Machine Gun McCain

When the Italians made Once Upon a Time in the West at the same time, they managed to create possibly the best western, thus winning in the exclusively American discipline. In this case too (and once again Morricone was involved), the Italians came close to scoring on the opponent's field, but in the end, it was more like a draw. The story of a lone wolf fighting against the mafia machinery is dangerously reminiscent of the machinery of big fish in the world economy (the mafia family's meetings and decision-making are equivalent to the general meetings of a company, and even the business area is more or less the same, only the means are more straightforward) or heavyweights in world politics. The insignificant McCain will be crushed just like a Central European country in the same year, as we read in the newspaper headlines. Yet this is not a film parable, but a gangster film with suspenseful scenes (also thanks to the brilliant camera work of Erico Menczer) and above all charismatic actors. Moreover, Cassavetes was able to observe the performance of his colleague Falk during filming, whom he then cast in his best films. (09/30/2014)