouthed, rough, ragged, short stature man, while the Irish terrorist and explosive expert James Coburn is sceptic, mild-mannered, elegant, high stature and he's trying to forget his bitter past. Both actors seem to enjoy immensely themselves .They are two heroes similar to them: Don Quijote (Sean Malloy) and Sancho Panza (Juan) . The picture contains action, explosions , train crashing , Leone's trademark humor and lots of fun. There are moments with comedy but also tragedy like is well shown on the shooting execution, massacres and the heroic sacrifice on the railway. It's his more personal film, more politics, more sensitive and a human touch, although it also has more flaws than former movies as the ¨trilogy of the dollars¨ : ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ , ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ and ¨The good , the bad and the ugly" .
There're some Irish flashbacks filmed in slow-moving , resulting to be a little embarrassing with certain remembrance to those frames from ¨Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid¨ , though replacing the palling Burt Barachach music for the moody and striking Ennio Morricone score . At the beginning, Leone only wished the film production but the conflicts with the initial director Peter Bognadovich made Leone to take the direction after thinking to be shot by his best friend Tonino Valeri (My name in nobody). Most part scenes that the main actors didn't take part were shot by Giancarlo Santi, Alberto de Martino and Antonio Margheritti for the special effects . It's filmed in Dino Laurentiis studios and in Spanish locations as Railway Station, Guadix : church and cathedral , Medinaceli, Soria, and Almeria: desert of Tabernas and Sierra Alhamilla, where is made the blowing up a bridge in the spectacular scene which the demolition's Irish expert facing off an enemy convoy plenty of soldiers.. Besides, there appears usual Leone secondary actors and some Spaghetti Western actors, almost extras , such as Aldo Sambrell, Benito Stefanelli, Riccardo Pizzuti, Rik Battaglia, Conrado San Martin , among others . This Spaghetti Western is colorfully photographed by cameraman Giuseppe Ruzzolini and well directed by the great master Sergio Leone .
There're some Irish flashbacks filmed in slow-moving , resulting to be a little embarrassing with certain remembrance to those frames from ¨Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid¨ , though replacing the palling Burt Barachach music for the moody and striking Ennio Morricone score . At the beginning, Leone only wished the film production but the conflicts with the initial director Peter Bognadovich made Leone to take the direction after thinking to be shot by his best friend Tonino Valeri (My name in nobody). Most part scenes that the main actors didn't take part were shot by Giancarlo Santi, Alberto de Martino and Antonio Margheritti for the special effects . It's filmed in Dino Laurentiis studios and in Spanish locations as Railway Station, Guadix : church and cathedral , Medinaceli, Soria, and Almeria: desert of Tabernas and Sierra Alhamilla, where is made the blowing up a bridge in the spectacular scene which the demolition's Irish expert facing off an enemy convoy plenty of soldiers.. Besides, there appears usual Leone secondary actors and some Spaghetti Western actors, almost extras , such as Aldo Sambrell, Benito Stefanelli, Riccardo Pizzuti, Rik Battaglia, Conrado San Martin , among others . This Spaghetti Western is colorfully photographed by cameraman Giuseppe Ruzzolini and well directed by the great master Sergio Leone .