Two starkly different visions of friendship and honor in the Old West.
COMPAÑEROS
Dir. Sergio Corbucci, 1970
Italy-West Germany- Spain, 118 minutes
In Italian, Spanish and English with English subtitles
SATUDAY, FEBRUARY 6 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 – 10:00 PM
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 – 10:00 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 5:00 PM
Corbucci’s COMPAÑEROS eschews the grim pessimism of his early DJANGO and THE GREAT SILENCE in favor of a more fun, freewheeling take on the Mexican revolution, with a wry sense of anarchic humor and leftist politics that call to mind Leone’s DUCK, YOU SUCKER!/FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE.DJANGO’s Franco Nero and Spgahetti Western mainstay Thomas Milian are a suave arms dealer and a village idiot, respectively, who come together reluctantly first in order to survive, then in the name of the revolution to rescue an intellectual political prisoner (Fernando Rey). Their main obstacles along the way are an uncomfortable disdain for one another, shared affection for a beautiful local revolutionary (Iris Berben), and the malicious efforts of malevolent, wooden handed John (Jack Palance), who perches a falcon on one hand and an omnipresent joint between his lips. It’s all set to one of Morricone’s best and most underrated scores.
FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE
Dir. Lucio Fulci, 1975
Italy, 104 minutes
In Italian and English with English subtitles
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 10:00 PM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 – 7:30 PM
On the opposite end of the spectrum, FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is a Lucio Fulci film, with a tone and outlook (and gore) that would not be out of place in the director’s later horror films. FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is unrelentingly grim, a story of reluctant partnerships formed solely for the sake of survival, often resulting in tragedy. Fabio Testi leads a band of misfits convicts (including cult actress Lynne Frederick, character favorite Michael J. Pollard and Harry Baird as Bud, who provides one of the film’s most shocking moments). This quartets trek across the badlands, simply looking for a way to survive, is interrupted by the attentions of brutal bandit Chaco (Companero’s own Thomas Milian), who develops an eye for Ms. Frederick. In contrast to the sometimes frenetic pacing of COMPAÑEROS, FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE is decidedly Fulcian in its measured pacing, nihilistic outlook and dreamlike visuals. These films are yin and yang, with COMPAÑEROS’ good-naturedness and cynical-but-somewhat-inspiring political outlook in sharp contrast to Fulci’s unrelenting grimness and deeply existential philosophical palette.