Run, Man, Run — Run, Man, Run(Blu Ray)

Run, Man, Run is a late 1960’s Spaghetti western that is both playful and humorous, and gritty at times bloody. The film is centred around scruffy, short, and roguish Mexican knife thrower Cuchillo- who along with a selection of other characters, is trying to track down $3,000,000 in gold. Here from Eureka, as part of their Masters Of Cinema series, is a two-disc release of the film- taking in two cuts of the picture, commentary tracks, and other extras.

Run, Man, Run (aka Corri uomo corri) is from the year 1968, and was filmed around the ragged landscapes of Almería, Andalucía- both in the burning heat, and snow-bound states. It was directed  & co-written by Rome-born Sergio Sollima- in total he had thirteen features to his name. These went from a few spy-focused adventures in the mid 60’s - Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun, Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell, and Requiem for a Secret Agent. Cop thriller featuring Charles Bronson Violent City(1970), Pirate adventure The Black Corsair(1976), and soapy pre-WW II drama Berlin ‘39(1993). He also helmed two other westerns, The Big Gundown, and Face To Face both from 1967- also featured the charming and roguish knife thrower Cuchillo.
 
The film opens with Cuchillo(Tomas Milian) arriving back in a Mexican town- he’s seemingly been away for several months, and his long severing girlfriend Dolores( Chelo Alonso) is less than pleased with him- as the pair should have set up home/ got married. As a way of trying to calm her, he swipes a watch from a sleeping gunman- but unfortunately, he awakes taking it back, and this is when we meet one of the film's other key characters Nathaniel Cassidy(Donald O'Brien)- a hard-eyed, red-haired, and dressed in black ex-sheriff.
 
As things unfold Cuchillo & Cassidy get begrudgingly brought together to travel across the unforgiving landscape, after finding out about $3,000,000 in gold that’s been held for the Mexican revolution in Texas town. Along the way, we meet the blonde and bossy salvation army Sergeant Penny Bannington(Linda Veras), ragged Mexican rebel Riza (Nello Pazzafini), and shifty and darting-eyed Colonel Michel Sévigny(Marco Guglielmi).

The film's action largely plays out in the baking sun- with all the cast looking grimy & sweaty, though we do have a few more dramatic shots of riders making their way along snow plains. The film certainly has a lighter, at times comedic tone to it- though equally, it has moments of bloody brutality. One of the most notable of these is a man tied to a sun-beating windmill- then whipped, with his blood painting the aged whitewashed windmill building.
 
Milian is both charming, devious, and very tricky as the very scruffy Mexican knifeman. O'Brien is effective as the cold and calm gunslinger. With both featuring in some great knife and gun play set action scenes.

We get two versions of the film here- the theatrical cut( 85 mins), and the longer version( 122 mins). I watched the longer of the two, and it’s a largely enjoyable romp of a film, which balances well its western action, light humour, and ragged ‘n’ roughly bloody touches. Run, Man, Run is certainly a very watchable spaghetti western, which has good general appeal- so you don’t need to be a hardcore 60’s western fan to enjoy it.
 

Moving onto this two-disc Blu-Ray set. And on the first disc, we get the longer cut of the film, which is the version I watched- the 4k scan looks great with clear and bold definition, and the contrast between the scorched and snow-bound landscapes comes out wonderfully. We get a new commentary track from Barry Forshaw & Kim Newman, and as you’d expect from these two pros- we get a very well-researched and observed track. They begin by talking about why Sergio Sollima is not as known as some Italian genre directors. They discuss the first two films with the Cuchillo character, and how in this film he’s almost parodying/ sending up his character. We find out unlike the other two films, this was never really released outside of Italy, and talk about why this was.  We get discussion about the film's more playful leanings, and how often the American characters in the film are mocked. They talk about how Spaghetti western heroes often have almost superhero-like skills when it comes to their weapon of choice. Later on, they talk in detail about Sergio Sollima's other work, and his use of the camera in the film to hand. They give actor bios, talk about the difficulties of shooting in snow, and much, much more- easily a track you could play multiple times. Otherwise, on this disc we get film scholar/ writer Stephen Thrower discussing the film, this runs just short of the nineteen-minute mark. He starts by discussing why the film didn’t get a release outside Italy, and how its tone differed from the first two films. He talks about the comic hyperactive acting of lead Milian, and how this connects to the long history of this type of comedy in the country. He discusses how Milian often breaks the fourth wall in the film, and what this means. Before giving a wonderful in-depth bio of the actor- talking about his switch from artier to commercial film. Before briefly commenting on some of the memorable visual elements in the film- again an excellent extra.
The second disc takes in the shorter cut of the film- and the only extra on this disc is a commentary track from author Howard Hughes and filmmaker Richard Knew, I didn’t play this for my review. Otherwise, with the finished release we get a booklet with two new essays about the film from Howard Hughes.

Run, Man, Run is an entertaining spaghetti western, with its blend of the more comic, and moody elements being most effective. This Eureka release severs us up two cuts of the film, great new prints, and insightful extras- really what more could you ask for from a release?