Review for Faccia a Faccia

Sickly and dying, University Professor Brad Fletcher (Gian Maria Volonte) heads west to improve his health. But while recuperating, Brad is taken hostage by the famous bandit Solomon Bennett (Tomas Milian) and soon finds himself infatuated with the outlaw, joining him in numerous raids and learning the ways of the gun ("holding a gun gives one a great sense of power").

Brad's intelligence slowly sees him take control of Bennett's gang but a Pinkerton agent named Siringo (William Berger) is hot on their trail and may spell death for all those who ride under the Professor's command.

Sergio Sollima's second Spaghetti Western (following the classic Big Gundown) is a sumptuous 'A' picture, lavishly photographed (the widescreen lens filled with golden-lit shots of the Andalucía desert) and boasting an operatic score by genre veteran Ennio Morricone. But rather than just filling the frame with innumerable gunfights and laconic bounty killers, Sollima's emphasis is political, focusing on a symbiotic relationship between classes.

Given a little education, the 'savage' bandit learns compassion (eventually throwing away his gun belt) while the learned man, after his first taste of blood, becomes fascistic, enslaving a group of social outcasts (in order to increase profits of course) and submitting a Pinkerton spy to excruciating torture.

In these roles, Faccia a Faccia boasts two of the Spaghetti's finest leading men. Volonte (fresh from playing the mad bandit in Leone's For a Few Dollars More) plays Fletcher with a deep passivity. He's chastised early in the film for, "putting up with things," but this gives way to a lack of compassion for those around him and his eventual enslaving of those under his protection.

Milian (Django Kill!) as the bandit is given less to do, and since we never witness any of the heinous crimes we're told he's capable of, his transition is less dramatic. As a result the film becomes a simple story of corrupt civility vs. the noble savage - which is fine and it's well acted and shot, so who are we to complain?

Extras

Eureka have produced another beautiful DVD. The transfer is exquisite, bringing out the rich colours of the photography, while the special features include two trailers, an interview with Sollima and a gorgeous 16 page booklet containing a new essay by Spaghetti Western cognisor Howard Hughes. Now if only they would do the same for The Big Gundown…