1968 was a very good year in films. For most specialists though, it is the emblematic year of a tumultuous period in world politics, and it has been mostly analyzed by historians, sociologists and philosophers. An analysis of films from this perspective is always interesting, but I know very few works dealing with this topic: it would be propitious to do it for the 50th anniversary of those events (in 2018), because during that year many major works were released, as varied as "if....", "Faces", "Memorias del subdesarrollo", "Night of the Living Dead", "Teorema", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Fando y Lis" or "Salesman"… and this is just a handful. Of course, if we consider 1968 in film from the viewpoint of denunciation, militancy, pamphlets and banners, the honor would go to the monumental Argentinean film and masterpiece of world documentary, "The Hour of the Furnaces". In the field of genre, if we had to choose a paradigmatic 1968 European western, the obvious option would be "Once Upon a Time in the West", a drama about the expansion of civilization in the United States, through uncivil methods. However, the plot of "Run, Man, Run", another European western of 1968, combined the political-activist spirit and the fun of those days (to get an idea, the pop and soul hit-parades of the year are a big help, as well as films as "Joanna", "Vixen", and the like): the film is the culmination of Sergio Sollima's trilogy, preceded by "The Big Gundown" and "Face to Face". Here the action takes place against the Mexican revolution of the 1910s, a conflict of epic proportion with diverse sides, from agrarian problems to military struggle, class conflict, religious controversy and vandalism, without forgetting American interventionism. By choosing this background, the scriptwriters were able to address all these sides, to reflect the spirit of rebellion in 1968 in a costume drama, and to insert many contemporary slogans and common phrases of the left. In the end, though, the tone is more ironic and parodic than dramatic: with a leading character as peculiar as the thieving scoundrel Manuel "Cuchillo" Sánchez; with Dolores (Chelo Alonso), Cuchillo's assertive woman and a revised version of the "soldadera" (a female follower of soldiers), opposite to the Adelita of Mexican folk; and with Cassidy (Donald O'Brien), an atypical American bounty hunter who opts to support the Mexican revolution, it is logic that the final product is an amusing ride, full of emotions, laughs and tension. As Cuchillo, formidable Tomas Milian is probably the greatest Cuban actor that I have ever seen in films, while for the first time I was able to see his fellow countrywoman Chelo Alonso in a good role that justified her characteristic fierceness beyond caricature, although in many moments there is a lot of humor, as in a demented comic book. The film also contains scenes of great splendor, as the horse persecution through the snow; confrontations with guns and knives; a wonderful score by Ennio Morricone, who, for apparent contractual reasons, had to give composing credits to his collaborator and arranger Bruno Nicolai; a multi-colored gallery of villains, including the loud-mouthed bandit Riza (Nello Pazzafini), the greedy Salvation Army official Penny (Linda Veras) and two ruthless French mercenaries (Marco Guglielmi and Luciano Rossi); and revolution leaders with marked differences: poet Ramírez (José Torres) and megalomaniac Santillana (John Ireland). An original and enjoyable European western, and a very good motion picture, still vigorous 46 years after its first release.

"Run, Man, Run" (1968) is a Revoloutionary Spaghetti Western directed by the third "Sergio" (after Leone and Corbucci) Sergio Sollima. It stars Thomas Milian as Cuchillo the peasant, reprising his role from "The Big Gundown" (1966), who becomes involved in the hunt of a large cache of gold in Texas.This is a semi-sequel to "The Big Gundown", but like the Dollars trilogy one can be watched without the other and no confusion arise. In fact, it is probably best to watch this and not compare it to the two previous Sollima Westerns as this movie will be found wanting, which is not to say it is a poor film. Quite the opposite, it is very well directed, acted (especially by Milian), scored by Bruno Nicolai (although allegedly Ennio Morricone gave a helping hand) and the cinematography by Guglielmo Mancori is fantastic. It is just that in this picture what you get is absolutely what you see; there isn't any Fascist allegory hiding underneath like there is in "Face to Face" (1967) or the character complexities there is in "The Big Gundown". Perhaps because Sollima is a better director than scriptwriter (this is his only Spaghetti Western where Sergio Donati doesn't have a screenplay credit). Still, this is a very good Western, way above the average fare and a film anybody with even only a superficial knowledge of the genre will acknowledge as a great.

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