Franco Nero explaining what making a revolution means using rear female nudity to an idealistic and brute Mexican revolutionary is one of the most hilarious and gracious events ever filmed in Italian western history.

When Corbucci ventured into the territory of Zapata Westerns, he did not only turn funnier, but also more political, hyperactive, playful and culturally accurate! All details about the Mexican Revolution, including the most repressive and shameful ones, are represented in their most faithful fashion, almost as true as the Golden Mexican cinema itself did. Leone might have conquered masses with a style (an unequalled one to be sure), but Corbucci, by this point in time, had made a significant amount of social statements that were not spoken by him. Sollima started this trend in 1966 and Corbucci continued it with a refreshing take on the Mexican Revolution and the Mexican populace that was not stereotyped by Hollywood as foreign invaders.

Was this subgenre shift good? Well, I'd rather label that shift as necessary rather than in terms of "good" or "bad". Zapata Westerns are significantly scarce and they are nice critiques to Hollywood filmmaking, but also to the idea of revolution itself. He is very precise at moments, though, despite his unevenness in format and the stylistic tone vs the funny one, the latter getting its effectiveness from both verbal and situational escalations.

In short, this is a required watch for the scarcity of the genre, for showcasing Corbucci's versatility, for correctly addressing revolutionary ideas and a foreign nation, and well... the score. The freaking score. It was absolutely tremendous!! Did Morricone ever did something bad? Freaking extraterrestrial...

Oh, and that final duel... One for the books and for the top final showdowns lists.

75/100